Sunday, August 25, 2024–1:05 p.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

A new overlay district in the Downtown Rome area is set for a first reading during Monday’s Rome City Commission meeting. The regulations would ban vape shops and coin-operated amusement machines in the district.

An Overlay is a zoning district that incorporates one or more underlying zones and imposes additional development requirements for that zone.

The boundaries of the Etowah River-Turner McCall overlay would include the River District along Fifth Avenue and West Third Street and the Historic Broad Street District including a portion of the Between the Rivers area.

Rome City Clerk Joe Smith presented the district to the Rome Downtown Development Authority in June.

“Right now, I can think of probably three stores in that district that have COAMs,” Smith said. “There are two on Broad Street and one on Second Avenue. If this were adopted as it is envisioned now, they would be prohibited within that boundary.”

A vote is expected during the commission’s first meeting in September. If approved, businesses that have gaming machine or sell vape products would then have a year to come into compliance.

The Rome City Commission meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Rome City Hall.

The caucus starts at 5.

You can view the meeting agenda here.