FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Forsyth County Planning Commission approved a series of modifications to the proposed Unified Development Code during Tuesday’s meeting. One that did not get approved, however, related to administrative variances.

The proposed modification would have applied only to residential lots in excess of 25 acres and involved building setbacks capped at 15 percent that could potentially grow to 20 percent and lot width and total lot coverage of 15 percent.

Commissioners wrestled with that issue for close to an hour before Chairman Tim Dineen made the motion to deny. The motion passed 4-1 with Commissioner Jessica Thoreson opposed.

Three Forsyth County residents stepped forward to express their opposition based primarily on the lack of transparency in the process and most commissioners seemed to agree with them.

Les Dobbins told the commissioners, “There is a process to ask for a variance. They can formally do that through the variance process and not have it done without the transparency of an administrative variance.”

Other UDC modifications met with less gnashing of teeth. The Commission unanimousy approved modifications relating to:

• Specialty design standards;
• Residential design applicability with the addition or R2R, CR1, CR2 and LR;
• Timber harvesting;
• Exterior buffer requirements;
• Undisturbed areas of separation;
• Open space and low-impact stormwater design incentives.