First Reading of Amendments to County’s Land Use Ordinance Draws Resistance

At Tuesday’s regularly-scheduled meeting of the Stephens County Board of Commissioners, a first reading and the required Public Hearing was held on proposed changes to the county’s Land Use Ordinances. The bulk of the proposed amendments relate to poultry operations, with specific amendments increasing setback requirements put in place for the protection of surrounding property owners, while moving poultry operations from a conditional use to a by-right use as long as all county, state and federal requirements are met. These changes apply only to properties located in Agricultural Intensive zones, and do not apply to properties located in any other zone, including Agriculture Residential. 

Stephens County Administrator Christian Hamilton opened the public hearing, describing the proposed amendments. No action was taken regarding the proposed amendments at Tuesday’s meeting.

The Board will hold a second reading of the amendments at the next meeting of the Board and is expedited to vote on the adoption of the amendments at that meeting, which is scheduled for July 23.

Board members are available for consultation with members of the public prior to that expected vote. Contact information for all Board members is available attached to this story on wnegradio.com.

Four members of the public spoke at the public meeting on tuesday; WNEG will provide a special report detailing the comments from members of the public and clarifications on the proposed amendments and procedural details in tomorrow’s 8:11 a.m. broadcast and online on wnegradio.com tomorrow afternoon. 

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Board members approved moving forward with Phase II of a design study of a county annex building that would house a majority of county offices under one roof. As reported earlier by WNEG News, the project would involve the construction, under a future SPLOST referendum, of a new “Stephens County Government Annex” which would “consolidate all  the departments of local county government that serve the public, into one structure.” 

Initial project parameters would place county administration, including the office of the county administrator, the board of commissioners, the building department, the county clerk, the cooperative extension service office, the finance and accounts payable departments, human resources, maintenance, planning and zoning, the Marshal’s office, the tax commissioner office and tax assessor office and office space for Stephens County Economic Development.

WNEG News will provide more in-depth coverage of this project in Monday’s 8:11 a.m. News Broadcast and on wnegradio.com next Monday afternoon.