That pesky

tree protection ordinance is back on the Fayette County Planning Commission's

agenda this week.

The group will

consider recommending that the county Board of Commissioners add a section

to regulate timber harvesting operations.

The ordinance

took about a year to develop, and the changes have been the subject of

work sessions for several months.

Local land

owners and organizations that represent the timbering industry have voiced

objections to parts of the proposed regulations that require buffers,

saying the rules would result in a "taking" of an owner's saleable

timber.

But after reducing

the proposed buffers from 50 to 25 feet, and after expressing some misgivings,

the planning panel decided to stick by the concept of buffers as a protection

to adjacent land owners.

"It's

just causing me a lot of problems," said commission member Bob Harbison

during last month's work session. "I don't think that just because

I like to look at something I can cause that person not to be able to

earn a profit from their property."

But Chairman

Fred Bowen said it's not that simple. "Clearly, a treed community

improves the property values in that area," he said. "Whether

it's 50 feet or 25 feet, I feel we have to provide some protection from

what clearly is an eyesore. Fayette County is not a farming county, so

I think we have to balance all this."

In the end,

the group decided to leave the buffers in the proposed ordinance and reduce

them to 25 feet.

If approved,

the new law will require the buffers, but allow up to half the trees in

the buffer old or diseased ones to be removed in a thinning process.

A minimum number

of trees in the area harvested also will have to be left standing, and

there will be requirements for a graveled entrance to keep mud from timbered

sites off the highway.

Commissioners

are expected to vote on the changes Thursday at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative

Complex. If they approve, they'll pass the document on to the County Commission

for its consideration June 28 at 7 p.m.

Also on the

agenda Thursday will be SprintCom Inc.'s request for permission to increase

the height of its cell phone tower on Morgan Road from 180 to 190 feet.

The request constitutes a rezoning, to change the conditions of its A-R

(agricultural-residential) conditional zoning.

Commissioners

also will consider a number of changes to development regulations and

zoning ordinances.

Among the changes,

the group will consider setting a 60 percent limit on the portion of a

commercial or office site that can be covered by buildings and pavement.

Another amendment

would make mini-storage facilities a conditional use in the C-H (commercial-highway)

zoning district. The facilities currently are a permitted use in the C-H

district.

For the complete

agenda, visit admin.co.fayette.ga.us .

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