CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — The Clarkesville City Council voted unanimously Monday to commission a topographical survey of the former Habersham County courthouse property, marking the first formal step toward potential redevelopment of the site for a new fire station and a downtown hotel.
The vote came after an extended work session discussion about how to divide the city-owned property between two possible projects: a future fire station and an overnight lodging development.
Mayor Franklin Brown said the city is ready to move from feasibility discussions into planning.
“What I’m asking for is that we do the study feasibility to see if, one, if it’s going to work, and two, then we know kind of what we have to do,” Brown said. “Basically, we’ve got to get all our data on the fire station — what we’re going to need and how — then we see what’s left for development”
Brown emphasized that any fire station and hotel would have to proceed as two separate projects. The fire station portion would remain in the city’s name to preserve eligibility for grants and public funding. The hotel portion could eventually be transferred to the Clarkesville Downtown Development Authority for financing and development.
Before any subdivision can occur, council members agreed they need accurate site data.
Councilwoman Leigh Johnston said a topographical survey and engineering work are necessary before the city can make decisions about parcel boundaries.
“Topo, plat, potential subdividing — but you can’t do that without the topo,” Johnston said. “You need the topo and the engineering work. So you need all of that before you can make a decision.”
Councilman Blake Rainwater agreed, saying the city must understand the physical constraints of the property before moving further.
“Step one is topo,” Rainwater said. “We’ve got to know what this property we’re dealing with.”
Rainwater also stressed that fire station logistics must drive the site layout if the facility remains city-owned.
“If the fire station is going to be owned by Clarkesville and the taxpayers, we’ve got to make sure we get the flow — the incoming traffic, other engines in every day,” he said. “There’s going to be some logistics of the fire station.”
Councilman Brad Coppedge suggested the city establish acreage ranges for both projects once survey data is available, particularly to understand what would be required for grant eligibility versus what would be adequate for hospitality development.
“Is there a way that we could look at some ranges of what it would require under grant purposes — what type of acreage would it require us under that situation to go forward with grant writing — versus what would be adequate?” Coppedge said. “At least there might be some parameters that we could come up with which would allow us to keep the two properties separate.”
After voting to move forward with the survey, Coppedge also urged the city to establish timelines for the next steps.
“If we start a process, I think we should at least have some timelines,” he said.
The former courthouse property has been the subject of a recent hotel feasibility study that found Clarkesville could support a roughly 70-room downtown hotel, citing tourism demand and limited branded lodging options in the immediate market.
Monday’s vote does not divide the property or commit the city to construction of either project. Instead, it begins the data-gathering phase that council members said is necessary before determining how much land would be needed for a fire station and how much could be made available for private development.
The survey results and subsequent engineering work are expected to shape the next phase of planning for one of downtown Clarkesville’s most prominent redevelopment sites.
