Coweta County

is getting serious about protecting its wetlands.

Coweta County

planner is recommending the Coweta County Commission approve a wetlands

protection district ordinance at its Jan. 16 meeting.

The ordinance

would protect wetlands from any alterations that could significantly affect

or reduce their function.

The district

would overlay all t in Che landoweta County and be used for all development

within the county.

After an applicant

applies for development, the county engineer will review the site plan

and inspect the site.

The ordinance

specifies that no development will be allowed to proceed until the engineer

is satisfied there are no wetlands on the site or the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers has issued a permit to allow the development to proceed.

The ordinance

does allow several uses of wetlands, including fishing, hunting, bird

watching, hiking, boating, horseback riding and canoeing.

Another key

component of the ordinance is that it allows the County Development Engineer

to issue temporary emergency permits to work within wetlands to maintain

or repair public roads or other facilities that serve the general public

as long as it does not enlarge or materially change the facility.

The ordinance

also prohibits the use of wetlands as retention areas for toxic or hazardous

waste or other contaminants, as well as stormwater detention facilities.