Commission Discusses Zoning

The Jasper County Board of Commissioners met for a called meeting last Friday, and spent much of the time reviewing proposed changes to the county’s zoning ordinance, particularly the subdivision ordinance. The county has had a moratorium on new subdivisions since January, and it is slated to be lifted November 7 after the commissioners meet and adopt the new ordinance.

Planning & Zoning Director Judy Johnson reviewed the highlights of the multi-page document, and afterwards asked the commissioners for questions and comments. Commission vice-chair Gerald Stunkel said he was not happy with any of it, saying “we are pricing our residents out of the county.” Based on what Ms. Johnson reviewed, from multiple work sessions, subdivisions in residential zones will require a two acre minimum to build and a 1,800 sq.ft. minimum. He said young couples and elderly don’t want that much house and cannot afford that much house.

Commission Chair Bruce Henry said, “that’s your assumption.”

Mr. Stunkel responded, “No, I go out and talk to people.” Then he went on to say, “we can’t price our own residents out.” He said, “I have no problem with lot size…but square footage, not so much.”

There was little further discussion. But there was much at the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting the week before, and the P&Z Commission and the County Commission have met together twice trying to iron out details and determine just what to include and what not to include in the new ordinance. Ms. Johnson is to clean up any discrepancies this week, and present it to the commissioners for approval next Monday, Nov. 7, at the regular County Commission meeting.

The changes being considered combine R-1 and R-2 residential districts into one residential district. There was also talk about whether to have a two acre or two and a half acre minimum lot size in the residential zoning district. There was also talk of changing the minimum lot size from 5 to 8.5 acres in the agricultural district.

Since the discussion was mainly about subdivisions, there are several rules that just apply to subdivisions. For example, both groups discussed whether conservation subdivisions were to be all that are allowed, or would the county also allow standard subdivisions. The P&Z board agreed to allow a minor subdivision to contain no more than three lots, where no new streets are platted, no central sewerage or water facilities, and no improvements of roads are planned. The P&Z director can approve those. Larger subdivisions will have to be signed off on by the chairman of the County Commission after all the guidelines are met.

The zoning ordinance and development regulations is an extremely long and detailed manuscript which should be considered before buying property or planning to build. P&Z Director Judy Johnson is available to answer questions. The zoning office can be reached at 706-468-4940.

After discussing the zoning changes, the commission discussed proposed improvements to the recreation park. One architect had started on the plan, then left the firm so another architect began work on it, and commissioners agreed there needs to be more conversation with the architect. The biggest need at this time, according to Recreation Director Michael Fleming is football fields. He had previously said that baseball/softball fields were the most important, and was not at Friday’s meeting as he was sick. However, he confirmed with the city manager that the football fields are the biggest need. After the commission discussed changes, they agreed to go back to the architect.

The commissioners then discussed initiating a full time patching crew for public works, which would require adding three personnel and supplies. After some discussion, commissioners agreed to delay any action until after the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) negotiations are complete.

The cities and county are to agree on the split of LOST revenues. LOST is a penny sales tax that is used by the cities and county to offset property taxes. The city of Monticello and Jasper County have hit an impasse, and the city is planning to file suit against the county. If an agreement is not reached by the end of the year, the money can no longer be collected.

In discussing the negotiations so far, Commissioner Henry said, “Current split is 67 percent to the county, 30 percent to the city of Monticello and three percent to the City of Shady Dale. The City of Monticello wanted to keep the same split that was decided 10 years ago. Lots of services Monticello was providing, primarily law enforcement, was pushed over completely to the county and the county’s view is that it is not fair for Monticello to continue to get that same 30 percent. The county has absorbed that cost and was trying to look at LOST to help with some of the funding of that. The city of Monticello has not negotiated in good faith.”

Commissioner Stunkel added, Prior to mediation, Monticello was asking to keep its share at 30 percent.

The night before mediation, Monticello raised its offer to 36 percent, and then during mediation, Monticello lowered its offer down to 33 percent. During mediation the county lowered its offer of 80 percent down to a final offer of 74 percent.

During mediation, it was determined that intergovernmental agreements did not exist for certain services being provided by the county to the cities that typically require intergovernmental agreements such as Fire Services and Animal Control services. The commission instructed the county attorney to begin drafting needed intergovernmental agreements.

Commissioners learned that the there are other options if the sales tax ends. There is a HOST tax that could be initiated, but if the county goes that route, all entities would be without the LOST sales tax for at least a year.