Tuesday evening’s City of Winona Board of Aldermen meeting opened with a public hearing to determine whether the city would adopt a variance to allow Marty’s Towing to place a permanent mobile building on Middleton Road. This marks the third time this matter has come before the Board. The issue was tabled at the June 5 meeting due to the transition in city administration, with officials preferring to let the new administration be part of the decision.
Attorney Ryan Taylor, representing Marty’s Towing, began by providing the Board with a recap of recent events. He explained that owner Mr. Wiggins met with former Mayor Aaron Dees and current code enforcement officer Ricky Johnson about placing a mobile building on the property to serve as an office space for the business.
“He was encouraged to get it, to put it there. They went as far as discussing a ribbon cutting ceremony,” Attorney Taylor explained. “My client extended, at a minimum, $30,000 on the building, bought the building and put it there. And then a couple of weeks later, the code enforcement officer said he was made aware that there was an ordinance that was in place that prohibited that.”
Attorney Taylor said Wiggins then stopped all progress on the building until the issue could be resolved with the Board.
“The ordinance does prohibit mobile homes there. We aren’t disputing that. That’s why we’re here asking for a variance in the ordinance. This is not going to be a residence, I know that’s an issue that’s come up before. It’s not a residence, it’s going to be a business,” Attorney Taylor said.
Attorney Taylor also addressed concerns about the property becoming a junk yard with wrecked vehicles being stored on site. Owner Wiggins explained that he has another property on Industrial Park Road, outside of the city limits, where vehicles would be stored in an orderly manner.
Ward 1 Alderman Mickey Austin expressed appreciation for Marty’s Towing’s efforts to clean up the property and improve the area’s appearance.
“Because the property looks so much better than it did, and they’re going to continue making it look even better, I make a motion that we allow them to do it.”
After Alderman Austin’s motion, Mayor Jerry Flowers asked if there was a second. All aldermen remained silent.
Without a second, the motion died, and the variance was not approved.
