First reading of revised land use ordinance passes
Gilmer County commissioners decided to delay enforcing the county’s short-term rental ordinance until April, blaming the vendor GovOS for the change.
“They just haven’t gotten it together, yet,” said Gilmer County Chair Charlie Paris. “We felt like we had to postpone it. I’m not really happy so far with them.”
GovOS is developing a packet of information for short-term rental owners and managers, said Paris. It is not ready.
Because of this and the training which needs to be done with various county personnel, commissioners decided a later date of implementation was needed.
Short-term rental owners and managers need time to digest the information and perform all the tasks necessary for a license, Paris said.
Commissioners made the decision as they passed tweaks to the short-term rental ordinance. Paris said the additions brought the county in line with fire safety codes.
The decision was made during the work session and regular session Nov. 13 and 14.
Land use ordinance
Commissioners approved changes to the county land use ordinance.
A major change was moving the ability to subdivide land from once every year to once every five years.
Originally the intent of the rule was to keep developers from circumventing the rules governing subdivisions.
Lengthening the time between divisions should help toward this end, said Paris.
Exceptions were built into the ordinance for family to subdivide land for other family members.
“That is outside the bounds of what we wanted to prevent,” said Paris.
Included in the new version of the land use ordinance was a change to the cryptomining zoning. It will now require 50 acres of land and a 500 foot setback.
Cryptomining is banned in Gilmer County. The zoning is a protective measure in case the state legislature prohibits the ban.
Other changes included tweaking requirements for roads and shoulder right of ways for subdivisions.
In one example, commissioners decided to allow a variance to the 16 percent grade rule for class D roads.
Roads in this designation can be at an 18 percent grade for 500 feet provided they are paved and then must return to the 16 percent grade for 2,500 feet before being able to vary again.
The first reading of the revised land use ordinance passed unanimously. It requires one more reading to pass.
Other business
In other business, county commissioners:
﹣ set the terms of the election board to two years for Jim Cole and Ronda Weiss and three years for the other three board members.
﹣ was informed by Paris the county is switching cell service from Verizon to T-Mobile.
﹣ adopted a final ordinance banning cryptomining in the county.
﹣ adopted a sign ordinance banning electronic billboards along Hwy. 515.
﹣ welcomed back HR director Partrick Ho who will return to the county Nov. 25.