Business owner Dianell Parker said an empty retail space was supposed to be the second location to her beauty salon suite.
“It was my dream. It was my dream,” Parker said.
Parker told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln she was surprised to hear the City of South Fulton denied her special use permit to open during a council meeting.
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Parker says she was expanding her current location that’s five minutes up the road in Union City by moving into a former beauty school along Roosevelt Highway.
“I never thought because this was a beauty school that it would be rezoned for a beauty salon,” Parker said.
“‘We don’t want the same usual nail salon, chicken shacks, and barber shops,” South Fulton Councilwoman Helen Willis said.
Councilwoman Helen Willis whose district this location sits in spoke with Lincoln over the phone.
She says the denial is an effort to diversify South Fulton’s business landscape.
“Our residents are calling for diversity in retail, we’re tired of going out of our community to eat at certain establishments and that’s what this is all about,” Willis said.
Willis said the city also wants to attract different businesses to remain competitive as neighboring College Park moves forward with the Six West development.
It’s a $1 billion mixed-use project.
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“We just want better for our community,” Willis said.
Parker says while she understands the city’s reasoning, she wishes she would have known before investing more than $20,000 into this business.
“I’m going to have to pick up and try to find another location,” Parker said.
Parker says she’s now trying to get out of her lease. Councilwoman Willis says they’ve suggested to the owner of the plaza not to lease to businesses like salons to prevent situations like this.
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