A new “R-8” zoning category allowing single-family home lots as small as one fifth of an acre in subdivisions with public sewer systems is one of the changes proposed for Bulloch County’s zoning regulations as a partial rezoning moratorium approaches its extended April 7 deadline.

In their efforts to update the Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Ordinance to deal with new development of many types, the county’s planners are also proposing roughly 40 “supplemental design standards,” for specific kinds of development. These include requirements for planted buffers between residential areas and different types of development, for outdoor lighting, for parking spaces, for architectural facades on commercial buildings, and in some situations, for studies on the effects developments will have on traffic and storm drainage.

“We’re really trying to redesign the ordinances to reflect not only what’s going on in the building community but what a lot of other counties our size do,” said Bulloch County Manager Tom Couch. “We took several of what we consider peer counties – Jackson County; Lowndes; we looked at Bryan County; we looked a little bit at Effingham; Glynn County; Troup County – basically counties that are our size population-wise and somewhat reflective development-wise.”

Many of the proposed standards are things that Bulloch County officials have required to some extent in recent years as specific conditions for approval of proposed projects. But this requires negotiations with developers, who sometimes negotiate final terms with the zoning board or commissioners during their hearings.

“So whereas our zoning reports would  oftentimes include 30, sometimes 40, zoning conditions, we’ve tried, in these specific uses that come  up frequently, to come up  with design standards that will apply from the get-go,” said Planning and Development Director James Pope.

This should streamline many of the county’s zoning decisions, he said. Couch, in a separate interview, said the number of conditions also signaled that Bulloch’s zoning rules were out of date.

Boards get report

Couch and Pope provided an update on the revision work to the elected Bulloch County Board of Commissioners and the county’s appointed Planning and Zoning Board during a joint work session Jan. 31. All seven commissioners and all seven zoning board members attended, Pope said.

Now, the county staff intends to present the proposed changes to the Zoning Ordinance and subdivision regulations to the Planning and Zoning Board at its 6 p.m. March 9 meeting for the board’s recommendation and to the Board Commissioners for a vote April 4, when the commissioners have a regular meeting three days before the moratorium expires.

The changes will also be discussed with the moratorium steering committee and made available to the public before the commissioners vote, Couch said.

The current, partial moratorium on project-specific zoning changes for higher-density residential subdivisions applies only to the southeastern part of the county. But any zoning updates and new standards approved by the Board of Commissioners will apply countywide.

R-8 Zoning

The R-8 zoning category for small-lot single-family homes would be available only for subdivisions with public sewer service as well as shared water systems. So this kind of development, with homes allowed on lots as small as 8,000 square feet, could be permitted only in areas served by city sewer systems or by the new system Couch proposes for the county government to operate in the southern Southeast Bulloch area.

Some companies operate private water systems in the county, but they serve subdivisions where homes have septic tanks, which limit how small lots can be.

He has also proposed a county-owned water system, beginning with water from four wells planned to be drilled in the far southeastern end of the county to supply water across the county line to Hyundai Motor Group’s 8,100-worker electric vehicle plant, whose construction is beginning in northern Bryan County. Meanwhile, a sewage treatment system Bryan County is expected to build to serve the Hyundai plant may also supply some capacity to Bulloch’s proposed sewer service.

One acre equals 43,560 square feet, so 8,000 square feet is 0.18 acre. Currently, Bulloch County’s smallest lot-size, and therefore highest-density, single-family residential zoning category actually in use is R-25. That requires lots measuring 25,000 square feet, or more than half an acre, although Pope notes that county officials have allowed, through conditions, for somewhat smaller lots in subdivisions with added amenities.

An R-15 zoning category is on the books, but hasn’t been used, he said, noting that health department regulations for septic tanks rule in out.

So, R-8 could allow for some smaller and potentially less expensive homes to be built. It would be available for landowner-requested zoning changes where the water and sewer systems are available.

Add-on homes

The county’s planners also propose a provision allowing for “accessory dwelling units,” such as a mother-in-law suite or a live-in pool house, to be added to homes meeting certain requirements.

These are provisions aimed at providing options for affordable housing, Couch said. He noted that the Georgia House of Representatives is expected to take up legislation this session to address “the missing middle” of affordable workforce housing.

“We want to get in front of any pre-emptive legislation that may occur where the state mandates certain stricture for providing affordable housing,” Couch said. “We want to provide a solution without state pre-emption.”

Standards for public-use electric vehicle charging stations are also proposed.

Not ready yet

Staff members received some feedback from commissioners and board members about regulations for private water systems and where sidewalks may be required for subdivisions. These are details still be worked out.

What may not ready for adoption, by the time the partial moratorium on rezoning in the Southeast Bulloch area is a set to expire, are changes to the county’s Future Land Use Map in the Smart Bulloch 2040 comprehensive plan. The county planners hoped to identify new “character areas” to be served by the water and sewer systems.

But engineers from firms contracted by Bulloch County and Bryan County are still working out, in coordination with the state Environmental Protection Division, on where the wells will be drilled.

“We’re kind of waiting on the water locations from the engineers before we move forward on drawing an outline of the future development map,” Pope said. “We want to draw it where it makes sense for expansion with the water system, and for that to happen we’ve got to pinpoint the exact location of those wells.”

But he and Couch said they hope the zoning and regulation changes will be enacted in April and expect the moratorium to be lifted without a further extension.