Fayette County planning officials will be reviewing the relatively new celltower ordinance for possible changes, including the addition of a notification process for adjacent property owners.
The review comes on the heels of a new celltower under construction on Crabapple Lane, near several homes in Peachtree City’s Kedron Hills neighborhood.
The residents of Kedron Hills were not notified of the new celltower because it met all of the county’s requirements, county officials said. If a public notification element is added to the ordinance, it could be done such that nearby property owners would receive a notice even if the tower meets all county ordinances.
One resident of Kedron Hills complained last week that she only found out about the tower once the bulldozers began clearing land on the adjacent lot.
County Planning Director Pete Frisina told the Fayette County Commission Wednesday that staff would look at other celltower ordinances to see how they compare to the county’s, which was updated recently in an overhaul of the county zoning ordinances.
“Some may be more restrictive than us, some may be less,” Frisina said.
Another possible regulation that will be investigated by staff is a limitation on how close a new celltower can be to a nearby municipality.
Commissioner Steve Brown suggested the distance restriction from a municipality would be helpful, but added that the county could look at granting variances to that distance requirement as well. Brown said in any case, a new celltower within that distance should result in a notice being filed to the appropriate city so it can provide input on the matter.
In other business, the commission voted to spend $171,090 to replace 140 desktop computers, 24 laptop computers and 60 printers. The items are being purchased through a state contract for Hewlett Packard and Dell products. The county is hoping to take advantage of end of year pricing for the printers in particular, as the newer models are about twice as much, officials said.
The commission also voted to spend up to $7,000 to update the county’s recreation needs assessment. Much of the process will involve an online survey of residents, but the new plan also will take into account the existing recreation amenities in the county’s various cities. The previous assessment in 2003 failed to do so and thus was more ambitious than truly necessary, officials have said.
