County Has Options for Character Areas, Starts Comp Plan Process

The county held its first public hearing for its five year comprehensive plan update late last week. Previously, the plan was linked to controversy due to its inclusion of character area plans. In February, during a planning and zoning meeting Yellow Creek resident Wesley Weaver presented a petition with 381 signatures criticizing allegedly proposed guidelines for character areas within the forthcoming comprehensive plan update. During the meeting, Weaver also called for Planning and Zoning Board Member Phil Anderson’s resignation for allegedly suggesting certain restrictive guidelines of character areas in the comprehensive plan. While presenting the petition before the planning and zoning board, Weaver alluded to some of these perceived restrictive guidelines.

“We do not voluntarily agree to have our behavior controlled by or refined by restrictive covenants,”

Weaver said,

“We did not agree that we could only paint our houses a certain color; we did not agree that we could not put signs in our yards; we did not agree that we could not have old cars in our yards; we did not agree that we are prohibited from cutting trees in our own yards.”

In March, Anderson resigned and was replaced by Maurice “Toddy” Hendrix, whose term was extended to December 2016 tonight by Commissioner Robert Jones.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) defines a character area plan as any plan that addresses the issues of a portion of the government’s jurisdiction.

“The planning will be focused and more detailed,”

the DCA website says, “likely considering desired development patterns on a parcel-by-parcel basis.” But, the DCA has recently revised some of its requirements. For instance, rather than requiring character area plans (Pickens has 16), the DCA offers counties and cities the option of developing a character area map (character plans) or a future land use map. County Public Relations and Information Director Norman Pope said that most places around the state prefer future land use maps over character area plans.

“A future land use map is much easier to identify those areas where you might want future commercial development or residential or industrial,”

Pope said.

Presenting at last week’s meeting, Northwest Georgia Regional Commission (NWGRC) Assistant Director of Regional Planning Barnett Chitwood said the first hearing is required and addresses the comprehensive plan process. Cities and the county must first complete a series a paperwork, including a Community Work Program, Report of Accomplishments, Need and Opportunities, and Either a Character Area Map or a Future Land Use Map. After the paperwork is complete, which includes public input, local governments will hold a second public hearing. After public approval, the draft paperwork is submitted to the DCA. The DCA will then send a letter of approval to the governments with a letter verifying their Qualified Local Government Status, which is necessary to receive state grants and loans.

Also, the current process requires a 60 day waiting period in the middle of the process. However, Chitwood said that this requirement may be eliminated come January when the Georgia General Assembly convenes, when Legislature will vote to omit this period from the process. Chitwood said the county can gain a month by the elimination of the 60-day wait time.

Pope said that a previous criticism of comp plans was that the state was dictating categories to counties and cities. Now, though, he said the state allows counties and cities the flexibility of deciding their own categories. As such, at the beginning of the hearing questionnaires were available, asking citizens what areas of their community are most important to them.

“It (The Comp Plan) should not be determined by a few select individuals or a few elected officials,”

Pope said,

“There needs to be input from through out the community, based on what the community feels like (sic) are the priority items.”

Pickens County first adopted a comprehensive plan in 1993 and completed a five year update in 1998. The county was scheduled to update the plan again in 2003, but was postponed due to the heavy workload at the DCA office. Pickens then completed a full update in 2008. According to Chitwood, comprehensive plans project ten year periods, but are updated every five years.

Justifying the plan, Pope said comprehensive plans help prepare communities for future growth. He noted the growth rate in Pickens County from 1990 to 2000 was 59.3 percent and from 2000 to 2010 was 28 percent. In 1990, he said the county population was 14,000 and 2012, 30,000.

“I don’t know what the next ten years will bring,”

he said,

“but I hope we’re better prepared that we were the first ten years.”