Alton Pertilla, who lives in the neighborhood, spoke in favor of the rezoning.

TIFTON — Concerns about zoning changes in south Tifton left standing room only at the Feb. 4 Tifton city council workshop meeting.

The city’s Department of Community Development requested zoning changes for eight locations to clean up the zoning in the area, according to Danny Wallace, assistant director for community development.

Six of the requests were for parcels that were either zoned as a mobile home park but had a single family dwelling on the parcel that predated the mobile home park designation, or were split, with part of the parcel being zoned one thing and the other part zoned differently.

Other requests were to rezone the areas around South College Mobile Home Park and Captain’s Point Mobile Home Park from mobile home park (MHP) to multi residential (MR).

Wallace said that the proposed rezoning would provide for more affordable housing in the area but would not over-crowd the neighborhood. He said that the current residents of the mobile home park would be able to stay in their home for as long as the structure was there since any structures currently there would be “grandfathered” in, but that, if the house is torn down, moved or destroyed, the same type of structure cannot be replaced with another mobile home.

Bruce Green, interim Downtown Development Authority and Main Street Program director, said that the proposed rezoning lines up with the urban redevelopment plan, the Tifton-Tift County comprehensive plan and is a key part of getting the South Tifton Redevelopment Plan off the ground.

The owner of South College, Travis Hurst, spoke against the proposed rezoning.

Hurst said that a potential buyer he had for the park pulled out after hearing about the proposed rezoning, and told the council that he stands to lose approximately $250,000 in value should the rezoning request be approved. Several members of the community spoke out in favor of the rezoning, telling the council that they felt the rezoning would help get rid of the trailer parks, which they said were a hot spot for crime and brought down the neighborhood.

Alton Pertilla, who lives in front of Matt Wilson Elementary School, said that Captain’s Point is “a dump.”

He said that maintaining the park as-is “is not a position that I think any reasonable and fair-minded person should support.”

Vivian Hightower, who lives in the area, said that there is a lot of gunshots and bad music in the parks and apartments, and that she is afraid for the young children who live in the area.

“Thank God half of those trailers are gone,” she said. “The other half that’s there needs to be gone as well. They are a living sore eye for the community over there.”

She said that her brother, who is a minister, is constantly getting calls about the gunshots, drug use and crime in the neighborhood. She also gave examples of particular points that are of concern, either because of poor living conditions or because of crime.

“We have got to make a change,” she said.

Council member Johnny Terrell, who represents the area in which the proposed rezoning will take place, said that he felt his constituents were satisfied with the discussion on the rezoning.

“I want to thank each and every one of you for coming,” he said. “It’s time now to do something. It’s time to get these things fixed. If you don’t want to help our neighborhood, get out of our neighborhood.”

Mayor Julie Smith thanked the attendees for their input.

“This didn’t happen overnight, and it’s not going to be repaired overnight,” she said. “We’re all Tifton and we’re going to do better by the citizens of this particular area who have been ignored for a long, long time.”

The council debated putting in place a moratorium for fences in the central business district until Pyrzenski and Wilmot could draw up some proposed ordinances to regulate such construction in the downtown area.

The council heard a proposal for enterprise zone incentives for the owners of The Local Kitchen and Bar.

According to City Clerk Jessica Jones, the owners of The Local recently purchased the old Lankford Manor building and are planning on turning it into a restaurant. They have asked for enterprise zone tax incentives to help with the renovations necessary to bring the building up to restaurant standards, according to White.

The council will vote at the next meeting of the city council, which is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at Tifton City Hall. All meetings are open to the public.