After three scheduled public hearings and months of waiting, Tommy Rainey finally has approval to go ahead with his proposed weekend market. Although after all he’s been through, he says he still doesn’t believe it.
The Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners voted 3-1 to approve Rainey’s Special Land Use Application for a “weekend mini market” to be located near the intersection of Hwy 60 and 400, with Chairman Chris Dockery casting his vote to approve, giving the market an official majority vote. Commissioner Jeff Moran was the lone vote against the market’s approval.
This decision came after Rainey’s first application for a flea market was denied by the board in March with those in opposition citing that the proposed plan did not meet the gateway corridor’s character area. The county then decided to work with Rainey, allowing him to reapply, but not as a flea market, as the board had already rejected a “flea market.”
Rainey’s application for a “weekend mini-market” then hit another snag, as the county incorrectly advertised the required public hearing was to discuss “outdoor sales (flea market)” leaving the commissioners to decide to reschedule the hearing after re-advertising with the correct terms.
Once the hearing was re-advertised and the board was able to convene under the correct pretenses, the commissioners chose to approve the proposal under the moniker of “weekend mini market,” with a few conditions put into place to guard against an “unkempt appearance.”
“My intent is to have the site essentially sanitized during the week and populated only on the weekends,” Commissioner Bobby Mayfield said in a prepared statement. “While I am in favor of helping the working man, I am not in favor of creating an eyesore for everyone to have to look at Monday thru Friday.”
Those conditions were amended to regulate everything from signage to hours of operation to parking.
MARKET SUPPORT
Commissioner Rhett Stringer, who was the lone vote in favor of the original March flea market proposal, said he feels the stipulations the board agreed on address everyone’s concerns with the market.
“I feel like the conditions the board put in place to allow this were reasonable and fair to both sides,” Stringer told The Nugget. “... I feel that we addressed the concerns of those opposed regarding traffic, parking, sanitation, hours of operation, signage and how the property is kept during the week. If it’s managed right it will be successful. If it’s not, nobody will have anything to still be upset about.”
Mayfield said most of the concerns he received regarding the proposal were about the market’s roadside appearance.
“The main concern that was brought to my attention was the potential for an eyesore that everyone traveling that road would have to look at every day,” he said. “I think our proposed conditions address that concern.”
Moran said that while he is not against flea markets, he believes approving one in the gateway corridor is a step in the wrong direction.
“I told Mr. Rainey that I have nothing against them, nothing against a flea market, and nothing against them owning a flea market,” Moran said. “My problem is the location. The County spent a lot of time and money, along with extensive community involvement to come up with what type of development would be preferred in our Gateway Corridor's Overlay district. Then the first thing that comes before the board is a flea market with port-a-potties, which is as far from the overlay district guidelines as can be. I feel we are setting a bad precedent by allowing this into our overlay district. I went on to say that when we created the gateway corridor and overlay district that we made a good step forward in managing the inevitable growth to our county, and by allowing this SLUA to pass, we took two steps back.”
Mayfield agreed that an outdoor market was not the intended use for the gateway corridor, however he and the other commissioners feel confident that once the surrounding land is developed, particularly the nearby lot that is the future site of Northeast Georgia Medical Center, the land currently being leased to Rainey will be purchased, which would likely mean the end to Rainey’s market in that particular location.
“This business is not the type of business we intended for our Gateway Corridor, there is no doubt about that,” Mayfield said at the hearing. “Having said that, however, we may have gotten the cart in front of the horse to a certain extent in this regard. With the delays in construction brought on by the COVID and the subsequent negative economic impact on some of our citizens, I feel that it is my responsibility to those citizens to provide them an opportunity to provide for their families, at least in the short term. I also have no doubt that as soon as some developer with deep pockets shows up and offers the landowner a good price for that property, then it will be sold and eventually become a doctor's office or some other medical related facility. Until that time comes, I am in favor of letting the working man make a dollar the best way he can and, if that happens to be a community market, then so be it.”
Stringer shared the sentiment that the market would not be there long term.
“This property was purchased by developers to be eventually developed,” he said. “This isn’t the end product. In my mind this does not stand out if compared to what is currently in the area. I’d hate to see the hammer dropped on someone that comes to the planning office and tries to play by the rules when there are businesses operated in the right of way on weekends that do not.”
However, Rainey has other plans.
When asked at the initial March public hearing how long he planned to run the market, Rainey responded that he hoped to keep it going as long as he was alive.
“I came here to stay,” Rainey said. “The commissioners said ‘how long are you going to be there?’ and I said ‘Until I die’ and they got real upset. I’m going to be right here. You’re not going to run me off.”
DAHLONEGA DESTINY
Rainey has had his eye on the field that is now home to Deerfield Mini Market since he was five years old, when his family passed through during his childhood.
“My granny left Dahlonega in 1919, and went to Atlanta because she didn’t want to marry her cousin,” he said. “Everybody’s a cousin someway or another...I just feel like I was coming home. Granny, even though she had seven kids and a husband, she kept trying to get back. I’m the first one out of the whole family that got home.”
Now that he’s here, the 62-year-old Rainey, says he’s in a race against time to get his market going.
“Remember, [gravity]’s pulling on me and I’m going to be in a wheelchair before too long,” he said. “I’ve got to hurry up and get done and all this crap is wasting my time. Because I’m going to be down and won’t be able to do anything.”
Determined to get back in the market game, Rainey’s mixup with the Board of Commissioners, that he contends cost him three months of the market season, was just a small obstacle to overcome compared to other parts of his journey.
Rainey’s last flea market venture, in another town, ended in near tragedy.
“I had another flea market and I didn’t have but $500,” he said. “Two guys shot me, left me for dead. I got up holding my chest, ran across the street, knocked on the door and passed out in their living room.”
After two years of recovery and two operations, Rainey joined the fire department once he was back on his feet. He says a religious encounter while on the operating table changed his life, putting him in service to others for the rest of his life. Now that he’s retired from serving as a fireman, he wants use his market to help others.
“I’m paying my debt. I have to do this,” he said. “...They aren’t going to get in my way, because I have to pay my debt.”
Rainey plans to use his market to help others, from fellow first responders to little league teams or churches that need to raise money. He hopes to be able to mobilize the community that he builds out of the market to do tasks of service, such as building wheelchair ramps for others in need.
PERMANENT PLANS
Rainey referenced the humble beginnings of the now regionally recognized flea markets of Pendergrass, which he claims to have helped start.
“We started just like this with tents and tables,” he said. “Every weekend, more and more people came and they put back the money and built those buildings. It was an old man that had his retirement.”
Now, Rainey is the “old man" with his retirement and the same type of lofty dreams.
“It’s going to boom here,” he said. “And the more money I make, I want to open up four more flea markets in other counties.”