The Hall County Planning Commission voted Monday to send a proposed overhaul of the county's Planned Residential Development code to the county commission for a final decision.
Hall County Planning Director Srikanth Yamala said staff members began to work on the changes to better align with conditions that planners and commissioners have been adding to developments in PRD zonings in recent years. The zoning, which is the most recently created in the county, was first added in 2003.
The changes would set standards for a number of design elements including:
- Home size
- Lot size
- Minimum buffers around developments
- Landscaping
- Minimum open space
- Number of entrances
Planning Commission Chairman Chris Braswell said he felt the changes would be positive.
"What helps me through this is that it is a template, and it makes everything uniform," Braswell said. "Sometimes, we would give conditions for PRD and this is everything we would have on it."
Planning commissioners voted unanimously to pass the proposal along to the board of commissioners. It will need two public hearings before commissioners can give it a final vote. The first of those hearings will be held on March 28.
"As with most of our codes, these are living documents," Yamala said after Monday's meeting. "The newer code would serve as a guide for applicants so that they know exactly which areas to look at, how they can solidify and be creative, within their own means, to come up with a solid development."
