Fayette

County commissioners Thursday will discuss

changing the county's parking requirements to

better protect the environment.

During

a recent meeting, Commissioner Glen Gosa wondered

why the county requires each commercial

development to have a minimum number of parking

spaces when the same regulations limit the amount

of impervious surface - pavement - a

development can have.

It's

part of a difficult and potentially expensive

problem the county faces as new state and federal

laws focus more and more on keeping storm water

runoff from flooding and polluting area streams

and lakes, and on making sure rainwater can work

its way through the soil and replaenish the water

table.

"We're

creating a problem we're going to have to fix

years down the road when it comes to storm water

runoff," said Commissioner Greg Dunn as

commissioners discussed the county's development

regulations recently.

"I'd

like something where a certain number of those

parking spaces can be filled with gravel or some

type of pervious surface," said Gosa.

"My

concern is that we have parking regulations that

say you have to have X number of parking spots

because that's what the regulations call

for," he said.

State

and federal regulators have been warning local

governments for years that eventually they're

going to be required to capture and treat storm

water runoff, a problem that increases as the

amount of pavement in the county grows.

Normal

procedure when commissioners discuss changes to

development regulations is to turn the matter

over to the county planning staff and Planning

Commission, which would then return its

recommendation to the County Commission.

Thursday's

meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the County

Administrative Complex.

Also

on the agenda, commissioners will discuss the

results of a recent analysis of county employees'

pay scales compared to those in other area

governments.

Commissioners

also will:

Discuss a property

use proposal from the County Extension Service.

Hear from resident

Tim Munford about a problem with the developer of

his neighborhood.

Consider a request

from the Water Committee for a resolution

applying for funding from the Land and Water

Conservation Fund.

Commission

meetings are open to the public.

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