The Flowery Branch City Council voted Thursday night unanimously to impose a 90-day moratorium on annexation, rezoning and conditional use applications.
Resolution 23-006 aims to study ways to improve the Flowery Branch comprehensive plan, the future land use map and the zoning ordinances and development regulations of the city. This will create a positive impact on public health, safety and the welfare of citizens within city limits, according to the resolution.
The purpose of the moratorium is to give the city time to reassess its current zoning, annexation and conditional use regulations. During that period, all related applications will be halted, as the council and officials work to tweak several aspects of the comprehensive plan, City Manager Tonya Parrish said.
“The city council had a retreat recently, and at that retreat, they talked about different ideas they had that they would like to see as far as rezonings and standards within our zonings,” Parrish said. “So this simply gives us time to get that written and codified, so when we do open back up, in 90 days, for annexations for rezonings, annexations and conditional use permits, we will have their vision in our code.”
Moratoriums are seen as a positive tool that allows the council and city planners to catch a breath and consider the long-term benefits or detractions from specific zoning practices, according to Parrish.
“We're sort of in a little bit of a lull right now, we don't have a lot of requests that are coming in right now,” Parrish said. “So it was a good time to put on the brakes and make sure we have all of our ducks in a row ordinance-wise, to make sure that the vision they see for the future of flower branch is implemented.”
Several tweaks that might appear in the Flowery Branch code include adjustments to residential as well as planned unit development zonings, officials noted.
The intended date for the moratorium to end is July 5, 2023.
The Georgia State House passed the Housing Regulation Transparency Act on crossover day, March 6. The bill states no local government will be allowed to enact zoning moratoriums for longer than 180 days.
Parrish believes the City of Flowery Branch should have no issue in rounding out their code adjustments within the current 90-day moratorium.
