This is a review of the rezoning application process
and a review of some of the activities of the Planning Commission, the
Planning Department and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
For more information on zoning in DeKalb County call the DeKalb Planning
Department at 404 371-2155.
There are a number of processes related to rezoning
The rezoning process
The Zoning Board of Appeals variance process
The Administrative Variance process
The Planning Department conducts the rezoning application cycle six times a year. A rezoning cycle starts with the deadline for receiving applications, and ends when the County Board of Commissioners hear the application.
In the first two weeks of the cycle, advertising notices are sent to the newspaper. Notices are also sent to all of the groups that will review the applications.
In the third week of the cycle, signs are posted at the sites which will be rezoned. The Community Council meetings are held for each of the five local commission districts. The Community Council meetings are run by the Planning Department in a town hall format. The applicants may present their applications if they wish, they are not required to be present. The Community Council is a time and place where the applicant and the neighborhood involved can meet. The Community Council and audience discuss each item for five to ten minutes, and then the Community Council votes a recommendation. The Council can choose to Approve, Approve with Conditions, Deny, Defer, or even simply make no recommendation at all. The Council's recommendations are not binding, but they are passed on with the application.In the fifth week of the cycle, the county Planning Department makes their recommendations and comments on each application. The Planning Department reviews the application for correctness, and checks with other county departments for comments on issues such as drainage or traffic impact.
In the sixth week of the cycle, the Planning Commission meets at a
formal public hearing in Maloof Auditorium at 1300 Commerce Drive
to review all rezoning applications. The Planning
Commission decisions are recommendations. The Planning
Commissioners have access to all of the previous recommendations, and they
have had time to personally visit the properties. At the public
hearing the applicant is given ten minutes to present the reasons why the
proposed rezoning should be allowed. Anyone who wishes to support the
application may also speak with the applicants permission. Then the
podium is opened to opponents of the
application for ten minutes. If the applicant has time remaining from
his/her ten minutes then they are allowed to speak in
rebuttal. The Planning Commission may decide to Approve, Approve with
conditions, Defer, Withdraw, Deny, or take No Action on the application.
Approve means approved as is.
Approval with conditions means that written conditions would be
added to the application. These written conditions would be binding which
is not true of verbal promises about a property.
Defer in effect means, no recommendation, since the Planning Commission
will
not hear an application again before the County Board of Commissioners
has a chance to make a final decision.
Withdraw is as if the applicant withdrew the application. The applicant
would be free to resubmit the application again at any time.
Deny means denied and a new application cannot be submitted for two
years.
No Action means just that.
All decisions of the Planning Commission are recommendations only.
In week eight, at the end of the zoning cycle, the County Board of
Commissioners meet at a formal public hearing in Maloof Auditorium at
1300 Commerce Drive to review all rezoning applications. The
public hearing has the same format as the Planning Commission meeting.
The Board of Commissioners makes a final decision on each rezoning request.
The Commissioners have access to all of the previous recommendations and
information gathered on the application. The Board of Commissioners have
the same choices of decisions as the Planning Commission, with a
few slight differences.
A decision of Defer
means that the item will be reheard at the next daytime meeting of the
Board after formal public notices have been posted, usually four weeks.
A Deferral, Decision Only, means that at the meeting when the Commissioners
decide on the item, the public will be present, but no public comments
will be allowed.
A Deferral, Full Cycle, means that an item will have to go before the
Planning Commission again and be heard by the Board of Commissioners
in two months.
The Zoning Board of Appeals is intended to provide some flexibility to the zoning process by allowing variations from the zoning ordinances. They hear cases where a strict, uniform application of the code would work a hardship on a property owner due to unique topography, etc. Property owners with such problems apply to the Board of Appeals for a variance. The Board of Appeals' function is not to hear cases where someone is having a personal financial problem. The Board of Appeals is not intended as a means to circumvent the rezoning process. The variances granted by the Board of Appeals can include uses of a property as well as other zoning restrictions.
The Zoning Board of Appeals meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 1 PM at the Maloof Auditorium.
The decisions of the Board of Appeals are final and can only be appealed within 30 days by petitioning the Superior Court via a Writ of Certiorari.Administrative Variances are granted by the county staff without a public hearing. These are intended to be variances that make construction simpler. For example, the setback requirements for the location of a building can be reduced by 10% less than allowed by zoning ordinances if an administrative variance is granted. However, conditions that have been added to a zoning cannot be modified by administrative variance.