Editor Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor(@)pikecountytimes.com
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Shown from left to right: Copy of the Bill of Rights and Constitution, copy of the current ordinances, and a copy of the proposed ordinances by a concerned citizen who spoke at a commission meeting about the changes.
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Pike County has placed a moratorium on new building while Planning and Development Director Jeremy Gilbert pulled together changes for Pike County's Code of Ordinances. The Unified Development Code (UDC) will regulate lot and house sizes, lays out new housing districts in the county for future property owners or anyone who rezones current property, makes changes to commercial and manufacturing district rules, and makes changes to landscaping and buffer requirements throughout the county.
In last night's county commission meeting, commissioners voted to extend the moratorium until the end of the year or as soon as the UDC is adopted--whichever is first. County Manager Brandon Rogers advised that he and Gilbert are working on compiling the suggestions into the final draft that will be presented to the commissioners and planning and zoning members prior to public hearings that will be heard before commissioners make final changes to Pike County's Code of Ordinances/UDC.
The first public hearing will be on Thursday, November 9th at 6:30 p.m. before the Planning and Zoning Board in the main courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse. Members of the Planning and Zoning Board are Jason Leatherman, Brandy Loggins, Bryan Pate, Ed Penland, and Jim McNair.
This is a public hearing and will be advertised prior to the meeting taking place. The public is welcomed to attend the meeting and make comments on the changes.
The second public hearing will be on Tuesday, November 28th before the Pike County Board of Commissioners in the main courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse at 6:30 p.m. Members of the Board of Commissioners include Commissioners James Jenkins, Jason Proctor, Tim Guy, Tim Daniel, and Chairman Briar Johnson.
This is a public hearing and will be advertised prior to the meeting taking place. The public is welcomed to attend the meeting and make comments on the changes. Citizens can also contact board members and send emails through the county website at www.pikecoga.com.
The final vote will take place at the regular scheduled meeting of the Pike County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, December 13 at 9 a.m. [Note from the Editor: The commissioners voted to postpone the 1st Reading of the UDC (code of ordinances changes) at the November 28, 2023 meeting and have a workshop with some experts in their fields from the community to try to gain knowledge/obtain needed information with how this removal and replacement of our current code of ordinances with Unified Development Code could affect us in the future. This will be a document that can be changed in the future, but some of the unintended consequences have been spoken aloud by citizens and heard by our commissioners who were wise enough to step back and ask for additional information from community members.]
UPDATE 12.14.23: A workshop is scheduled for Thursday, December 21, 2023 – 9:00 a.m. in the Courthouse, Main Courtroom, 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, Georgia. The public is invited to attend.
The agenda lists a single item as follows: Discussion of the Pike County Unified Development Code (UDC) with the following individuals: Matt Bottoms, Kacie Edwards, Benny Evans, Steve Reeves and Brooklyne Wassel.
This is a discussion of the county's ordinances that are being removed and replaced with Unified Development Code. Scroll down to the 10.21.23 update for links to some of the proposed changes. END OF 12.14.23 UPDATE.
UPDATE 10.21.23: Pike County is in the process of updating its code of ordinances. The UDC and changes in red and blue are online on the county website as part of the November 9, 2023 Planning and Zoning Board meeting on Novus Agenda. [Note from the Editor: Information like this is regularly uploaded to county meetings. Thank you to the county for transparency on this issue because this is not a small thing to go through and read.]
Directions to download directly from the county website are as follows: Go to www.pikecoga.com, click on Resources, click on Meetings and Agendas, and click on the Online Agenda for the Planning and Zoning Board meeting where you will see a link in blue to the UDC.
Here is a quick link to the document from Pike County Times where I downloaded it from the county website: http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/Draft_UDC_10-17-23-combined-compressed.pdf.
The public is welcomed to attend the meeting and make comments on the changes as well as contacting the county by email through its website at pikecoga.com or dropping a letter at the County Commission Office. Directions and a phone number to contact staff can be found at the website above. END OF 10.21.23 UPDATE.
Background and Past Meetings
There was an open, overall discussion at the beginning before commissioners began rolling through the code book in order. This is not the first discussion of the ordinances.
Some of Pike's Ordinances will remain the same. Some of the ordinance changes came from other counties including Spalding County. [Note from the Editor: There is a place in the downloads on Pike County Times where the download is blank because it will remain the same as current law. There is one place in the proposed ordinances in which the words "Spalding County" had to be removed.]
The first draft was presented to commissioners and planning and zoning board members to review and make suggestions in meetings that were open to the public. Pike County Times was able to Facebook Live some of the meetings which are linked below. All but one of the ordinance meetings have been uploaded to Pike County Times for the public to review.
Here is an overview of the changes that Gilbert gave to the commissioners and Planning and Zoning Board members at the August 10, 2023 meeting: http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/proposedordinancesoverview8.10.23.2nd.pdf.
pikecountytimes.com/secondary/2023proposedordinances8.10.23.html has a copy of the proposed ordinances.
Here is a link to the proposed zoning districts map: pikecountytimes.com/secondary/PikeCharacterAreaMap8.29.23.2nd.pdf.
The write up of the 7 to p.m. August 10, 2023 Workshop can be found at: www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOC8.10.23.html.
The write up of the 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, August 29, 2023 Workshop can be found at:
www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/ordinanceworkshop8.29.23.html.
The write up of the 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 13, 2023 Workshop can be found at:
www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOCWorkshop9.13.23.html.
September 13, 2023. FB Live Workshop #1.
www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes/videos/1686276692201578
September 13, 2023. FB Live Workshop #2.
www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes/videos/235985046089519
September 13, 2023. FB Live Workshop #3.
www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes/videos/633723358876694
The write up of the 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 20, 2023 Workshop will be found at:
www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOCWorkshop9.20.23.html when it is complete.
September 20, 2023. FB Live Workshop #1.
www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes/videos/644100127808689
September 20, 2023. FB Live Workshop #2.
www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes/videos/320817390489749
[Note from the Editor: Thank you to Commissioner James Jenkins for allowing Pike County Times to FB Live from his Hotspot at the last two meetings. Neither would not have happened without his help. (He was NOT looking for publicity on this but just doing the right thing so people could watch this if they could not attend because these were scheduled during work hours.)]
Closing
Citizens can write letters that will go on the record and/or speak on the record at these public hearings as well as speaking to individual representatives about concerns.
Contact information for the Board of Commissioners and the Planning and Development Office can be found at pikecoga.com.
A copy of the proposed final ordinances should go onto the website above when they are completed and have been given to the Board of Commissioners and Planning and Zoning Board for review.
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