PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — In an effort to tighten a zoning ordinance, Peach County commissioners approved a moratorium on mobile home park and RV park permit requests on Aug. 13.
It was a 4-1 vote.
Post 5 Commissioner Wade Yoder told 13WMAZ the pause will help them draw up comprehensive regulations for mobile and RV parks. He said they hope this will better protect property owners and ensure quality living conditions.
He said the moratorium isn't an attack on affordable housing options but a way to improve their mobile home ordinance; with adjustments, he said it could save future permit holders money.
"It can actually help them save a lot of money later because of things that can wind up happening that cost money for repairs and things like that because the permit process was followed properly," Yoder said.
He said it will allow them to slow down and assess the current state of housing in the county, as the county continues to grow and faces other development projects.
"Things weren't in place like we wanted it to be with the ordinance that governs that, so the reason for the moratorium was to put breaks on it and make sure we got our act together on that," Yoder said.
While he said he doesn't think blight is a problem, Yoder said he doesn't want it to become another issue to tackle in the county's blight fight.
"What we care most about here is the ones who live here currently and we don't want some condition placed on them in our community that wasn't well thought out, well planned," Yoder said.
He says they wont give the ordinance entirely new language, just needed updates.
"We're not gonna try to re-invent the wheel here were gonna look at areas that have done it right and emulate it here in Peach County," he said.
County attorney James Banter originally recommended the moratorium be lifted after a year but Commissioner Shanita Howell proposed six months and the board agreed.
Yoder said while the timeline isn't official, he's hoping for a public hearing on the amended legislation, eight to nine months from now.
He wasn't able to confirm how many mobile and RV parks are zoned within Peach County lines. He says there are a lot of areas zoned in a way that allow for multiple modular units; some spaces allow for a single unit and current lots won't be affected.