By Alicia Couch Payne
Since 1988, Wee Willy’s convenience store in Buford, Georgia, has been the home of countless memories of Buford residents. As rain continues to fall, the store located at the corner of Little Mill Road has begun to collapse into Richland Creek.
Over the years, the infrastructure holding up Wee Willy’s started eroding. Sources tell The North Gwinnett Voice that the owners of the store knew of the compromised infrastructure and knew that they would need to make repairs or risk it crumbling completely. Unfortunately for them, it happened before they could make these repairs.
In late May 2018, after a series of thunderstorms that produced extremely heavy rains, a huge sinkhole opened up. Wee Willy’s was teetering on the edge of the large hole. The store was immediately abandoned.
The store sat vacant as it was in early June 2018 leaving locals to wonder what was to become of it. Months went by and nothing happened. The store just kept hanging on, until recently.
With December and now January having a tremendous amount of rain, the infrastructure holding up Wee Willy’s has been compromised to a dangerous degree. On December 30th, firefighters responded to Wee Willy’s after the hole got bigger claiming a portion of the building. The wall that was behind the cash register area succumbed to the sinkhole. The contents of the store starting falling into the creek.
Several residents took to social media to express their concerns about why the City of Buford has not remedied the situation. Since the property is privately held, the City is limited on what they can do.
After reaching out to the city concerning this issue, Buford’s City Manager, Bryan Kerlin stated that on December 31, 2018, the City contacted the attorney representing the owner and requested an immediate meeting to rectify the issue. The attorney contacted the owner and instructed them ‘to get someone out there and clean it up.’ On January 2, 2019, the City contacted the property owner’s attorney again to find out the owner’s plans to rectify the situation.
UPDATE:
According to an update sent out by Public Safety Director, Dan Branch on January 9, 2019, a meeting took place on Friday evening, January 4th between Branch, Chief Code Enforcement Officer R.C. Davis, Storm Water/ENS Coordinator Mark West, and Mr. Irfanali M. Momin, the owner of Wee Willy’s. At the meeting, Mr. Momin was issued two citations, as well as, an ultimatum to provide the City of Buford with a site plan on how they were going to clean up the property and bring it up to city code.
The citations they received were 1. “Abatement of Unfit Buildings or Structures” in violation of the City Code. 2. “Prohibition of Illicit Discharge” in violation of the City’s Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection Ordinance. Mr. Momin will have to respond to these citations in city court on January 18, 2019, at city hall.
Mr. Momin was supposed to provide the site plan to Public Safety Director, Dan Branch by the close of business on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. Branch stated in his update that the owner has failed to provide that plan to him.
Where does the City go from here? In an email from City Manager, Bryan Kerlin, he told The North Gwinnett Voice, “The City is contacting the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for assistance with environmental concerns and will continue its clean-up efforts.”
Public Safety Director Branch assures the public that there is no threat to Little Mill Road or Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The City has been monitoring the situation and has been working to resolve this long before it reached the point it is at currently. The sinkhole and any issues resulting from the sinkhole are the sole responsibility of the property owner, Mr. Momin and as such is his to clean up.
The Voice will stay in contact with the City of Buford to provide our readers with the latest information available on the situation.
Several residents took to social media to express their concerns about why the City of Buford has not remedied the situation.
Gwinnett County property records show this is privately held property. After reaching out to the city concerning this issue, Buford’s City Manager, Bryan Kerlin stated that on December 31, 2018, the City contacted the attorney representing the owner and requested an immediate meeting to rectify the issue. The attorney contacted the owner and instructed them ‘to get someone out there and clean it up.’
On January 2, 2019, the City contacted the property owner’s attorney again to find out the owner’s plans to rectify the situation. The attorney has not responded back to the City as of yet.
