The DeKalb County Commission unanimously approved a motion Monday to allow the Planning Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of all county zoning options.
Comissioners voted down a similar proposal earlier this spring, but growing concern about quarries, data centers and solar facilities seemed to change minds. County Executive Matt Adcock said the planning group has already developed a preliminary map.
“I think possibly the only way we could really get a whole lot more of input is from maybe public hearings or something before we could really gather a sustainable plan,” Adcock said. “But I guess we can open it up for discussion if somebody wants to make a motion to do anything or however you want to proceed.”
Adcock said the approval of the study is only the first step in a multi-stage process that will eventually require public hearings before any final vote on implementation. Commissioner Larry Green said the study should specifically investigate the possibility of zoning land versus zoning businesses.
“I’m not a hundred percent sold on zoning, but I’m a little more leaning that way because of the two rock quarries we’ve got that have just come into our rural communities, Alexandria and the Dowelltown-Dale Ridge area,” Commissioner Myron Rhody said. “And I dare say the majority of those rural country people probably were not in favor of zoning. But I’ll bet you their thoughts have changed since every time they blast and the dust and the debris and the value of their properties.”
Rhody said residents in those areas are concerned about their health, the well-being of their children, and the impact on their property values. Rhody said the current situation with industrial developments in rural areas has motivated him to explore the pros and cons of zoning more closely.
“They’re worried about their health, their children’s health and well-being, their livelihood,” Rhody said. “You know, they can’t even sit out in the yard because of these problems. So that’s got me leaning a little more toward let’s explore it, let’s look at it, let’s see what the pros and cons are.”
Commissioner Jack Barton said the county must have a completed zoning ordinance in place before it can exercise any moratorium power over developments like data centers. Barton said a conservative estimate for the time required to pass such an ordinance is approximately one year.
“And as stated four months ago when we tried to vote this or three months at whenever it was, Tommy Lee said a conservative estimate is a year that it takes this to pass,” Barton said. “And as Mayor Adcock just said, it has to be in before we have any moratorium power over these things. So I wish we hadn’t lost the last four months of planning.”
