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Palmetto moving forward on new comprehensive plan

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
lbianchi@TheCitizenNews.com

The future is on the mind of Palmetto’s leaders. On Monday, the city held the first of two public hearings to discuss the preparation of a new comprehensive plan for the city of Palmetto.

Mayor J. Clark Boddie and the City Council listened as Danny Mabry, director of municipal management services for Keck and Wood, Inc., explained the outline of future goals for the city.

The plan is required by the state of Georgia which adopted the “Georgia Planning Act” in 1989. The act requires that local governments meet certain minimum responsibilities to maintain “Qualified Local Government” (QLG) status for eligibility to receive certain state funding. All local governments must complete an updated comprehensive plan before the year 2008. Specific deadlines have been issued throughout the state. Fulton County’s deadline for a revised plan is October 31,2005. A first draft of the plan must be ready by June 30 of next year.

A three-step process is used for the creation of the new plan. First an inventory of existing conditionss must be made. Second, an assessment of current and future needs is required. Third, an articulation of community goals and an associated implementation program have to be completed.

In addition, five topics are listed in the statewide goals. These are economic development, natural and historic resources, community facilities and services, housing, and land use goals.

In conjunction with the projected plan for Palmetto, a solid waste management plan must be prepared. The mayor and council held a public hearing to inform the public of this additional planning process.

The Solid Waste Management Act, passed in 1990 was most recently updated at the beginning of the year. Adhering to the same time frame as the comprehensive plan, the sold waste plan will cover waste disposal stream analysis, waste reduction, collection, disposal, land limitation, education and public involvement, and an implementation schedule.

The second public hearing on the revisions of the city’s plans will be at the December 2 city council meeting.

A third public hearing was held Monday to consider revisions of the zoning ordinances to more clearly define regulations and zoning for personal care homes and child caring institutions. The Palmetto Planning and Zoning Board met on October 21 to discuss the fine points of the current definition of family contained in Article III Section 3-47 of the city’s zoning codes.

Three levels of personal care were defined. The first level, family, was changed from three to six persons that are unrelated in a residence. The second level, group, was defined as seven to 15 persons residing in a single home. The third, congregate, covered any residence with 16 or more persons. These numbers were also used to define any child care facility.

The “family personal care home” was designated to be in zoning districts A, R-1, R-2 and R-3. The “group personal care home” and “congregate personal care home” were designated as commercial zoning C-1 and C-2. The same zoning restrictions were given to child caring institututions.

A second public hearing concerning the zoning revisions for personal and child care homes will be read at the December 2 city council meeting.