Cave Spring seeks proposals for GSD dorm
♦ The municipality also approved its first liquor package store license and liquor by the drink license.
Add the Cave Spring City Council to the list of local governments recognizing the need for affordable housing.
The council has authorized a call for proposals to renovate the old Georgia School for the Deaf dormitory building directly behind City Hall.
The request for proposals is being developed by Cave Spring City Attorney Frank Beacham.
“We’re just going to try to see what options people respond with,” Beacham said.
The attorney said that the request for proposals, not yet finished, will not necessarily limit the future use of the building to residential purposes.
“We own that building and would like to put it to good use,” Cave Spring Mayor Rob Ware said. The city is looking for anyone who would be interested in a long term lease or even someone seeking to purchase the building.
Since the building was designed as a dormitory, Ware said he feels like its most likely best use moving forward would be for residential purposes.
Hunt & Associates is in the process of developing an appraisal for the building.
The building has been abandoned for close to to 50 years.
The council has also approved its first liquor package store license for Mumtaz Merchant in a building behind LaCabana restau
rant at the intersection of U. S. 411 and Ga. 100. City Clerk Judy Dickinson said Merchant has completed all of his paperwork for the city and is awaiting formal approval from the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Merchant has operated a convenience store near that intersection for years.
La Cabana is also the first restaurant in the city to get a liquor by the drink the license. Ware said he was not sure whether or not the
restaurant had received its state permits yet.
“This is all brand new to us,” Ware said. The city approved liquor by the drink and package sales more than a year ago when a group revealed plans to open a microdistillery in the city. Those plans never came to fruition.
The council has also designated sections of Love Street and Fannin Street for repaving with GDOT Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant money in 2021.