Commission chair wants to start long process toward land use law

Chairman Tommy Lyon told his fellow Elbert County Commissioners last week that it’s time for the county to start the long process to put in place a zoning law.

Lyon told commissioners Thursday that he wanted them to make a motion to reinstitute the county’s land use committee, add a couple of members and get them working on a land use planning law.

Lyon expected the motion at Tuesday’s regular meeting of the commissioners. That meeting was held after presstime.

“This is to protect the farmer as much as it is the homeowner as much as it does industry,” Lyon said of a future zoning law. “This requires thought.”

Both Lyon and County Administrator Bob Thomas said that instituting a zoning law would be a long process that could take two to three years.

Lyon said the county’s land use committee should start with updating the county’s comprehensive plan.

The comprehensive plan, required to be updated periodically by the state government, gives a general outline of what the future of the county should look lie, Thomas said.

A zoning law would be a site-specific plan of where different kinds of land uses - agriculture, industry, residential, etc. - would be allowed in the future, Thomas said.

Lyon said any zoning law would allow variances, but the key to a good law is to do a good study and think 10-15 years down the road.

The chairman suggested that commissioners get copies of zoning laws from neighboring Franklin, Oglethorpe, Wilkes and Madison counties and look at what those counties have done.

“Let’s look at what’s best for Elbert County,” Lyon said.

“That’s what everybody wants, what’s best for Elbert County,” Commissioner Horace Harper said.

Without a zoning law, Harper said, anyone can bring any kind of industry to Elbert County and there’s nothing commissioners can do about it.

“The chances of that happening without us having something in place is very good,” Harper said.

Lyon said the first step is to tell the land use committee to revise the comprehensive plan.

Lyon told commissioners he would contact land use committee members Dorothy Lomant, Rod Daniel, Neal Cromer, Casey Freeman Jr. and Joe Brown and ask if they wanted to continue working on the committee.

Lyon also said he wanted to add a farmer and a homeowner to the committee and would be open to adding others.

County attorney Bill Daughtry suggested a developer and a representative from the granite industry for the committee.

The idea of additional members brought objections from Commissioners Tim Case and Jerry Hewell.

Case said if they there are seven or nine members of the board, the committee would get away from representing the people of the county. The current committee has one member from each commission district.

Hewell said more members might mean that it will be harder for the committee to agree on decisions.

“I think you’re going to wind up with too many,” Hewell said.

Lyon also suggested that the name of the committee be changed to “planning committee,” instead of “land use committee.”

Case said that he has been told that if a zoning law is not done properly, it could “destroy the county.”

Lyon agreed.

“It’s a very serious subject,” Lyon said. “We need to take it seriously.”