Baldwin County has been working on an update to its Land Use Plan for the past several years, leading to the Board of Commissioners preparing to vote Tuesday evening on a short-term moratorium on subdivision and commercial developments.
County Manager Carlos Tobar confirmed on Monday the commissioners would briefly halt developmental projects in the county while work continued to finalize the update of Land Use Codes and the establishment of district-based codes and a much more detailed land use map. County Attorney Brandon Palmer was drawing up a resolution for the board’s consideration at its meeting on Tuesday, and a 60-day halt to development was included.
“The main point of it is we want to try to protect neighborhoods,” Tobar said of the work that began nearly four years ago. With the assistance of the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, the county now has a draft copy of the codes and a tentative land use map, which includes every parcel in the county. It is intended to “protect neighborhoods and improve the aesthetics of residential and commercial structures that are being built in the county,” he said of the board’s goal.
He also implied “aesthetics” could include something as specific as building materials.
“I think there is the desire to see a little bit better use of aesthetics … different types of materials, especially along some of our heavily- traveled corridors, like Log Cabin and North Columbia,” Tobar said, acknowledging that other improvements and upgrades may also be suggested.
“I believe at least two commissioners would like to see sidewalks in new subdivisions. There’s no standard for that right now.”
Tobar referred to the process as districtbased land use planning, suggesting the five districts could have areas for different uses, such as single-family dwellings or multi-family dwellings in one area, with multi-family homes built elsewhere.
He also pointed out that the final document will contain two separate codes and a detailed map.
“The district-based codes will refer to what’s on the map, and the land use codes will contain the regulations” relating to the use of the property in the various districts, Tobar explained. He added that within each county commissioner’s district will be “districts” of different uses.
As examples, Tobar cited various residential districts, such as singlefamily, multi-family, apartments, and condos, as well as commercial, industrial, and agricultural districts that may be located in different county commission districts.
Tobar pointed out that Baldwin County is continuously attracting interest from developers, most recently for apartments and multi-family housing, including condominiums.
However, he added, the most recent development off Gum Cemetery Road consists of single-family homes, with some lots on the lake.
“Not your typical starter homes,” he observed.
The county approved an 88-home subdivision home there, Tobar noted, adding that sidewalks and streetlights were not included as amenities there.
Tobar said he hopes the moratorium will be lifted as quickly as possible. He said he planned to meet with a developer July 3 after previously explaining the temporary halt to the approval of any new projects while the board considered potential new building standards. Those standards will almost certainly affect new development, he added.
“Are the commissioners okay with more condos coming or do they want to see more singlefamily residential structures? We’ll see,” Tobar pondered.
One or more public hearings on the new codes and map will be held before their adoption, said Tobar, who wants potential developers to understand the county is not trying to hold up projects, whether residential, commercial, or otherwise.
“It’s not that we don’t want development,” Tobar insisted. “It’s just that we want the right kind of development, in the right place, and we want it to look nice.”