Newspaper Page Text
Limit on residential zoning applications recommended
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County
Planning Commission last
week endorsed limiting the
number of new residential
rezoning applications that the
county government will accept
every month to seven.
Os five proposed changes
to the county’s Unified
Development Code (UDC),
the proposal to limit the num
ber of monthly residential
rezoning requests drew the
most criticism.
Senior Planner Audra
Miller, of the Planning
Department, presented the
revisions to the code that sets
land regulations, including
stream buffers and building
setbacks, to accommodate
new developments.
The changes must undergo
another public hearing before
they are approved.
Miller said planning staff
formulated the number seven
by examining the amount of
rezoning requests the depart
ment has received for the past
two years.
"The goal of the Planning
Department was to achieve
about 12 applications a
month," said Miller.
Calculations indicated
about 58 percent of rezoning
applications are residential
and 42 percent commercial,
said Miller.
"Fifty-eight percent of 12
is seven." she said, pointing
out the number of commercial
and industrial rezoning appli
cations are not limited.
If rezoning applications for
a residential development are
received after the monthly
deadline. Miller said they will
County to meet with
transportation officials
From staff reports
The Forsyth County Board
of Commissioners will meet
with the Atlanta Regional
Commission (ARC) Tran
sportation Planning Division
and Georgia Regional Tran
sportation Authority (GRTA)
this week.
The board will meet with
ARC officials tomorrow at 10
a.m. to discuss road improve-
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be rolled over to the next
month.
She said the limit will
enable staff to give each appli
cation the time it needs to
ensure new residential devel
opments comply with county
standards.
However, critics said that
the limit could result in a mas
sive backup of rezoning appli
cations, and that the county
government is sending a nega
tive message to residents.
Cindy Mills, a real estate
agent, said a host of recent
changes and ordinances is
sending the wrong message to
the public.
"We’ve had the land use
map redone, we've had the
tree ordinance redone ... all of
these things are perceived as
an attack on the property
owner." she said.
Mills suggested the limit
should be based on the size of
the development rather than
penalizing all residential
rezoning requests.
“It would be better to do it
by units.” Mills said. “1 just
think we’re going to have a
backlog"
Miller and Planning
Commission members said the
time involved in addressing a
residential rezoning applica
tion is not necessarily based
on the size of the develop
ment.
Chairman Pete Amos said
sometimes a new subdivision
with five homes is more
opposed than one with 100
lots.
Emory Lipscomb, an attor
ney who frequently represents
developers seeking rezoning
requests, suggested offering a
“carrot” to developers by
exempting low density devel-
ments and priorities; and with
GRTA officials Thursday at
10 a m. to discuss a new
express bus system that will
be taking passengers to the
MARTA rail station in Sandy
Springs.
The meetings are sched
uled to be conducted in the
auditorium at the County
Administration Building,
Suite 220.
opments from the limit.
The limit does not affect
the number of public hearings
that can be conducted.
Neighboring counties
Cherokee and Gwinnett
impose rezoning limits of six
and 14, respectively.
In addition to limiting resi
dential rezoning applications,
the revisions:
• Eliminate zoning classifi
cations for Planned Unit
Developments (PUD), and
Conditional Use Permits
(CUP) for residential dwel
lings in commercial zones.
Miller said staff are adding
a mixed-use category to
encompass the PUD category
which allow intertwined com
mercial and residential com
munities; the revision should
be ready within months.
“In the interim, people
seeking to do a mixed-use
development can do this by
having a split zoning,” she
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said.
The revision will not affect
land that has already been
zoned for either of the classifi
cations.
• Empower the Board of
Commissioners to grant lot
size variances in certain cir
cumstances.
"The Board of Commis
sioners [requested] that they
be given the authority to grant
lot size variances,” Miller
said.
"As a result of the PUD
and CUP no longer being an
option at this point, the Board
of Commissioners was con
cerned about mixed-use
developments,” she said,
adding the variances are
specifically for the expansion
of existing PUDs, and rezon
ing applications that are
essentially forming a mixed
use development.
• Define the term “bed
room” to ensure properly
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, April 4,2004
sized septic tanks are installed
for homes.
“There has been a history
of people misrepresenting the
number of bedrooms in a
dwelling, and septic tanks are
currently failing,” Miller said.
• Allow CUPs for com
mercial horse stables in agri
culture zones.
The Planning Commission
recommended the revisions
while advising the Board of
Commissioners to ensure the
changes are fair before
approving them.
In other business, the
Planning Commission recom
mended the following resi
dential rezoning requests:
• A request from Dexter D.
Strickland to rezone 6.13
acres located on the north side
of Hendrix Road at the inter
section with Dexter Drive
from agricultural to residen
tial with a density of two
homes per acre.
PAGE 3A
Deadlines to submit
rezoning applications
Rezoning applications are
accepted on a monthly
basis. From the time an
application is submitted
barring postponements
it generally takes about
three months to go through
processes, including public
hearings, before the Board
of Commissioners makes a
decision on the request.
Applications must be
received by noon on the fol
lowing dates:
Friday, April 23, 2004
Friday, May 21,2004
Friday, June 25, 2004
Friday, July 23, 2004
Friday, Aug. 27, 2004
Friday, Sept. 24, 2004
Friday, Oct. 22, 2004
Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004,
5 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004,
5 p.m.