‘They want to live simply.’ Are tiny houses the next big thing in Macon?

The tiny house movement is descending on Macon in multiple ways this week.

Thousands of people are expected for a tiny house festival to be held at Central City Park on Friday through Sunday, but that might not be the biggest news in compact living.

Ron Burger, owner of Safe Haven RV Park in Macon, is starting a tiny home community in the park, located off Pio Nono Avenue at Interstate 75. Meanwhile, River Edge Behavioral Health is building a small tiny home community for the homeless.

Burger already has two tiny homes in his park — not counting the RVs and mobile homes — and has someone planning to bring six this weekend that will be for sale.

He hopes to eventually have up to 200 tiny homes there with amenities to include a fish pond and community garden.

Burger, a retired Navy deep-sea diver, said after he bought the park six years ago and started living there in an RV, he became interested in tiny homes. The homes are generally less than 500 square feet and have been a growing trend nationwide for years, spawning TV shows on the topic.

“A lot of people don’t want a big house anymore,” Burger said as he stood outside of one of the tiny homes at his park Tuesday. “They want to live simply. The want to live light on the Earth. They want to be part of a community which we are building here.”

Many tiny homes to be on display at Central City Park

John and Fin Kernohan live in a 304-square foot home in Putnam County. They founded the United Tiny House Association and the Georgia Tiny House Festival. The festival has been held annually for the past three years and this is the first time it is being held in Macon.

John Kernohan said the festival is not meant for commercial purposes, but to introduce interested people to the benefits of tiny homes. He said proceeds from the event go to charity. Last year the festival was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway and drew 30,000 people. He is expecting around 10,000 people this weekend depending on the weather.

Kernohan once lived in a 2,500 square foot home in Miami but he prefers his home now because it’s more economical.

‘It was important for us not to have a big carbon footprint,” he said. “We like being debt free. We like not having a mortgage. We like not having credit card debt.”

Tiny homes were getting towed into the park Thursday morning in preparation for the festival. Many are converted school buses, called “schoolies.” Kernohan said schoolies are growing in popularity because people custom-build them to stand up to year around living better than an RV.

Admission to the festival is free on Friday from 5-8 p.m. Tickets are $20 on Saturday and Sunday, or $10 only from noon to $5 p.m. Saturday. Children under 13 get free. Active or retired military, law enforcement and firefighters get in free.

Park already has tiny home residents

Terrill Turner, 30, an Uber and delivery driver, will soon be the second tiny home resident in Burger’s park. He is moving into a 320-square foot converted storage container that he is renting from Burger for $625 a month, fully furnished and utilities included. Workers were finishing up the interior as Turner talked about it Tuesday.

“It’s a fantastic value,” he said. “The inside is pretty luxurious. The location is great.”

Turner said he hopes to eventually own it.

“I don’t want a big place to work about,” he said. “It’s much cheaper to heat and I don’t have worry about filling it with stuff.”

An airline flight attendant lives in the other tiny home, which she owns. Turner said a police officer is also moving in soon in a schoolie.

But that’s not the only tiny home community coming to Macon. Cass Hatcher, chief facilities development officer at River Edge, said five tiny homes are under construction on Maynard Street. Those are being built with federal funds to provide housing for the homeless, and will be about 400 square feet each. He hoping to have people living there by May.

Jessica Lewis of Macon is also making plans to contribute to the tiny house trend in Middle Georgia in a big way. Her company, Mobu Enterprises, converts shipping containers into tiny homes and currently contracts with a Texas company to do the work, as well as building them on site. She has sold 20 of them in the Atlanta area in the past six months.

But she is originally from Macon, and wants to spread the concept here. She and Burger have reached an agreement for her to build a facility on his land to build the homes herself. She will sell them for people living in his park as well as anywhere else. She expects to eventually employ 100 people, and said manufacturing may start by the end of the year.

“Our ultimate goal is to be able to provide affordable housing for central Georgia,” she said.

This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 5:44 PM.