COASTAL OBSERVER

The consultants who are helping Georgetown County update its zoning and land use regulations to comply with the comprehensive plan adopted last year are looking for ways to reduce density.

“The No. 1 takeaway from the vision that we saw was a desire to have a reduction in density,” said Sarah Sinatra, a partner in Inspire Placemaking Collective and the project manager for the update.  “We’re looking at ways to go through that density reduction.”

How that process will work is the topic of a public meeting next week.

Inspire was hired from among five firms seeking the contract to update the county’s zoning ordinance and land use regulations into a “unified development ordinance.” The company is based in Orlando, Fla., but has offices in Atlanta, Boston and Durham, N.C.

Under state law, the zoning ordinance is the legal path to carrying out the goals that are contained in the land use element of a county’s comprehensive plan. 

Georgetown County is facing five lawsuits challenging land use decisions that neighbors and citizens groups say didn’t follow the comprehensive plan. Three were dismissed by Circuit Court judges and are on appeal. 

Duane Draper, who chairs the board of the citizens group Keep It Green, hopes the process of creating a UDO will provide an opportunity to roll back some elements of the comprehensive plan, such as residential density. His group is a plaintiff in four of the lawsuits.

“The comp plan is really what they’re going to bring everything into accordance with. Isn’t that horse already out of the barn?” he asked. “I don’t know how much value the public can bring to the process.”

But he plans to attend the kickoff meeting to find out.

“The comp plan sets the vision of the community,” Sinatra said. “It would be helpful for us to know, from the public perspective, what are you not seeing in this document.”

The initial public meeting will outline the process, but also give participants a chance to talk with staff from Inspire and the county planning department.

Draper said Keep It Green board members wondered at their meeting this week if the process would involve sticky notes, a feature of the public meetings held by consultants from the Columbia-based Boudreaux Group that helped update the land use element of the comprehensive plan.

“It may,” Sinatra said. “We planners love our dots and sticky notes.”

During the land use plan update, they were criticized by some people as childish.

Draper said there was more concern that some of the comments were ignored.

“A lot of that didn’t seem to be incorporated in the final product,” he said.

There won’t be sticky notes at the kickoff, Sinatra said, but the process will include opportunities for feedback starting with an open house in January.

“If we want to make a change, we want the public to see visually what it looks like,” Sinatra said.

Inspire worked with the city of Greenville, N.C., to combine zoning and other ordinances  and regulations into a unified development ordinance that was completed earlier this year.

“It’s turned out that, on the existing zoning criteria, we’ve cleaned some things up, but overall nothing life shattering,” said Les Everett, director of Planning and Development Services in Greenville. “The biggest thing from the outreach and community standards is vegetation and what we call smoke shops.”

What he liked about Inspire, and Sinatra in particular, was “she understands the political challenges.”

“They can find ways to make you think about what is the best solution,” Everett said. “They’re learning about you and your needs.”

The kickoff meeting is from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Georgetown County Library auditorium. A brief presentation will be followed by time to chat.