ST. MARYS, Ga. — A St. Marys, Georgia business owner says city leaders are making it difficult for him to open the doors to his new salon and spa.
Jeremy Nascimento is the owner of Yankee Pie Apizza. A restaurant that specializes in serving New Haven-style pizza in historic St Marys. The pizza shop is located in the town's old post office that Nascimento bought and remodeled.
"We originally set this building up to subdivide it to put my salon on one side and the pizzeria on the other side," Nascimento explained.
Nascimento not only tosses pizza dough, but he can cut and style hair, too. That's why he wants to turn half of his building into a salon.
However, city leaders have put a halt on the project because of a flood ordinance.
"Unfortunately, I can only operate 50 percent of my business because they're not able to issue me a permit. They brought up after the fact a flood ordinance. Basically, what it's saying is that I can't do more than 50 percent of build-out that exceeds the fair market value of the building. We've already done half of that and it was only told to me after I've emptied my life savings into this small business," Nascimento said.
St. Marys is a town that is prone to flooding and has ordinances in place to prevent businesses from being underwater.
"Raising concrete or making this flood plain compliant is not a feasible thing for a small business owner," Nascimento added.
Nascimento said no one questioned the building's elevation until he started construction on his hair salon.
"I feel that if this was going to be a thing, maybe this is something they could have told me before I purchased the building or before I started construction. They had all of the numbers. That would have been the time to bring it to my attention where I wouldn't have gone into so much debt. Not a year after we've been in business," Nascimento said.
Anthony Austin spoke with St. Marys City Manager Robert Horton about this issue. He said they had a meeting with Nascimento's contractor on Monday. Horton didn't deny there's been a snag in the permitting process, but he believes everything can be worked out at a reasonable price, so Nascimento can finish construction and be in compliance.
However, Nascimento said his wallet is stretched thin and he should be allowed a variance in this situation under the city's own rules, that mention exceptional hardships.