County Board Approves Planning Commission Recommendations

The Paulding Planning Commission recommended approval of four applications during its session Thursday. Following a public hearing on a text amendment that would have allowed chickens in a residential district, the commission recommended denial of that request.

All five requests were then forwarded to the Board of Commissioners for final action at the board meeting Thursday night. Board members followed the recommendations from the Planning Commission and approved, by unanimous vote, the three rezoning applications and the special use permit. The board also followed the recommendation to deny the text amendment, again by a unanimous vote.

The board also approved two items of new business from the morning work session and two additional items of business from the closed session.

One approval was for a closed session for land acquisition and litigation and the other additional business item was to authorize the county attorney to take steps to acquire property discussed in the closed session.

All were approved by a unanimous vote.

During the Planning Commission meeting, a special use permit application by Loris Christie for a personal care home at 3802 Macland Road generated many questions from commission members and the public.

The Planning and Zoning staff recommended approval, subject to five stipulations.  Two additional stipulations were added to the permit after the discussions ended.

The two stipulations added would require a fence around the home on the property and would rescind the special use permit should the state agency not give approval for the home.

The commission approved the application by a vote of 4-1-1, with Teresa Philyaw voting in opposition.

Two neighbors, Greg Austin and Cathy Thurmond, expressed reservations about a personal care home, especially if the four residents suffered from dementia or Alzheimer's disease and were prone to wander off the premises.

Most of the concerns expressed by the two neighbors would be covered by the state agency issuing the license for the home or by the state fire marshal reviewing the home, according to planning staff. The permit is required by the state before they can complete action on issuing a license.

Louis Noltimier requested rezoning of 24.2 acres from residential district to agriculture district for property located at 619 Robertson Road. Noltimier wants to build a six-stall barn for horses he keeps on the property, which is surrounded by other property that is zoned agricultural.

The ideal place for the barn is about 100 feet from the nearest property line and he could not build that close to the line under a residential zoning.

A neighbor requested that the commission add a stipulation that no mobile homes, chickens, or pig farm could be on the property and Noltimier agreed to that recommendation.

The commission recommended approval by a 5-0-1 vote.

Jeff Echols requested rezoning of 2.557 of his 3.372 acres from highway business district to residential district, with the other .815 acres to remain as highway business. His property is located at 40 Old Cartersville Road.

The commission agreed with a 5-0-1 vote.

John Phillips requested rezoning of 9.92 acres from residential district to agricultural district for his property at 5508 Dallas-Acworth Highway. Phillips said that all other adjacent property was already zoned as agricultural.

Once again the commission voted 5-0-1 to approve.

A homeowner in a residential district at 92 Brandon Woods Circle requested a text amendment to allow chickens. A public hearing was conducted on the matter and the commission voted for denial of the request.

Chris Robinson, manager of the Planning and Zoning Division, reported that his office had received 25 complaints from citizens concerning neighbors who had chickens in a residential district.

Robinson said the homeowner could have applied for a special use permit but instead opted for the text amendment.