When Senoia’s new council and mayor meet in January, one of the issues facing them in the short term will be the question of an historic overlay district.

During the Dec. 20 meeting, the city tabled further discussion of the issue for at least 60 days. The extra time will allow city administrator Richard Ferry to create models of proposed ordinances and bring them to the council.

For the last few months, the city has debated how the district should be governed and what process a homeowner would have to complete for an exterior home renovation.

In November, Councilman Bill Wood suggested that maybe it should be a voluntary district. But Lynn Miller, the historic district specialist at the Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Development Center is not sure that would work.

“I don’t know of any districts like that and am not sure that would be the optimal solution,” she said.

Ferry said the city could go with a full-blown historic district with public hearings and a historic preservation commission that could govern all exterior changes, or go with something less intense.

“There’s one proposal that would call for a public hearing if the changes increased the value of the home by 60 percent or more or if the footprint of the home changed,” he said.

The City Council seemed amenable to the less intensive ordinance, but decided to wait until Ferry could provide more information. Ferry said he would work with Miller and present alternatives to the council by the end of February.

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