Sep 6, 2005 By Amy Karpinsky 4 min read

Although work on a new countywide zoning, subdivision and land development ordinance is nearly complete and some developers have been waiting for months to move forward, one Fayette County official said everything is at a standstill because the ordinance has not been adopted. Approval of the ordinance is in the hands of the county commissioners, who took no action on the issue during last month’s regular meeting. The ordinance outlines different zoning districts, what is permitted in each and what the requirements are for development in those districts. Certain uses are permitted in each of the zones – such as agricultural-rural, low-density residential, village, light industrial and business/commercial – and other uses are permitted by special exception.

Tammy Shell, director of the Fayette County Office of Planning, Zoning and Community Development, said she has been working on the ordinance for about three years and had hoped to have it implemented by now. Shell said some developers have waited eight months already and are having to endure extra hearings because they are still working with 1968 regulations, when the current ordinance was implemented.

“Now everything at a standstill,” Shell said, regarding lack of implementation of the new ordinance. Shell pointed out that once the ordinance is adopted, there is still an appeal process. “People haven’t given it an opportunity to work,” she said.

Shell said she has made a suggestion to adopt the text of the ordinance and leave adoption of the maps for a later date. The commissioners discussed adopting the ordinance during a special meeting in July, but could not agree on where to get the money to pay the consultant, Environmental Planning & Design, to complete the work.

Shell said she can’t pay the consultant, who has worked without a contract since August 2004, until she is given authorization.

Since the current ordinance has been in effect since 1968, Shell said the new ordinance will have many more permitted uses included in it for things that were not present in the late 1960s, such as cellular telephone towers, tattoo shops and natural gas wells. She disputed the contention that zoning has a negative effect on properties, saying that zoning is “designed to have positive impact for development.”

Shell said that by far, the most common zoning change in the new ordinance consists of properties going from agricultural to residential zones. The changes mainly resulted from infrastructure development, such as public water and sewerage being extended. “It’s not as drastic as people think it is; the biggest change is from agricultural to residential,” Shell said.

Even if a zoning classification changes for a property, Shell explained that anything that has been legally approved that is currently on the property can continue as long as it a permitted use.

During the process, Shell said municipal officials have been involved, some of who have made numerous changes to the proposed zoning maps. She said in some areas, such as Menallen Township, as a way to address concerns some of the property will remain in an agricultural zone. For those areas, Shell said there are provisions for the future in which lot sizes will be a minimum of one-half acre, which is larger than the one-third acre requirement.

Shell said during the process she has received numerous complaints from people in agricultural zones, but added that a lot of subdivision requests her office processes are for property zoned agricultural.

Another change is the new village district. Shell explained that the new designation in the ordinance allows for mixed use commercial developments with little impact for permitted uses. She said the new district is designed for the former coal patch towns. While some of the permitted uses include a bank, food service facility, hotel, marina, motel, pharmacy, high-turnover restaurant with or without drive-thru, public or private school, and bus or train terminal, Shell said the developers still have to meet lot size and parking requirements.

Shell said replacing an ordinance that is nearly 40 years old is quite a change. She said if it were updated every 10 years it would not have been as bad, but, unfortunately, all the changes must be made at one time. “You have to bite the bullet and go with it,” Shell said. “It really brings us up to speed.”

Shell said initially the idea to update the ordinance came as a result of the countywide comprehensive plan adopted in 2000.

With the exception of a few minor changes that Shell described as “tweaking here or there,” the plan is nearly complete. Several months ago, after the final comment period for the plan ended, Shell said she was optimistically telling people that final adoption would occur soon.

The ordinance will affect 32 out of the county’s 42 municipalities. The other 10 have decided to do their own planning and zoning.