Months of work by numerous department heads and staff members resulted in a draft of new land use regulations for Baldwin County, and the updated codes have been given to the board of commissioners for review prior to a public hearing.
County Manager Carlos Tobar said Oct. 15 that a public hearing has been scheduled for Election Day, Nov. 5, prior to the commissioners’ meeting, for local residents and developers to give their input. Tobar emphasized that the updated codes are not the beginning of a planning and zoning process in the county.
“This is how the sausage is made,” he said. “That’s how I describe it. It’s not where the sausage factory goes; it’s how the sausage is made,” he chuckled.
In highlighting some of the new provisions, Tobar pointed out that one major goal was to improve safety and access in subdivisions.
“We’ve had some bad experiences with some recent developments in terms of traffic circulation inside the subdivision,” he commented. “So that is something we tried to address. We’re requiring the developers to give up more land for roads.” Public safety is the concern.
“Making sure ambulances and fire trucks can get around in the subdivision. These things are wide and big,” Tobar said. “I’ve seen too much, not just here, but in other communities where, if you have on-street parking, there is a chance your fire truck is not going to get through.”
The county is willing to make some concessions to developers in exchange for the wider roadways.
“However,” the county manager added, “where there is sewer and water, we will allow them to build more units. The requirement went down to a quarter of an acre from a half of an acre (for a building lot). I think that’s a decent trade-off.”
As written, the regulations allow for the possibility for public roads in a gated subdivision. Tobar said that is something the Board of Commissioners must decide.
“That is something that was a little controversial. We didn’t want to wade into that. We’ll let the commissioners hash that out.”
Tobar indicated there have been many instances of problems with access to parcels not owned by developers.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had situations where people come in and say that somebody blocked the road, and they can’t access their property.
“When the subdivisions were originally platted, there was no requirement that a permanent easement be acquired for the development of those properties.
“You have family disputes that arise, or families sell property to someone else, and somebody doesn’t get along with someone else and blocks access to somebody’s property. We’re still having to deal with that,” he added.
Tobar explained that private driveways, for example, will require more now.
“If you build a private driveway and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this for my family.’ That’s fine,” he explained, “but we’re going to make you have a permanent easement.”
The goal is to cut down on situations in the future should a family member sell to someone outside the family and differences arise, Tobar pointed out.
The manager said another requirement is one dwelling per lot, but on the south side of the county, where water and sewer are available, the county has no problem with smaller parcels.
“A lot of that was platted before 1991,” he stated. “As long as you have water and sewer, you can have a postage stamp parcel, so long as you build something that fits in there, and it’s over 500 square feet, you’re going to be fine.”
Tobar pointed out until the regulations were changed in 2019, one half acre was required to build anywhere in the county. “That didn’t make sense on the south side, so we changed that.”
District 4 County Commissioner Henry Craig welcomes the new regulations.
“The land use code changes are extensive, and they need to be,” he said. “It will take some time to review, comment, and finalize the codes.
“Changing the land use codes is long overdue,” Craig said. “The land use codes must support how we want the county to change and grow. The codes must protect neighbor from neighbor and protect our neighborhoods and little communities.”
Craig said existing regulations are antiquated. “Our codes that primarily use setback rules to determine the type of business or structure are no longer adequate to the community we are now.”
Tobar said that personnel in several departments have been involved in the process.
“We’ve been working on land use code for several months. The team has consisted of Water & Sewer, Engineering, Fire, GIS, Code, Planning and Development Staff, Clerk, Commissioner Sammy Hall and me,” he said.