Staff recommendations for changes in Putnam County’s development regulations, fire protection and safety code, and zoning ordinance will likely come under review for possible passage next month.
Fire protection and safety make up the bulk of the recommended changes.
County Attorney Adam Nelson, Fire Chief Thomas McClain, and Planning and Zoning Director Lisa Jackson have been drafting the document together for some time now.
“It is not in its final format, and it might see some tweaking” between now and November, said Nelson. “A lot of it came from other jurisdictions.”
“It will be up to the board (of commissioners),” added McClain. “These are just our suggestions.”
Although a later draft may be advertised, the current draft may be seen on the county’s website at putnamcountyga.us. Look for the board’s July 19 meeting agenda and minutes and the draft will be in a 59-page package.
It is not exactly bedtime reading, but the recommended changes and deletions are clearly marked and placed within the current code of ordinances for context.
The changes would apply only to new developments – except after changes in ownership, use, or capacity, McClain explained.
A sampling of the proposed changes begins with a single change in the development regulations dealing with turnabouts at the end of cul-de-sacs.
The current ordinance requires a minimum diameter of 40 feet in residential developments and 50 feet in commercial or industrial properties. In both cases, this would change to 100 feet to accommodate large fire trucks.
“This would bring it in line with the international code,” Jackson said.
With the northeastern and southeastern borders of the county made up of coves and sometimes narrow peninsulas along Lakes Oconee and Sinclair, and with Georgia Power owning varying amounts of the shorelines of the two lakes, the larger turnabouts become an example of the give-and-take in the proposed changes.
Larger turnabouts could help provide better fire protection but also may impact lot sizes and developer costs and profits. However, the shorelines of the two lakes are almost completely developed, so barring changes in use or capacity, they would largely be unaffected, though left without the better form of fire protection.
Adhering to one or the other inevitably carries costs with it.
The county’s response this year was to purchase two fire boats – one for each lake – capable of using lake water to directly attack a shoreside fire or pump water to a truck for distribution on the other side of the fire at up to 1,250 gallons per minute. After training firefighters in their operation, McClain said the fire boats will go into use “in a couple of months.”
Other fire-protection-related proposals include a possible public safety plan required for special events, standards and requirements for hydrants and water mains, sprinkler systems, and a whole new section on open burning.
This open-burning section is unusual in that it comes from a new state law that shifts responsibility for burn permits from the Georgia Forestry Commission to local jurisdictions.
The third part of the proposed changes deals with the expansion of the public notice for zoning change requests from 15 days to 30 days; buffers and height restrictions for commercial properties when they abut residential uses; and a somewhat confusing section on the responsibilities of the planning and zoning commission and the board of commissioners when deciding requests for conditional uses or zoning variances.