The Chattooga County Land Development Commission has posted a notice about a meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 at the Chattooga County Civic Center.  The commission says that the purpose of the meeting is to review changes made to the land development ordinance and allow for public input.

The ordinance was hastily adopted in the spring of 2022 by Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry.  Elsberry was cautioned at the time by both the county attorney and Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) about the adoption of the ordinance. Michael O’Quinn, the County Consulting Services Associate with the ACCG told Commissioner Elsberry that most counties will spend time and money hiring experts before adopting land use ordinances due to the legal requirements in such an ordinance.  O’Quinn said that there were some “highly technical subjects” in Elsberry’s ordinance and stated, “This is the kind of thing most counties would spend a lot of money to develop, calling upon experts who work in this field daily.”

The commissioner signed the ordinance six days after the letter from the ACCG without a study or input from experts. (See related story with links to original emails to the commissioner HERE)

Now, the land use ordinance commission says that they have made substantial changes to the ordinance.  Commissioner Elsberry told WZQZ News that he has not seen the changes and has no plans to look at them until they are approved by the commission he appointed.   The commissioner had said that he would begin enforcing the ordinance January 1, 2023, but told the local newspaper that he won’t start enforcing the ordinance until he sees and adopts the recommended changes by his land use commission.