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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. 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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 ESTEE LAUDER GIFT TIME! CHOOSE YOUR SHADES, FREE WITH ANY 23.50 OR MORE ESTEE LAUDER PURCHASE, WORTH $65! 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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.