Sparta Board of Aldermen approved a new fee for zoning compliance letters during its meeting on Thursday to address an influx of requests from local businesses.
Mayor Jerry Lowery said the city has seen a significant increase in requests because of state requirements for specific businesses.
“The fee is small because we have to spend a lot,” Lowery said, “He spends a lot of time doing this and the fee is going to be… going to be $50, and we feel that’s not too much to be able to pay to get this in the time that he has to spend to do it.”
Codes Officials said the state recently mandated that smoke shops must provide a zoning letter or a certificate of occupancy to renew their licenses. The codes department was overwhelmed this year with approximately 25 to 30 of these requests from business owners who often need them immediately.
“It’s basically just paying for the time that it takes us to do the background and rewrite the zoning letter for them,” the codes official said, “The zoning letter just states that they’re zoned correctly, their business is in the right place, zoned correctly, and that there’s no violations at the time with the city codes.”
Lowery said the zoning letter serves as a necessary alternative to a certificate of occupancy for older structures. Lowery said the Codes Department cannot sign off on the perfect physical condition of a building that may be 20 years old without existing inspection records.
“It just says that your business is in the right zoned area for this type business,” Lowery said. “That’s all we’re giving them.”
The board also approved an on-premises beer permit for Armando Ruiz for Casa Real Mexican Grill. During the Beer Board session.
In other business, the board authorized taking sealed bids for the rehabilitation of the railroad walking bridge and the asbestos removal and demolition of the Old Baker school.
