COVINGTON, Ga. — As the OHCO District continues to expand as Covington’s latest entertainment venue, owner Josh Hart sought a rezoning from the city council to move forward.

The Covington City Council voted 4-2 to grant a request to rezone five parcels owned by J. Hart Development, LLC, and operated by Hart. Four properties are located at 4110, 4141, 4101 and 4127 Gold St., as well as a fifth parcel at 4171 Briscoe St.

“I believe that OHCO District will be transformative for the city of Covington and its residents by being the hub for entertainment and community gatherings,” Hart said. “My overall vision for OHCO District is it will create jobs for our neighborhood for the next 35 years. I want to create a place where families, including my own, will want to come back and create memories.”

The request was twofold. First, Hart sought an amendment to the city’s Future Land Use Map (FLUM) from residential to commercial. Second, he asked that the land be rezoned from Neighborhood Residential 2 (NR-2) to Corridor Mixed-Use (CM).

These properties surround Hart’s existing OHCO District event venue, located at 4137 Robinson St. Hart explained to the council that he has a vision to transform the area into a community hub in the coming decade.

“Future phases would expand west of Robinson Street, which could consist of potential recreation and additional retail and entertainment options,” Hart said. “The five lots we are currently requesting to rezone would serve as additional green space and provide supplemental grass parking for our larger events.”

According to Judy Thagard, the city’s director of planning and development, an owner cannot designate a parcel for parking under an NR-2 designation, thus creating a need for Hart to seek rezoning.

Community concerns

While Hart’s vision includes one of expansion, residents who live in the surrounding area have expressed great wariness about the future of the site. 

“I know I was out there this past weekend, and I could not find one person who lives in that area who wants this in their neighborhood,” said Councilwoman Charika Davis.

The request was first brought before the city’s planning commission, as is customary. Facing scrutiny from the residents of the surrounding neighborhood, the request was tabled. 

“At the first [planning commission] meeting, there were a lot of concerns and questions raised by the community, and due to that, both the applicant and the planning commission came to the realization that it would be better for them to go out and try to hold a community meeting,” Thagard said.

According to Hart’s attorney, John Nix, nearly two dozen people attended an open meeting at the OHCO District in the days after. At the meeting, Nix said he and Hart explained the various uses and their allowances and made numerous commitments to work with residents moving forward.

“Following our meeting with the community, we made a commitment to them that we would establish a hotline, that Josh and his son would be the other people on the other side of that hotline to deal with community concerns, talk to about programs,” Nix said. “We said we’d publish a calendar every other month for the events that were going on. We said we would contract with a local wrecker service to assist the police if they needed it; in other words, we’d have someone that would be right there because we’d have them under contract.”

Despite Nix’s and Hart’s assurances, several residents of the surrounding neighborhood opted to come forward during the designated time for public opposition. 

However, the rhetoric was not so much outright opposition, but consisted of requests for additional tabling and community input. 

“We’ve had a very good relationship with them [the OHCO District] being over in our area,” said Diane Gaither Howard, a nearby resident. “...I was asking if we could possibly table it again for two weeks to allow them to meet with us once again because we was coming to a meeting of the minds, we were coming to some clarity. Because we as a community, we do not want to agree to do something that we cannot unagree to later on.”

Similar requests to table the item were brought forth by other residents, including scrutiny of the longevity of Hart’s plan to use all of the rezoned lots for parking.

“This is what they wanted, to get it in as parking,” said Roger Star. “And then bring whatever they really want at a later date. So they need to be concrete and propose exactly what they want to put there.”

Howard added that she appreciated some of the aspects that Hart was promising, such as lessening truck traffic, street parking and heavy industry.

“He wanted to make it more neighbor-friendly and not put us through an inconvenience,” Howard said. “So those are the things—we want to work with him. We are not trying to go against you, we want to work with you. We just want to come together with a meeting of the minds so that we'll know what we are agreeing to.”

Ready to move forward

Hart asked the council not to table his request, saying that he has been clear with the community and made an effort to gain residents’ input.

“There's so much confusion with the land use map and the zoning; Commercial Mixed-Use or Corridor Mixed-Use, the land map is for Commercial. It's very confusing, OK,” Hart said. “But I don't feel that's my job to explain that. I'm trying to explain my vision, and that's why I oppose it being tabled.”

Ultimately, Councilman Anthony Henderson, along with Davis, sought to deny Hart’s request and sided with the residents who sought more clarity. 

“I think that you [Hart] should be willing to keep the lines of communication open because I just kind of feel like you're just, you're shutting down, like you don't want to communicate with them [the residents] anymore,” Davis said. “So I absolutely think you should meet with them, talk with them, talk through it, and try to come up with something that works for everyone.”

But Davis and Henderson were outnumbered, as the motion failed. 

In a subsequent motion, the four other council members voted to give Hart the FLUM change. A second vote to rezone the properties also passed 4-2.

The council members who voted in favor pointed out that the property could very well become something with heavier industry in the hands of another applicant. But they trust that Hart, being a local, has the big picture in mind.

“The property is too valuable to sit, um, like it has for all these years,” said Councilwoman Kim Johnson. “It will be developed, and Josh's vision is far superior to an industrial development.”

“Know this: If something is zoned Corridor Mixed-Use, it will prevent a big industrial building from coming in like he's talking about that very well could happen,” said Councilwoman Susie Keck. “You can look at I-20 and all those warehouses and that's the kind of land they're looking for. So I trust that a homegrown person is going to try and build something beautiful for our city, and I think we have to be very cautious in trying to prevent what I consider really great growth.”