Proposed DeKalb County Zoning Map Unveiled!
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, members of the DeKalb County Regional Planning Commission got their first look at what a DeKalb County Zoning Map might look like. The proposed map was unveiled by Tommy Lee, Director of the Upper Cumberland Development District, who serves as UCDD staff planner and advisor to DeKalb County.
The proposed map will be forwarded to the full county commission for review and if the commission still wants to move forward changes could be made before or after it is sent back to the planning commission for further study. The planning commission’s final recommendation for passage of a county zoning resolution and map must then return to the county commission for a vote on implementation followed by a public hearing.
“For the last six months or so the planning commission has been working on a proposed zoning resolution to regulate land use within unincorporated DeKalb County. To go along with that resolution, you must have a zoning map which identifies every parcel in unincorporated DeKalb County and places a zoning designation on that parcel. Tonight (Monday, April 14) what we did was the planning commission reviewed the proposed zoning map and recommended that the county commission review it and give us some feedback on it,” said Lee.
Using neighboring Cannon County’s zoning ordinance as a model, Lee explained that the proposed DeKalb County resolution and zoning map also has basically four zoning districts: residential, commercial, industrial, and agriculture.
“There are four different designations on the zoning map. The color green represents agriculture and makes up about 95% of the county. The yellow designation is for residential. Purple is for industrial and red is for commercial lots,” said Lee.
In September, the county commission voted to authorize the county planning commission to begin the process of establishing criteria for zoning in DeKalb County outside the municipalities which already have zoning subject to a public hearing and final adoption by the county commission.