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Home for abused girls rebuffed by commissionThu, 10/23/2008 - 3:05pm
By: Ben Nelms
Neighbors cited the need for a home for for abused and mistreated girls, but in the end, Coweta County commissioners Oct. 21 sided with several Roscoe residents in denying a request by Edify Teens Ministries for a six-person group home for girls on the five-acre property owned by Elise and Oliver Dunn. The Board of Zoning Appeals had previously recommended denial of the conditional use permit request. Roscoe resident Linda Hanson and ministry co-director Elise Dunn were the only two speakers at the commission meeting. Dunn told commissioners her five-acre property would provide an appropriate place for girls age 8-14 from abusive and broken homes to have a home of their own. “These are not problem girls. They are trying to get away from trouble,” Dunn said. “We need to help our girls instead of them having to go outside the county for help.” In opposing the conditional use request, Hanson said plans to help needy girls were admirable but added that they stood in opposition to area covenants. “YDC (Youth Detention Center) kids go to those homes. Law enforcement goes to those homes. Girls with that past attract boys with that past,” she said. Commissioners voted unanimously without comment to deny the conditional use request. The Board of Zoning Appeals had previously recommended denial. Dunn stated then that the property had been used for the past five years as a girls’ retreat prior to the school opening, but now wanted to provide continuous home care for six girls. Nearly a dozen area neighbors submitted letters stating their support for the concept but opposing its location in the area. Coweta Planning Department also recommended denial, saying an approval would require unfunded juvenile services through school and home complaints and noting that, as a group home, the dwelling would not meet the criteria of a single-family unit and would change the use of the property to an institutional nature. login to post comments |