Athens commission expands power to amend zoning ordinance

Athens-Clarke County commissioners recently amended the county’s zoning ordinance to give themselves more power over how the ordinance is changed.

With a unanimous vote, commissioners last week approved an ordinance amendment presented by the county planning department staff, while rejecting a proposal from the county-commission-appointed planning commission.

Briefly, the planning commission, which acts in an advisory capacity to the county commission on zoning-related issues, had wanted to rely on an ordinance provision that allowed the county commission only to cast a “yes” or “no” vote on a text amendment coming from the planning commission.

Commissioners can now change the language of a proposed text amendment when it comes in front of them without sending it back to the planning commission for review and resubmission to the full commission.

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The amended ordinance doesn’t specifically preclude the county commission from sending a proposed text amendment back to the planning commission for additional work, but it seemed clear that county commissioners likely won’t often exercise that option.

“… I think it’s crucial that this body have the real final say on these things. … We’re the democratically elected representatives of the people,” said Commissioner Melissa Link in making the motion to approve the staff-recommended change to the zoning ordinance.

Over her nearly 10 years on the commission, Link said, commissioners have wrestled with text amendments that, along with positive impacts on the community, could have had negative impacts on some portions of Athens-Clarke County.

“And us, being those who know these very specific small pockets of the community, are best suited to tweak that language to assure that there aren’t unintended harms brought to certain often voiceless segments of our community,” Link contended.

“… (W)e’re the ones that get the phone calls and the angry emails, and we’re the ones that have the face-to-face, day-to-day conversations with folks who don’t have planning commissioners’ (phone) numbers, who aren’t going to show up at planning commission meetings,” Link continued. “We’ve developed … relationships with those folks, and they would feel more comfortable relaying their concerns to us.”

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The ordinance amendment was prompted by a February directive from Mayor Kelly Girtz that the planning commission review the then-existing procedure for zoning ordinance text amendments.

The mayor’s directive was prompted by an initial deadlock at the commission’s February meeting over the question of the commission enacting a short-term rental regulation ordinance including a two-year “sunset” provision for short-term rental (STR) housing that does not conform to county regulations.

Under that provision, put in place by the planning commission, any STRs found to be operating outside the provisions of the zoning ordinance would have two years from the time that the county identifies STRs in the community to recoup any investment they had in their STR properties. After that time, the property would have to conform to the zoning ordinance.

The February deadlock was broken, and the ordinance was adopted unanimously by the commission, only after Girtz’s directive to the planning commission to review the text amendment procedure.

But at the same time, Girtz directed the commission’s Government Operations Committee to review the STR ordinance for potential further changes. That action has raised the real possibility that the ordinance approved by commissioners in February will see further changes.

STRs have become an issue in recent months as residents of some neighborhoods have complained about the large number of people and associated parking and other problems that have accompanied STR properties.

STR properties, particularly those close to the University of Georgia in places like the Five Points neighborhood, are popular temporary lodging for UGA football fans and for many other public events.

Under the new procedure for amending the zoning ordinance, the final shape of any changes regarding STRs will be within the sole purview of the county commission, regardless of what the planning commission may recommend.

One of the potential changes the Government Operations Committee is considering is an appeal process that would allow some STRs to operate beyond the two-year sunset provision if owners can demonstrate they can’t recoup their investment within that time.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Athens commission empower themselves to make zoning changes