Agenda includes floodplain and watershed ordinances
The Macon County Planning Board will hold its first meeting in five months to discuss two controversial ordinances dealing with floodplains and watersheds.
The meeting will take place Thursday, Oct. 3, starting at 5 p.m. in the meeting room of the Macon County Health Department.
According to the agenda, the meeting will have a presentation by aquatic conservationist Bill McLarney, liaison comments by Commissioner Josh Young, and then a discussion of the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and the Watershed Protection Ordinance.
This comes after the commissioners delayed possible amendments on those two ordinances at the Sept. 10 and Oct. 8 Macon County Board of Commissioners meetings. According to Commissioner Gary Shields, this was due to concerns about the Watershed Protection Ordinance needing a Planning Board review before going to the commissioners. Additionally, Shields said the towns of Franklin and Highlands requested to be a part of the process.
According to the Watershed Protection Ordinance, no action shall be taken until the proposal has been submitted to the Planning Board for review and recommendation. However, if no recommendation has been received from the Planning Board within 45 days after submission of the proposal to the chairman of the Planning Board, the commissioners “may proceed as though a favorable report has been received.”
The Sept. 10 meeting had a proposal to amend the Watershed Protection Ordinance to allow recreational vehicle parks to receive a Special Nonresidency Intensity Allocation in certain watersheds. The Oct. 8 meeting had a proposal to amend the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance to allow up to 25% of outside fill in a floodplain acre.
The commissioners approved an amendment to the Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance in August that increases the minimum requirement for a Soil and Erosion Sediment Control study from disturbing half an acre to a full acre.
Young proposed all three changes earlier this year and said he wanted Macon County to mirror state minimum requirements after hearing complaints from landowners.
The proposals have encountered a lot of resistance from citizens and local nonprofits who contend the changes will lead to increased sediment and pollution in the waterways, plus lead to more flooding issues in floodplains and endanger people during huge rainfalls.
The last Macon County Planning Board meeting was May 2, where more than two dozen people spoke, most against any floodplain/watershed changes. The Planning Board voted to table a recommendation on all items. Soon after, the commissioners took up the items and held July public hearings based on recommendations of a committee that met once. Since then and the Aug. 13 meeting where the commissioners amended the Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance, McLarney and others have pushed for a more transparent process.