Developers looking to add garden homes to the Jefferson County real estate landscape have often faced a road to futility. Perhaps change is on the way as the Development Services Department and others look to revamp rules and guidelines for such rezonings.
After a brisk agenda Thursday, Commission President Jimmie Stephens talked about the need to make changes in zoning regulations to fend off objections from residents of communities near proposed developments. Those objections have been key ingredients to a high rate of denials in rezoning requests.
“It is a very high denial rate,” said Development Services Director Josh Johnson. “Our principal planner pulled a report for us. Off the top of my head, I’d say probably 80% of them (requests to rezone to residential garden homes) or so have been denied that have come across our desks since 2019 or something like that. It’s a very high denial rate.”
Johnson said commissioners’ rulings have been consistent with what they’ve said and done in the past.
During Thursday’s meeting, Commissioner Lashunda Scales sought clarification of Stephens’ point.
“The past several meetings, we’ve had (rezoning requests) – some in Commissioner (Joe) Knight’s district, maybe one or two in your (Scales’) district – that have come up that they’ve attempted to build something that the surrounding residents (objected),” he said. “It required a zoning change for them to accomplish what they wanted to do. What we’re doing now is trying to go back to the zoning ordinances, or the rules and regulations, and more precisely define those boundaries and areas and what they (developers) can do within those areas, so it will be clear.”
Said Scales: “Sounds like we want to quantify before we codify.”
Knight acknowledged that times have been difficult for building homes. In response, developers will buy land and crunch in as many houses as they can.
“Sometimes, it’s four or five houses per acre,” he said. “Number two is the fact that they encroach on the existing neighbors. Also, we want to address something specifically about building neighborhoods.”
Johnson said developers are coming in with rezoning requests in which they are trying to maximize their profitability, which is fair, but it’s his office’s responsibility to consider the big picture of managing growth and infrastructure in the county.
“We need to make sure that we’re roping in the school system with that review,” the Development Services director said. “We’re trying to do that and make sure that we’re not overburdening anything that we’ve got in the county.”
Johnson said his department is working with engineers, the county’s legal department and others to craft revisions to zoning regulations. He said some proposals and ideas will be considered, from a possible moratorium on residential garden homes, to changes in the information provided to developers on the front end, to changing the review process for possible developments.
“We’re trying to shore that up and take a multifaceted approach to it because it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution,” Johnson said. “One of the things we’re trying to figure out is, do we want to limit garden homes throughout the entire county, or is it just in some of the high-pressure areas? Does it look the same in Docena as it does in McCalla and Forestdale and Mount Olive?”
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