Did you know
last night’s Planning Commission meeting included
a public hearing about changes to the county’s
Unified Land Development Code (ULDC)
related to land disturbances and water quality?
You wouldn’t have found out about that in the agenda,
because
it wasn’t posted anywhere you’d be likely to see it.
(Where does GLPC post the one physical copy of the agenda required by law,
anyway?)
Supposedly it was advertised in the Valdosta Daily Times,
but a search
of Public Notices in Statewide Database of Public Notices from Georgia’s Legal Organ Newspapers
for 1 June 2012 through 27 August 2012 finds nothing.
Here’s what
the agenda item for the 27 August 2012 GLPC meeting
(that we only know about because Gretchen went to that GLPC meeting
and asked County Planner Jason Davenport)
says:
From a procedural standpoint the amendment has been advertised in
the Valdosta Daily Times to fulfill legal requirements. Beyond
legal requirements staff has plans to post this agenda
item and draft ULDC on the Lowndes County Website at
http://www.lowndescounty.com/content.asp?pid=23&id=224. Regarding
staff review of the amendments, the TRC recommended for their approval
at their 08/16 regular meeting.
If you’d happened to look several levels deep on the Lowndes County website
you would have found
that undated announcement:
Please be advised that the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
(GLPC) and the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners (LCBOC) intend
to hold public hearings to consider text amendments to the Unified
Land Development Code (ULDC). ULDC Text Amendment TXT-2012-01
primarily addresses the Land Disturbance portion of the ULDC
(Appendix A). TXT-2012-01 also addresses the adoption of a version
of the ULDC that removes underline and strikethrough editing on
amendments previously approved by the Lowndes County Board of
Commissioners (LCBOC). The proposed changes and additional
background are available for downloading at the link below. Please
be patient when accessing or downloading the file as it is
approximately 6 MB. These amendments are scheduled to be considered
by the GLPC for recommendation on August 27th at 5:30 pm and then by
the LCBOC for a decision on September 11th at 5:30 pm. The Planning
Commission meeting will be held at 325 West Savannah Avenue and the
LCBOC meeting will be held in the County Commission Chamber at 327
North Ashley Street — 2nd Floor. For questions, comments, or
concerns please either make plans to attend and comment at either
public hearing, respond by e-mail, call (229) 671-2430, or visit the
LCBOC Planning Office at 327 North Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
between the hours of 8:00 am — 5:00 pm. Thank you in advance
for your time and consideration.
Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) TXT-2012-01 GLPC Agenda Item Copy (pdf)
LAKE has archived a copy of that PDF file
on the LAKE website in case it gets misplaced from the County’s website.
So you just missed the Planning Commission public hearing,
and your only chance for a public hearing is 11 September 2012
at the Regular Meeting of the Lowndes County Commission.
Unless of course they cancel that one too,
like they cancelled the one today.
What is this ULDC amendment about?
According to the agenda item:
ULDC Text Amendment TXT-2012-01 primarily addresses the Land
Disturbance portion of the ULDC (Appendix A). TXT-2012-01 also
addresses the adoption of a version of the ULDC that removes
underline and strikethrough editing on amendments previously
approved by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners (LCBOC).
Regarding the Land Disturbance Amendments, in 2011 the Georgia
Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Watershed Protection Branch
completed a review of the Land Disturbance portion of the ULDC (Also
known as the Lowndes County Soil Erosion, Sedimentation and
Pollution Control Ordinance). The Georgia EPD noted various minor
changes that needed to be made in the ordinance. It is important to
honor these changes because Lowndes County Engineering has been
issued a Local Issuing Authority status for the review of Land
Disturbance Permits, Issuance of Land Disturbance Permits, and Site
Inspections. This Local Issuing Authority status primarily helps
because if there were not a ‘Local Issuing Authority’ the
various responsibilities would be handled in Atlanta instead of
Lowndes County. Maintaining the Land Disturbance portion of the ULDC
is a vital part of maintaining Local Issuing Authority status. The
impacts of these amendments are anticipated to address EPD’s
changes so that Lowndes County can maintain Local Issuing Authority
status, remove various typographical errors in the appendix, and
help solidify the intent of the appendix by clarifying the various
cross references mentioned below. Regarding the Underline and
Strikethrough Editing, the ULDC requires that amendments be
presented in a strikethrough and underline format (10.02.07(B)(2)).
Previously staff presented the amendments in this format as a part
of the actual entire ULDC code to be adopted. With the adoption of
these amendments staff is presenting the strikethrough and underline
format as a part of the staff report so that, should these
amendments be adopted, the amendments within the attached ULDC can
be shown and published in a completed and edited format. An example
of how this works may be seen by comparing the unedited and edited
ULDC versions at the following website
http://www.lowndescounty.com/content.asp?pid=23&id=224.
The impacts
of these amendments are anticipated to solidify a single edited
version of the ULDC and provide for the removal of the underline and
strikethrough language from previously approved amendments.
So it appears to be clerical work required by the state EPD.
But how could you have known that?
And how could you have known where the specific changes are
so you could look to see if they matched that description?
-jsq