Other action
Also during Tuesday’s work session, Forsyth County’s planning board:
* Heard a request to repeal the voting ability of the District 2 Subarea Planning Commission chairman, who is also the District 2 county commissioner.
* Discussed an application from Razmi Ventures LLC to rezone nearly 3 acres of restricted industrial district on Bethelview Road to office and industrial district for office buildings totaling 19,206 square feet with 65 parking spaces.
FORYSTH COUNTY — Forsyth County’s planning board is set to hear several proposals to alter the local unified development code to create overlay districts and change a south Forsyth subarea planning panel.
The main discussion of Tuesday’s work session involved the potential Buford Highway Overlay District, the language of which is the product of the Peachtree Parkway overlay that has been heavily used.
As proposed, the overlay would run along the highway, also known as Hwy. 20, from Nuckolls Road to the county line at the Chattahoochee River in District 5.
An eight-member committee, spearheaded by District 5 Commissioner Jim Boff, made recommendations for the overlay in October after meeting throughout 2015. The group set rules and standards for development factors such as lighting, architecture, landscaping and signage.
The planning board will have the chance to adjust the language and make its own recommendations to county commissioners after a public hearing on the proposal Feb. 23.
According to District 5 planner Robert Hoyt, residents in the area are concerned about large-scale retail and overdevelopment along the state route.
“It was my understanding that they want less intense development than Peachtree Parkway,” Hoyt said.
As proposed, the overlay would prohibit big-box retailers. That amounts to one tenant not being allowed to build a business that is larger than 40,000 square feet.
Some of the planning members voiced concerns that there is no grandfather clause in the proposal, meaning property owners who have been rezoned to a commercial business district could no longer build what they intended.
County Attorney Ken Jarrard said those zonings would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Another concern aired was that the committee didn’t meet with members of the county’s planning and community development staff or legal counsel.
District 4 planner Bettina Hammond, at her first work session since replacing Alan Neal in north Forsyth, said she intends to ask the committee about its vision.
She and District 2’s Jayne Iglesias said they were worried that if big-box retail were prohibited, the only commercial options left would be strip mall layouts, which often do not do as well.
The three planning representatives — District 1’s Rusty Whitlow was absent and the District 3 seat is vacant — also discussed the proposed North Forsyth Overlay District, which would be “by far the largest overlay” in the county.
District 4 Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills proposed the idea in an effort to design the county’s north end differently than south Forsyth.
According to Vanessa Bernstein-Goldman, deputy director of the county’s planning and community development department, the standards in these two overlays are generally the same, except the north Forsyth overlay does not prohibit large-scale retail.
Questions about the timing of the overlay in north Forsyth included whether it could wait until an update of the county’s comprehensive plan.
A public hearing will be held on the proposals at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23 in the county administration building. After that, the planning board can make its recommendations to county commission.