Mayor says growing commercially is an issue
Euharlee is growing but that is leaving residents and city officials debating on what kind of city they want the little hamlet to be. Some of that debate, particularly over a recommendation to demolish the history granary, is likely to happen tonight at the Euharlee City Council meeting. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.
One area of Bartow County development is where Auto Zone and Euharlee Animal Clinic sits. Euharlee Mayor Craig Guyton confirmed a Waffle House and Food City will be added. It isn’t in the city but will be used by Euharlee residents and could spur more growth, he said.
Guyton said the data center proposal on sod farm property at Stiles Road hasn’t been brought up again since it was withdrawn. That property also lies in the county.
Guyton states the city of around 4,000 residents has changed since he moved here almost 20 years ago. The downtown area, which is also the historic district, has a microbrewery, a pizza restaurant, and a new $1.8 million revamped park.
Those changes came at a cost that went beyond money. The building that once served as the history museum, then a sandwich shop, was torn down to make way for the Outpost microbrewery. Nicko’s Pizza is housed in another historic building that was once the Euharlee General Store.
Commercial property in the historic area is limited, prompting the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to propose demolishing the 1800’s historic granary to use the property for commercial development.
Guyton said no decisions have been made on the DDA proposal. The granary would cost around $500,000 to repair and update, he said. The building, with no interior walls or amenities, is home to the Euharlee Festival of Trees every Christmas.
“We have not yet received any recommendations from the historic commission,” Guyton said. “As of now, the council is gathering information and numbers to make a good decision.”
Not everyone is happy about the proposal. Resident Ron Hartman posted on the public platform Nextdoor that the problem appears the Historical Preservation Commission and DDA seem to be in conflict. He proposed the city change its idea of what constitutes “downtown.”
He said it may serve the city to designate the central business district to be the area with the largest concentration of businesses on Euharlee Road rather than the heart of historic Euharlee.
“But here’s the dilemma,” Hartman writes. “This area (historic Euharlee) is basically the same area long ago designated as the Downtown Historic District and protected by the Historic Preservation Committee.
“These citizen committees..the DDA and HPC..would appear to have responsibilities over the same real estate, but for different purposes.”
Guyton agreed that the council needs to consider its options.
“There’s some are other spots in the historic area but there’s also out on Euharlee Road there’s other spots for commercial as well,” Guyton said, adding that the DDA is also expected to help the council utilize Euharlee Road land availability too.
The Euharlee Road corridor presents new problems like traffic. Guyton said traffic studies show the road is only at half its capacity. Yet, construction on the county side of the street past Anna’s Mexican Bar & Grill and going north toward Rome outside of city limits will impact Euharlee.
He said the city communicates with the state over Euharlee Road and the upcoming construction of a new bridge to replace the one currently over the Etowah River. The new bridge will solve the problem of pedestrian crossing because it will have bike and walking lanes, he said.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S, Canada, the UK and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio. She is on Facebook, X, YouTube, content on Substack, and has a podcast on Rumble.