Gilmer County commissioners decided to table proposed changes to the land use ordinance pending more conversation following public input.
A decision could be made about lifting a development moratorium at a Feb. 10 meeting, according to discussion. Commissioners also asked for a meeting with the planning and zoning board.
“What I want to do is best for the community,” said Chairman Charlie Paris following an hour of public comment at a special meeting Jan. 29. “It’ll be a rough process. Not one I look forward to, but, it will be a long process.”
He said the proposed changes were a reaction to citizens concerned about growth in Gilmer County possibly getting out of hand.
“What we do want is to make sure Gilmer County continues to be the rural, agricultural based county that we all either grew up in or came here for,” he said. “We are growing at a very rapid pace right now, and we don’t want that to result in an absolute change of the nature of this county.”
Many of the regulations call for increased acreage for different uses including being zoned as agriculture or building a home. These would provide for less density, Paris said.
A majority of speakers at the meeting spoke against the proposed changes.
Crystal Chastain asked the board to step back and take a harder look at the proposed changes.
“I think you are limiting affordable housing for our workforce here in the community,” she said. “I really think that a teacher or EMT or policeman can’t afford to build a $500,000 house or buy one.”
Proposed changes to the ordinance would drive the price of real estate up.
Post Commissioner Karleen Ferguson said she was concerned about workforce housing.
“It is balance,” she said. “We are just trying to figure out how to control the masses that want to be here.”
Demand is hot in Gilmer County for homes, she said.
Devell Frady said he was a local builder, but he was there for a different reason.
“I think we are creating unintentional ramifications here,” he said. “We are creating a class division with these proposals.”
He said housing prices would rise as manufacturing goes down, thus pricing people out of the market.
It would also limit the people with smaller acreage from subdividing their land for their children, he said.
“I think we are hurting the taxpayer with a small amount of acreage,” Frady said.
He referenced acreage which was printed in last week’s Times-Courier.
County Attorney David Clark said some confusion may be about the amount of acreage, because the acreage limits printed in the newspaper were wrong.
He said a R-1 3-acre minimum was reduced to a 2-acre minimum in the current draft. Also, the acreage in an R-2 would go to 1.25 acres, a 5-acre minimum on an A-1 designation.
“Let me say, what the Times-Courier printed, they received directly from us,” said Paris. “So, they printed what we told them, it’s just this has been a constantly changing environment.”
Keith Sumner, who identified himself as a builder and sometime developer, said the changes would be advantageous for him.
“It would be very lucrative for me,” he said. “However, I am not so sure I believe that is what is best for the county.”
Commissioners need to consider what the effects will be on the local people, he said.
“This may be the greatest thing in the world, I don’t know, but it just doesn’t feel like it is the right thing for this community at this time,” he said.
He urged commissioners to look at other counties and see if similar changes were made and what the consequences were to those counties.
“It’s your responsibility to have these answers,” he said.
At the end of the discussion, Paris made a motion to table the land use ordinance.
“My personal feeling is that we table it and look at it some more,” he said.
Clark pointed out the proposed changes came about because of a moratorium on development which ends in April. Roads were a major component of the problem which brought about the moratorium.
He encouraged the board not to extend the moratorium because it would create a hardship on builders and developers.
“Roads are what brought this to light,” he said.
It was suggested separating proposed road requirement changes in the ordinance and other possible land use changes. No decision was made.
Ferguson asked for a meeting with the planning and zoning board. Paris said he would like to get input from others, including the builders’ association.
Post Commissioner Hubert Parker suggested making a decision on ending the moratorium at the Feb. 10 meeting.