Request made to Gainesville City Council to lift ordinance that prohibits residences on square
Dr. Janet Martin, the owner of the building on the northwest corner of the Gainesville square that currently encompasses Absolute Insurance Services and Maranatha Chiropractic, along with the upper level spaces above both businesses, has requested that the city council allow them to market the space as residential as well as commercial. The space was originally built as a hotel unit, and therefore the upstairs is outfitted in a way that is more residential in nature.
During the Nov. 9 Gainesville City Council meeting, Debra Schilling Smith, a realtor with United Country Missouri Ozarks Realty, and Dr. Janet Martin, a chiropractor who owns the building on the northwest corner of the Gainesville square, addressed the city council with a request to lift an ordinance that currently prevents people from using buildings on the square as a residence.
Martin said that she is in semi-retirement and will be closing down her chiropractic office in Gainesville to work fully out of her Ava office due to lack of clients here. She has listed the property with Smith, and they would like to be able to market the property as residential/commercial space, which would require some action from the city council to either lift the ordinance preventing a residence on the square or grant a variance for that specific location. Smith said she has a buyer in mind who would want to use the space for apartments and as a short term rental through websites like Airbnb, Smith said. Martin’s building was originally built as a hotel, and the upper floor is still outfitted in a way that lends itself to a more residential use.
“Dr. Martin’s building would be a perfect building for a condo or two, or a condo/Airbnb. I have a local gentleman out of Zanoni who has given me a very specific criteria for Gainesville, because Gainesville is a walking community. So, he would most likely, if he were the one to buy it, he would put his mother in the downstairs and then either Airbnb the top part... or put in condos,” Smith said.
Martin said that she’s disappointed that she hasn’t been successful here because she loves Gainesville. “It’s a beautiful town, and since I’ve been here seven years, I’ve watched the town go downhill and it’s very sad... sad to watch this community go downhill. I just don’t understand it. It’s beautiful here,” Martin said.
Smith said she believes that if there were more people in town, it could help bring more business in.“If you get life on the square, they can serve as more business for the restaurants in the community. Maybe we could entice a restaurant to come back to the square. I just think that it would bring life back here...”
The city council took the matter under advisement and did not rule on a variance to the ordinance.