Thursday, March 30, 2006

SB 510: An "Easy Button" for Developers

The Georgia House is currently debating SB 510, a measure that addresses stream buffers, giving developers a great deal more latitude to build within current stream buffers. Development near streams can threaten the quality of our drinking water. I think that I'd rather have clean water. This may not be a sexy piece of legislation, but it appears that it's passage could remove key environmental protections. Plus, a number of reps are questioning why landfills are referenced in the legislation and fear that the result will be that landfills will be pushed further into rural Georgia.

This is a bill that primarily is focused on Lumpkin County, where property owners were offered a variance provision but chose to pursue legislation instead- that's because having the option of individual variances did not provide developers with the blank check they wanted.

As one representative pointed out, this is an "Easy Button" for developers. With the ice caps melting, when it comes to the environment, do we really want an Easy Button??

Sphere: Related Content

No comments: