Friday, December 28, 2001
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Friday, December 28, 2001 |
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Brown wants development moratorium By JOHN
MUNFORD Nothing screams "STOP!" like a moratorium. And if incoming Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown has his way, the City Council will back his request for a 90-day moratorium on a host of development activities, including site plan approvals, subdivision plat approvals, landscape plan approvals and applications for rezoning and annexation. The concept is on the agenda for Brown's first council meeting, slated for Thursday, Jan. 3. Brown said he thinks the city needs the three months to put the finishing touches on the update of its comprehensive land use plan, a project the Peachtree City Planning Commission has been working on for over a year. He also added that the idea had the support of city staff and City Attorney Rick Lindsey. Specifically, Brown wants to focus on a few key areas, including: Refining the city's land use ordinances. Insuring that new federal and state mandates on stormwater management are followed. A thorough study of the changes recommended by the planning commission. A requirement for developers to insure that newly-planted trees live beyond the first two or three years after the site is developed. The addition of overlay zones in certain areas of the city to add requirements beyond the normal zoning regulations. Brown said he doesn't want council to be rushed through approving the comprehensive land use plan. He also wants council to consider refining the land use ordinances to make them "more user friendly." The stormwater regulations are also crucial "so that the taxpayers are not having to pay millions of dollars retrofitting future projects," Brown said. Currently, members of the city's planning staff have required developers to agree to replace any newly planted vegetation that dies within the first year of planting. But Brown argues the city doesn't have any teeth to that requirement. "Currently, we ask developers to plant large numbers of trees, but the city does not have any recourse if all the trees die in two or three years," Brown said. "The trees are important to Peachtree City and we need to insure that the trees remain on the site as the developer agreed."
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