In a called meeting on Thursday, Jan. 15, Union County Sole Commissioner Harold Collins adopted a resolution enacting an emergency moratorium “on applications for the development of any property on public sewer for the purpose of ordinance review and revisions.”
Effective Jan. 16, the application freeze will remain in place for 90 days “or until repealed by the adoption of new regulations or ordinances.” Collins has the option of extending the moratorium should the ordinance review and drafting of revisions take longer than the 90-day period.
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According to County Attorney William Mercer, minimum lot sizes for residential, commercial and other developments are currently set according to sewage management systems and water systems, “but there seems to be an unanswered portion about public sewer.”
So, the county will be tightening up various sections of the Union County Code of Ordinances to fix a “loophole” related to development on lots with public sewer access, with the aim of tying lot size to water systems instead of sewage management systems.
Right now, lots served by a public water source must be at least 0.75 acres to build a home, and lots served by wells or other on-site water sources must be at least 1.5 acres to develop, Mercer said.
But the law is written in such a way that these minimum lot sizes do not necessarily apply in the case of public sewer, which Mercer said does not fit the county’s original intent for development.
Collins is concerned about this because Blairsville City Hall has decided to extend city sewer service a couple miles east of city limits along Georgia 515, and the commissioner wants to make sure smaller lots are not, in his estimation, overdeveloped.
“The sewer is running out (into the county), so what we’re trying to (prevent) is somebody wanting to build 30 homes on an acre,” Collins said, noting his goal is to keep land in the county from becoming “too crowded.”
Mercer explained that, without the revisions, “someone could put in as many houses as they wanted to on an acreage that could reasonably fit as long as they had public sewer, and they wouldn’t be constrained to a lot size.”
“That’s a broad answer because we also have a Multifamily Dwelling Ordinance that would cover apartment complexes and stuff like that, and that’s a separate deal from an individual home on a lot size,” Mercer said, meaning the revisions and moratorium do not apply to multifamily developments.
Proposed changes have already been sent to the Building & Development Department “to see if everything’s covered or we need to cover more just to add in public sewer as well,” according to Mercer.
The issue came to the commissioner’s attention after a contractor presented plans that did not meet the county’s intentions for development, which was that lot sizes “be set by the water source and not by the sewer source,” Mercer said.
Also in the meeting, Collins appointed resident Doy Lively to a five-year term on the Union County Board of Tax Assessors, effective that day. Lively is replacing outgoing board member Pat Parker, whose term expired at the end of December.
“I’d like to thank Ms. Parker for her commitment and dedication to serving her community on this board since February of 2023,” Collins said. “I feel Mr. Lively will serve with honor and distinction on the Board of Assessors and appreciate his willingness to serve his community.”
Lively attended his appointment that evening and told the newspaper he was excited to be joining Susie Phillips and Mary Ann Stephens in serving Union County on the Board of Assessors.
“I have been going to meetings now for over two years, and I have a pretty good feeling of how things are going in the Assessor’s Office,” Lively said. “I really appreciate Commissioner Collins reaching out to me to see if I could be of help in that area.
“I know that the growth in the county has been substantial, and I feel that the Board of Assessors needs to step back and take a look at the way it’s being run now, and I look forward to helping them move forward.”
According to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, county boards of tax assessors are responsible for “determining what property in the county is subject to taxation and for requiring its proper return.”
“It examines and corrects errors in all real and personal property county tax returns,” ACCG continues. “The board must see that all property in the county is returned for taxes at fair valuation, and that valuation between individual taxpayers is fairly equalized so that each pays, as nearly as possible, only his or her proportionate share of taxes.”
