The Fayette Citizen-News Page
Friday, January 27, 1999
Planners seek clarification on tower location ordinance

By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

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Fayette County's Planning Commission tomorrow will ask the Board of Commissioners for clarification of its recent decision concerning rules for communications towers in the county.

Commissioners recently approved a new stand-alone ordinance governing placement of the controversial towers, but struck a provision that would have allowed more towers to be approved administratively, without public hearings.

Following last week's Planning Commission workshop, zoning administrator Kathy Zeitler said the planning board hopes the governing board's decision doesn't refer to towers along major thoroughfares.

"The ordinance was written to accommodate towers along the corridors," said Zeitler. The proposed law provided for administrative approval of towers up to 250 feet in height along the major highways, as long as they meet other restrictions. It also would have allowed administrative approval of some towers outside those corridors.

Zeitler said if the commission meant to include the highway corridors in its elimination of administrative approval, then the whole ordinance is moot. "We'll be asking them to extend the moratorium [imposed on tower approvals last year to give the county time to adopt an ordinance governing them] and go back to the drawing board with another tower ordinance," she said.

The commission will meet tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.

Among other business, commissioners will:

Consider a new ethics ordinance proposed by Commissioner Greg Dunn. The ordinance was a campaign issue for Dunn, elected to the board last November. His proposal would require that commissioners and key appointed officials disclose business relationships with anyone bringing requests before the board, and in some cases abstain from voting on those requests.

Conduct a public hearing on Michael and Theresa Holman's rezoning request to allow them to build four homes on 17.23 acres on McBride Road.

The Holmans are asking for a change from A-R (agricultural-residential, requiring minimum home sites of five acres) to R-80 (single family homes on three acres or more) zoning for the property, with plans to have family members move in.

Tim Toms said other residents of the area with similar plans have stuck with five-acre zoning, and the Holmans should, too. "We built our houses out in the country," he said. "It can be developed as it's currently zoned without any hardship to the owners."

But the land use plan calls for lots as small as two acres in the area, said the county Planning Commission recently. The panel recommend approval of the zoning change.

Have a public hearing on John Wieland Homes' request to rezone 77.47 acres from A-R to R-45, which allows lots as small as one acre. Wieland submitted plans to develop 47 homes, but agent Dan Fields said the company has pared its plan down to 40 homes. The Planning Commission said that's still too many homes for the site, Bernhard Road at Redwine Road, and is recommending denial of the request.

Discuss naming a natural gas preferred provider for county employees and local residents. Fayetteville and Peachtree City have named Peachtree Natural Gas their preferred provider using a negotiated rate, and the county is expected to do the same. The rates were negotiated jointly by the county and its cities.


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