Franklin BOC Considers Approving Unified Development Code

Franklin County Commissioners are considering whether to approve a Unified Development Code that will regulate lot sizes and minimum acreage requirements based on usage rather than a zoning text amendment, which is a one-size-fits-all minimum lot size requirement for residential development.

At their work session Tuesday evening, the Board heard a presentation from Planning & Zoning Director and Assistant County Manager Scott DeLozier on the lot size issue.

Last week the Board imposed a 90-day moratorium on applications for new developments with a view toward doubling the current lot size standards to a minimum of three acres.

In his presentation, DeLozier outlined what he called four natural corridors for residential and commercial development.

They include the I-85 corridor, Highway 59 which parallels the Interstate, SR 17 and the lakeside/Gumlog community.

DeLozier unveiled the completed new zoning map and said the map provides locations for residential development without negating the importance of the agriculture industry in the County.

Right now, the County is considering increasing lot sizes from 1/4 acre with sewer & water to 1.5 acres, with water and septic, one acre would go to two acres, and 1.5 acres with a well and septic would go to three acres.

Delozier said the proposed idea of doubling the current lot sizes could have unforeseen consequences.

“Essentially, you’re going to shut down any major subdivisions in the County. If you double the lot size requirements, developers are going to half the yield, half the number of houses to recoup that infrastructure cost, that development cost,” he explained. “which is going to drive the cost of houses up in those subdivisions…if a developer chooses to build with these new regulations. It’s also going to decrease the value of your large tracts of land because they’re only going to be able to pay x-amount of dollars for dirt when they know they’ve got to put in roads, put in sewer, put in water, lay things out the way we dictated and still try and make something off the houses they built.”

The bottom line according to DeLozier is that developers would have no incentive to build major subdivisions and a lot of little subdivisions would spring up all over the county next to farmland zoned agricultural.

Instead, DeLozier suggested the County approve a unified development code where certain areas had specific zoning designations based on acreage.

They would include the following designations:

Agricultural Intensive for acreage of 25 acres and up for major farms such as poultry houses and cattle farms.

Agricultural General for 10-24 acres for small and non-commercial farms.

Rural Residential areas specifically for major and minor subdivisions in unincorporated parts of the county.

Lakefront Residential, which would not be in conflict with Agriculture General areas. DeLozier noted that existing subdivisions around the lake, and existing tiny lots, would be grandfathered in. However, he said the new minimum lot size for those neighborhoods around the lake would be 1,000 square feet and no new subdivisions would be allowed.

Suburban Residential would be another designation, which would be developments on the outskirts of municipalities and finally, Multi-family districts, which would be townhomes and apartment complexes but no guidelines have been set up for that yet.

After hearing from DeLozier Commission Chair Jason Macomson said that implementing the UDC early might make more sense.

“We need to think carefully about this when we’re looking at changing our minimum lot size. We did the moratorium. All of this has unintended consequences…I think this is more comprehensive than just saying we’re going to double it (lot sizes) because it accounts for more complexity. There are a lot of different districts that are going to have a lot of different requirements rather than saying here’s a one-size-fits-all approach. I think we need to think about that,” he said.

When asked, DeLozier said he was not sure when the UDC would be done and was not sure if it could be ready to adopt before the 90-day moratorium is up.

No vote was taken but there was consensus among commissioners to put the UDC in place first before the 90-moratorium runs out.

You can hear the entire work session discussion online on YouTube at: Franklin County Commission Work Session 03/29/22