Which Do You Want:
Sprawl or Sprawl?

Two "emerging" options for rural zoning were presented to the Athens-Clarke County Commission at a Sept. 28 development ordinance work session.
The ordinance is the enabling legislation for Athens-Clarke's comprehensive land use plan, which will guide development in the county over the next 20 years.
The original land use regulations called for an AR [Agricultural Residential] zone of one unit [house] per 10 acres of land in the county's rural "greenbelt." Under pressure from Realtors® and some rural property owners, the Commission raised the density to one unit per five acres. Despite criticism from constituents who want the Commission to adhere to the land use plan's guiding principles, proposed rural densities have only gone up. At one point half the Commissioners - Charles Carter, Alvin Sheats, Hugh Logan, Marilyn Farmer and Linda Ford - said they supported one unit per acre development in the greenbelt.
The "emerging" options, as Mayor Doc Eldridge called them, range from an average density of one unit per 2.5 acres to one unit per .6 acres (with a clustering bonus) to one unit per acre (with no bonus).
The option most Commissioners seem to prefer includes both an AR-1 and an AR-5 zone. The AR-5 prescribes one unit per five acres, with an average development density of one unit per 2.5 acres, with clustering, if 50 percent of the "gross area is dedicated as common open space." Developments without clustering would have to be built at one unit per five acres.
The AR-1 allows one unit per acre without clustering - which would readily accommodate "cookie cutter" subdivisions - or 1.6 units per acre with a clustering bonus.
There is at least one possible glitch, however. Any clustering in areas not served by public water and sewer would have to rely on "sewer package systems," which have not been approved for use in Athens-Clarke County. Without common sewer service, houses would need septic tanks, thus requiring a minimum lot size of 25,500 square feet.
At the work session, Commissioner Cardee Kilpatrick said she is concerned that the sewer package systems may be more expensive than anticipated. Commissioner Ken Jordan pointed out that the Green Acres subdivision, a large Eastside development built some 30 years ago, still uses septic tanks.
The Commission will have to clear more public relations hurdles as well. The ordinance does not require "common open space" to be contiguous or undisturbed or to have any tree canopy. (Recreational facilities, such as golf courses, may also count toward the open space requirement.)
In addition, the Athens Grow Green Coalition, a consortium of neighborhood and local environmental groups, is picking up steam. The group, which wants one house per 20 acres in the greenbelt, is hosting a land use debate for Commission candidates on Oct. 23, and is planning other events related to the development ordinance.
The Commission has scheduled its next development ordinance work session for November 16.

Committee Eyes Land
And Water, No Trees

There is no way to estimate the economic effects of large-lot residential zoning in rural Athens-Clarke County, County Chief Appraiser George Hanson told Mayor Doc Eldridge and a group of ACC Commissioners on Monday, Sept. 25.
Hanson met with the Commission work team formed to help resolve policy issues within the new development ordinance. The group has gathered the past several Monday afternoons at the Planning Department office at 120 W. Dougherty Street.
Comprised of ACC Commissioners Linda Ford, Ken Jordan and Harry Sims, the team is advised by ACC Attorney Ernie DePascale and ACC planning staff. Any decisions made by the work team are subject to approval by the full Commission.
Hanson took only a few minutes to answer questions the Commission has grappled with for the last six months.
He told the work team that the real estate market would dictate rural "greenbelt" land values, and that there would be "no way to tell" what impact any zoning action would have. Some Commissioners have called for economic impact studies on various development ordinance provisions, including greenbelt housing densities.
Hanson also said that land turned over to the government or to a homeowners' association for preservation has no taxable value, and that common space adds value to surrounding homes. "Conservation subdivisions" - denser residential developments which maintain some green space - are not "anything new," Hanson said, and do not reduce government tax revenue. Hanson admitted that he has "no idea" of the economic repercussions of transferable development rights (TDRs), but said he would be willing to talk to officials in areas where TDRs are used.
The Commission has debated including TDRs in the new development ordinance to give rural landowners an incentive not to develop their property. Mayor Eldridge, DePascale, and several Commissioners are suspicious of the concept, saying they prefer to wait for the state legislature to adopt a more explicit TDR law before adopting them here.
As of this writing, the Commission was set for a line-item development ordinance vote on riparian buffers at its Oct. 3 session. The work team briefly addressed the subject, long enough for DePascale to say the state "seems to require" a 100-foot minimum development buffer on larger waterways. DePascale said 100 feet is "obviously some kind of political compromise," as there is no "rational" basis for it.
Commissioner Ken Jordan pointed out that the development ordinance steering committee has had no input in the many changes wrought on the regulations over the summer. He said the Commission has "basically rejected" the committee's opinions, and that its recommendations are now outdated.
The steering committee, formed to help craft the ordinance, is made up of representatives from the developer, builder, Realtor®, and neighborhood communities.
Steering committee neighborhood representative Scottie Atkinson, sitting with the small audience at the meeting, said that neither property rights nor density is sacrificed in the riparian buffer provision, and that the government loses no tax income.
"The idea here is that we weren't going to down-zone," DePascale said, adding that state buffer laws could possibly be altered.
Notably absent from the meeting was any discussion of tree canopies. The Future of Trees Committee - formed at the request of the ACC Urban Tree Advisory Committee as the development ordinance was being crafted - submitted its canopy recommendations to the full Commission in May. The Commission never addressed the report.
To maintain tree canopy, the latest draft of the development ordinance relies on a tree species list and a "Best Management Practices" (BMP) booklet for growing trees in Athens-Clarke. The code recommends that saplings planted have at least a two-inch diameter, but does not require it.
Future of Trees Committee member Carl Jordan told the work team on Sept. 6 that his committee's report was designed as an "application" of the BMP, as the BMP alone provides no incentive for preserving standing trees during development.
At the work team's Sept. 6 session, Jordan asked the Commissioners if the report was going to be "ignored." Jordan was told it would be presented to the Commission.
At the next work team meeting, Commissioner Ford told Jordan "we're not going to talk about trees today." The report was not on the work team's Sept. 25 agenda, nor was it on either of the full Commission's scheduled work session agendas.
At press time, the development regulations work team was scheduled to meet on Oct. 2, and again on Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. at 120 W. Dougherty Street. The Oct. 16 meeting is tentative, as it could not be confirmed by the Clerk of Commission.

Brad Aaron