Wednesday, May 9, 2001
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Wednesday, May 9, 2001 |
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Tree law changes delayed By DAVE
HAMRICK
It's back to the drawing board for proposed changes to Fayette County's tree ordinance. The county Planning Commission had planned to vote on the changes, aimed at regulating commercial timbering operations, at last week's business meeting, but decided to take another look at it after land owner Gerald Woolsey raised some objections. Woolsey said he recently "thinned" a 200-acre property, cutting down about half of the trees to get rid of diseased ones and give the remaining ones more room to grow, a common practice. The proposed tree ordinance changes require that some trees be preserved from the timbering, and requires that the owner mark the ones to be saved. "Under your ordinance, I would have had to mark each of about 15,000 trees," Woolsey said, "with no benefit to the public but exorbitant cost to the land owner." He said the ordinance changes also make no provision for a situation in which adjoining property owners decide to timber their land as a single operation. The ordinance changes would require a 50-foot buffer on all sides of a parcel to protect adjoining property owners, yet in this case the buffer would be protecting no one, Woolsey said. Commissioners discussed some possible ways around those problems, such as a separate section of the ordinance devoted to thinning operations. The group will take the matter up at its work session, May 17 at 7 p.m. In other business last week, the commission unanimously recommended approval of three rezoning requests: Frances Loyd's request for office-institutional zoning for 4.6 acres on Ga. Highway 54 at Flat Creek Trail for an office park. Becky Morris, agent for Loyd, said plans for the property include a bank and three residential-style office buildings. Mark Wurster's request to change zoning from M1 conditional to M1 for one parcel on Walter Way in the Kenwood Business Park. The rest of the park is already zoned M1, and this one parcel was inadvertently zoned M1 with special conditions. Plans are to lease the space to Tusc Cheer Lab, which has been teaching cheerleading classes using the facilities of Fayette Ballet and is ready for its own facility, said Wurster. Mary Katherine Reid's plan to add a half acre to her 1.5-acre lot on Dogwood Trail for a home. She is asking for R-70 zoning, which allows homes on two-acre lots. The requests go to the County Commission May 24 for a final decision. The commission meets at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex. Because the commission is currently operating with four members instead of the usual five due to Harold Bost's recent resignation, the petitioners may, if they choose, have their requests held until after a special election to choose Bost's replacement.
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