Commissioners Override Veto

Wednesday, Dec. 20. At a special called Commission meeting Tuesday night, the ACC Commission voted 7-3 to override Mayor Doc Eldridge's veto of the zoning ordinance they adopted on Dec. 5. This vote means that the pro-sprawl zoning ordinance goes into effect as of today.

The Mayor vetoed the ordinance because he believed that with a little more effort and time, we could have come up with a zoning ordinance that prevents sprawl, protects the greenbelt, provides for affordable housing, and does more to protect the rights of property owners. Commissioners John Barow, Tom Chasteen and Ken Jordan agreed with him, and voted to sustain the veto. But thanks to Commissioners Charles Carter, Marilyn Farmer, Linda Ford, Cardee Kilpatrick, Alvin Sheats, and Harry Sims, we instead have a zoning ordinance that allows for haphazard suburban-density development throughout the county.

What does this mean for Athens-Clarke? Some likely possibilities:

  • Higher taxes. Since development can now take place anywhere throughout the county, with no planning based on existing infrastructure services, the county will have to provide those services wherever the developers choose to build, following a timeline set by development. The responsible decision would have been for the county to decide where to focus development, which would have minimized costs by allowing infrastructure to be extended incrementally.
  • Increased air and water pollution. As roads are extended, impervious surface area increases, which leads to even more water-polluting run-off. The increased distance and number of car trips will contribute to further degradation of our air quality.
  • Degradation of low-income neighborhoods. Since more community resources will now be required to build roads, schools, fire and police substations and extend water and sewer services all over the county, there will be less for investment in in-town neighborhoods.
  • Loss of rural land. Since the entire AR zone is now considered developable, its assessed value will rise, making it practically unaffordable for those who want to keep their land agricultural to be able to do so.

These effects may not be felt within the next year, or the year after that; but the zoning ordinance now in place is almost guaranteed to bring them about over time.