By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

The Fayette County Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval of a new set of environmental regulations to satisfy state requirements.

The new regulations will support a recently approved chapter on natural and historic resources in the county's land use plan.

Much of what is contained in the three sets of regulations to address the environmental concerns was already included in county development regulations, said senior planner Pete Frisina, but now will be packaged in a form more acceptable to the state Department of Community Affairs, though there are some new provisions.

Having to rewrite the ordinance to satisfy the state agency caused one commission member to bristle. “You now have a DCA that in some cases is superceding the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency],” said Al Gilbert. “Somehow some sanity has to be brought back. More tiers of government is not what people are looking for.”

The laws address wetlands, watershed protection and ground water recharge area protection. The chapter on water recharge areas is entirely new.

Under the wetlands ordinance, county engineers would determine whether a development is likely to have an impact on a wetland area, and involve the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers if that's the case.

The second ordinance identifies the county's large and small watersheds and includes an official watershed map of the county.

Also, the law requires buffers between developments and areas defined as watershed, and defines the types of uses allowed within those buffers. Recreational uses like golf courses and ball fields will be prohibited in the stream buffers if the County Commission approves the changes.

Experts in the county Engineering Department will administer the ground water recharge protection ordinance, which restricts the intensity of development allowed in recharge areas. Recharge areas are those in which rain water seeps into the ground to resupply the water table.

Planning Commissioners approved the new regulations unanimously. The County Commission will consider them in a public hearing June 22, 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.

During that meeting, the commission also will consider the Planning Commission's recommendation that the land use plan for the southern part of the county not be changed.

County Commission members earlier had asked the planning panel to study the plan for possible revisions. For the most part, the plan calls for low-density residential development, with homes on lots of five acres or more.

Planners decided there's no reason to change that, in light of the high concentration of wetlands and poor soils in the area.