On Friday, Nov. 3, the Athens-Clarke County Planning Department published the latest draft of the proposed zoning ordinance and development standards for Athens-Clarke County. The Commission plans to vote on whether to adopt the proposed ordinance, which includes two zoning options for Agricultural Residential districts, at its Tuesday, Dec. 5 meeting. Athens Grow Green Coalition calls on the Athens-Clarke County Commission to reject the proposed zoning ordinance in its present form as inconsistent with the unanimously agreed-upon Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the wishes of the citizens of the county. Athens Grow Green Coalition urges the commission to pass no zoning code until a new proposal that prevents sprawl and protects strategic green space can be developed.
The proposed ordinance is not a compromise between the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the current Athens-Clarke County zoning ordinance. A zoning ordinance based on the Comprehensive Land Use Plan will provide better protection from sprawl than the current zoning ordinance does, while the ordinance under consideration will erode the protections against sprawl that exist under the current ordinance.
The Comprehensive Land Use Plan specifically calls for protecting rural areas of Athens-Clarke County from suburban development by keeping residential densities low and using Transferable Development Rights. TDRs allow rural landowners to realize the economic benefits of development by selling rights (awarded to them as part of a comprehensive green space protection plan) that can be used to build at a higher density in designated residential areas. The proposed ordinance not only fails to implement a TDR program, it threatens the effectiveness of a future TDR program by increasing the density of the in-town Residential districts so that no economic incentive for using development credits would exist.
By facilitating the immediate building of suburban "conservation subdivisions" throughout all AR districts, the proposed ordinance encourages, rather than discourages, sprawl and loss of green space in the outlying areas of the county. In fact, the proposed ordinance, in direct violation of Comprehensive Land Use Plan's Guiding Principles previously adopted by the commission, would authorize residential development at higher densities than is currently permitted in agricultural areas.
One option under the proposed ordinance would permit greater densities of development on all AR land in the county. The Athens Grow Green Planning Committee has denounced this proposal as regressive and directly contradictory to the wishes of thousands of ordinary citizens to stop sprawl in Athens-Clarke County. While the concept of conservation subdivisions is a good one, AR districts are the wrong place for them. They should be located in the Residential Single Family districts; yet the proposed ordinance creates no requirements or incentives for conservation subdivisions in the RS districts at all.
Let's not move backward - instead, let's work together to fine tune the elements of a TDR program that will prevent inefficient and costly sprawl and preserve the quality of life that makes Athens so desirable. Retaining our current zoning, while we work together to develop an ordinance that truly protects Athens-Clarke County from sprawl, is a far better option than adopting the proposed ordinance.
Athens Grow Green Coalition, formed in September 2000 by Athens residents, works to ensure the implementation of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan to protect the environment, reduce sprawl, and preserve a high quality of life.
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