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What the Comprehensive
Plan unanimously approved by the Commission in 1999 says:
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What the Commission’s
current proposal does:
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| "Approximately
26,000 acres of the community are designated as rural. Protection
of these areas from development is one of the objectives of
this plan." (Section 9-8) |
Encourages
development in rural areas. (Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4 Options
A and B) |
| "Prohibited
uses in this [rural] area would be commercial, industrial
and residential subdivisions." (Section 9-8) |
Promotes
the development of residential subdivisions. (Section 9-5-3,
9-5-4 Options A and B) |
| "It
is the overall goal of this plan that overall densities of
this [rural] area not exceed 10 acres per unit." (Section
9-8) |
Allows
densities ranging from a low of 1 unit per 5 acres up to .6
units per acre under Option B or 1 unit per acre under Option
A. (Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4 Options A and B) |
| "In
addition to regulation, the acquisition of development rights
through either a transfer of development rights program, or
an outright purchase of development rights, should protect
key parcels." (Section 9-8) |
Fails
to create a Transferable Development Rights Program and inhibits
the future creation of such a program by raising densities
in other Residential sections, rendering them essentially
useless as "receiving areas" for development credits.
(Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4, Options A and B, 9-32, 9-7, 9-8, 9-10) |
| What
the Guiding Strategies and Policies unanimously approved by
the Commission says: |
What
the Commission’s current proposal does: |
| Create
incentives for agricultural areas on the periphery of the
urban area to remain as productive agricultural lands by using
techniques such as transfer of development rights, conservation
easements and open space subdivisions." |
Fails
to create incentives and doesn't use TDRs or conservation
easements; promotion of "conservation subdivisions"
alone does not encourage agriculture, it encourages building
residential conservation subdivisions. (Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4
Options A and B, 9-32) |
| "Designate
areas that are predominantly rural in character as a boundary
for limiting expansion of urban development." |
Fails
to create such a boundary; subdivisions with average densities
of 1 unit per .6, 1, 2.5 or even 5 acres aren’t rural
in character, they’re suburban. (Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4
Options A and B, 9-7-3) |
| "Incorporate
the connection, maintenance and enhancement of greenspace
in all new development." |
Requires
retaining 50% open space (not necessarily contiguous) in subdivisions
larger than 10 acres in the AR zones, but only 5 % in the
Residential Single Family (RS) zones; and no mention at all
is made of connectivity between the open spaces of different
subdivisions. (Section 9-5-4 Options A and B, 9-7-6) |
| Cluster
development in a manner to protect environmentally-sensitive
areas such as habitats, flood plains, and open space." |
Requires
clustering only in subdivisions larger than 10 acres in the
AR zones, and not at all in RS zones, with no mention of environmentally
sensitive areas. (Section 9-5-4 Options
A and B, 9-7-3, 9-7-4, 9-7-6) |
| Limit
the amount of urban development within Athens-Clarke County
to areas that can be reasonably served by public infrastructure." |
Promotes
development of subdivisions in the AR zone regardless of infrastructure.
(ACC Comprehensive Plan Maps 6-10, 6-12, 6-13, 6-16 showing
location of services and ACC Proposed Zoning Map) |
| What
the Guiding Objectives unanimously approved by the Commission
says: |
What
the Commission’s current proposal does: |
| "Our
community will use land effectively to avoid the costs and
problems associated with urban sprawl." |
Promotes
sprawl by encouraging residential subdivisions in the AR zone.
(Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4 Options A and B) |
| "We
will preserve the rural character and the opportunity for
agricultural and forestry activities to remain a vital part
of our community." |
Threatens
rural character and opportunity for agriculture by promoting
the segmentation of AR land into residential subdivisions,
with no corresponding incentive for keeping agricultural and
forestry lands in those uses. (Section 9-5-3, 9-5-4 Options
A and B) |
| "We
will develop a recognizable transition from the urban to the
rural areas of our community." |
Enables
turning the rural area of the county into a suburban area
with average densities of up to 1.67 units per acre. (Section
9-5-4 Options A and B) |
| "We
will support urban and suburban development where it can be
adequately served by public facilities as designated in the
Comprehensive Plan." |
Supports
development where it can’t be adequately served by public
facilities. (ACC Comprehensive Plan Maps 6-10, 6-12, 6-13,
6-16 showing location of services and ACC Proposed Zoning
Map) |
