After two previous postponements, the Bulloch County Planning and Development Office's raft of new regulations, including rules for future "go cart, ATV and motorbike tracks and trails," was unanimously approved last week by the county commissioners. In a change from a previous draft, the rules do not require a fence around a track or trail site.
Among other provisions, the wide-ranging set of new regulations, known as a zoning text amendment, also includes rules to allow micro-breweries and brewpubs and specially maintained residential "conservation subdivisions."
Additionally, a "parsonage, pastorium or parish house" or a "religious education building" with space for recreational activities may now lawfully be placed on the same lot with a church or other place of worship. Some new rules have also been set down for permitted home occupations.
However, the new rules for go cart, ATV and motorbike tracks and trails will not apply to the Savage Trails RV Park, whose all-terrain vehicle trails have been shut down since Aug. 29 by a county code enforcement cease and desist order. Savage Trails' owner or operator had since applied for conditional use permission under the county's old rules, and that request is slated for a Planning and Zoning Board hearing next week.
Planning and Development Director James Pope presented the first version of the overall zoning text amendment to the Planning and Zoning Board three months ago. That appointed, six-member board voted 6-0 on Sept. 16 to recommend approval of the amendment to the elected Board of Commissioners.
Twice-tabled
But after Savage Trails supporters showed up at the commissioners' meetings to ask that the RV park be allowed to reopen, the commissioners tabled action on the zoning text amendment, first from Oct. 7 to Nov. 4, and then from Nov. 4 to Dec. 2. But commissioners discussed the amendment further with Pope in a "work session" format as part of the Nov. 18 meeting.
During the Dec. 2 meeting, Pope briefly recited the titles and section numbers of the new rules and noted that only two changes had come out of the work session.
No fence required
One was "the modification to Number 7 in the ATV standards, which states that the property boundaries would have to be posted rather than fenced," Pope said to the commissioners. "So, it again makes the boundaries clear for patrons of the ATV parks or … tracks. It makes the boundaries clear. That was the feedback from this board."
At some earlier meetings, not only the Savage Trails supporters or owners, but also some of the commissioners, objected that the proposed requirement in the original draft, stating, "The entirety of the property must be full fenced," would be prohibitively expensive. The new rules also state that the commercial use of property for go cart, ATV or motorbike tracks or trails is limited to parcels larger than 100 acres. Again, the new rules would not apply retroactively to Savage Trails if it is approved under the old rules, but that property, used as an example, measures about 430 acres.
During the Nov. 4 commission meeting, Commissioner Nick Newkirk had asked whether, if someone applied for conditional use approval for an ATV trail site on 500 acres under the then-proposed draft rules, the owners would have to put a fence around the entire 500 acres.
"As far as the portion that they would use, yes," Pope said then. "But the supplemental standards could be cut through the variance process with Planning and Zoning."
However, no variance will be required to avoid building a fence around a 100-plus-acre tract under the new rules as adopted. The fence requirement statement had been replaced with this sentence, which Pope mentioned by number: "7. Property boundaries shall be clearly marked with signage visible to patrons."
The rule doesn't state how many signs, or how far apart, would be sufficient.
Other track & trail rules
These are the 10 other new rules for future places operating ATV, go cart or motorbike trails as a money-making proposition, which in any case will be a conditional use, subject to commissioners' approval:
"1. The use is limited to parcels greater than 100 acres.
"2. Any activity proposing to use a dirt track must include a plan whereby no dust shall leave the property on which the track is located.
"3. All stream crossings shall be by way of a drainage structure (No fording of creeks).
"4. Hours of operation shall be limited to the following: A. Sunday thru Thursday no earlier than 7 a.m. and no later than one hour after the sun sets. B. Friday and Saturday no earlier than 7 a.m. and no later than 10 p.m.
"5. All ATV and motorcycles operating on the trails will be limited to a maximum decibel level of 120db at operating speeds. Tested no more than five feet from the vehicle.
"6. All ATV and motorcycles operating on the trails will be required to have spark arrestors. …
"8. 'Quiet zones' to limit loud music and noise other than that produced by the vehicles shall be enforced within 500 feet of property lines in trail areas that are adjacent to residential properties. Quiet zones shall be clearly marked with signage visible to patrons.
"9. Access to public streets shall require permit approval by the County Engineer or designee.
"10. No trail shall be located within 50 feet of the property boundaries.
"11. Where trails are proposed to disturb wetlands, Chapter 4, Section 4-50.1 of the Bulloch County Code of Ordinances and requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act, as amended, are required. Generally, a wetland determination by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must be provided prior to site plan or other permit approval."
Conservation subdivisions
The one other change in the text amendment, made after the Nov. 18 work session, had nothing to do with trails. In the section about conservation subdivisions, "working farmland certified by USDA as prime farmland and farmland of statewide importance" was added to the list of "secondary conservation areas" targeted for protection as "undivided, permanent, open space" whenever possible.
More generally, conservation subdivisions could be proposed by developers as residential areas with smaller-size lots than typical for their zoning classification, provided that "open space is a central organizing element" of the plan.
The open space would be set aside in a conservation easement and protected from further development. The residential neighborhood and conserved open space, together, would need to occupy an area at least as large as if the project had been developed with larger, standard-size lots, as determined by a formula. The ordinance sets out very detailed requirements for these subdivisions.
At the Dec. 2 meeting, Commissioner Ray Mosley made the motion to enact the final version of the zoning text amendment. Commissioner Anthony Simmons seconded, and the vote to approve was 5-0.