Fayette's

Planning Commission will discuss three proposed

environmental protection laws at least one more

time before voting on whether to recommend the

new regulations.

Commissioners

got their first look at the laws during a work

session last week.

The

laws, which provide regulations to go along with

the recently enacted environmental chapter of the

county's land use plan, address wetlands,

watershed protection and ground water recharge

area protection.

Under

the wetlands ordinance, county engineers would

determine whether a development is likely to have

an impact on a wetland area, and involve the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers if that's the case.

The

ordinance is nothing new, said senior planner

Pete Frisina - the Engineering Department

already is doing what the law calls for, he said.

The

second ordinance identifies the county's large

and small watersheds and includes an official

watershed map of the county. Also, the law

requires buffers between developments and areas

defined as watershed, and defines the types of

uses allowed within those buffers.

Experts

in the county Environmental Health Department

will administer the ground water recharge

protection ordinance, which restricts the

intensity of development allowed in recharge

areas. Recharge areas are those in which rain

water seeps into the ground to resupply the water

table.

Planning

Commission members will study the proposed new

laws over the next few weeks and discuss them at

their next work session, May 18, with tentative

plans to act on the laws at their June 1 business

meeting.

If

the Planning Commission approves the laws, the

county Board of Commissioners will decide whether

to implement them at its June 22 meeting.

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