"Permitting Issue" Threatens Unconventional Business

The recent articles about the permitting issue in the Athens Banner-Herald have been raising all kinds of thoughts for me, as a preservationist, and also as someone who's passionate about land use.

For starters, this is the kind of case that gets people worked up about government intervention in people's lives, consistency, fairness, and so on. Jittery Joe's, which I should disclose I am heavily physically dependent on and have been patronizing since 1994, when it was actually run by its founders and not franchised, has been operating the roasting location for at least five years. It has been operating as a roaster with some retail since nearly the beginning. So why is Athens-Clarke County just now swooping in to demand that permits be issued to accommodate the parking that makes the retail possible?

Beyond that, the whole issue is very odd because directly across the street until about five years ago a feed mill operated, and that feed mill functioned with about an equally intensive retail use and with about as little improvement to the parking surfaces in the vicinity. In fact, if you went back 50-some years in the area where the Jittery Joe's roaster is located, you would find virtually all of the businesses in the vicinity operating as some form of factory or production facility with a little retail. There was a feed store, a general store, and a number of farm/well/building material suppliers. And none of them had what Athens-Clarke County would consider a legal parking lot.

So, ad hoc it may be. But the roaster is actually operating in line with the historical land use of the area. Further, the type of building that the roaster occupies is one of the most endangered types of properties -- it is a quasi-agricultural and non-permanent structure fashioned out of tin and brick. It has no chance of becoming a B&B or house museum, has little chance of gaining any kind of statuatory protection, and in general is highly likely to be demolished in favor of more solid and formal structures. So the roaster is one of the few chances that such a building has to continue existing.

Basically, while I get Athens-Clarke County's perspective on the issue, I'd hate to see it cause the roaster to case being viable. It's basically its building's only hope.