Decisions about how to implement the new Master Land Use and Development Plan (MLUDP) must now be made. The implementation decisions will establish how fast and at what density the County's population will increase. The implementation of the MLUDP will be through the County Zoning Ordinance, and through other County Ordinances, rules and regulations. The Zoning Ordinance will have the most profound impact on the density of development and ultimate County population. Other actions will also be needed to manage the County's rate of growth.

The County has prepared itself well for the job of rewriting the Zoning Ordinance. The Vision 20/20 Quality Growth Strategy has been developed by a representative cross section of county citizens. That strategy was begun in 1993 and accepted by the Board of Commissioners in 1995.

Subsequently the County hired a professional planning firm, Robert and Company, to develop the new MLUDP. The plan development used the Vision 20/20 Strategy as input, and was guided by another representative cross section of County citizens, some of whom had also been members of the Vision 20/20 Quality Growth Strategy development group. That MLUDP was presented to the Board of Commissioners in mid 1997.

The Board of commissioners did not accept the MLUDP when presented in 1997. It was assigned to a small group for review and suggestions. That small group submitted their suggestions in mid 1998. The Board of Commissioners held a public hearing, made some modifications to the 1998 MLUDP, and submitted it to the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center (GMRDC) for their required review.

While there has been considerable planning done by the County that provides a good foundation for determining changes to the Zoning Ordinance, those plans are officially only guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. MLUDPs are frequently ignored in zoning decisions. Why? First, because the MLUDP is not a mass rezoning of land in the County. It is impossible to know and think through all the zoning considerations on every parcel of land when developing the plan. Second, there are a lot of diverse pressures on the decision makers when property rezonings are being considered, some legitimate and some not legitimate. To do a fair job the decision-makers must react to those pressures in the framework of the MLUDP, state and federal laws, the Zoning Ordinance, other County ordinances and regulations, our free enterprise system, the landowner's rights to use the land, and other citizens' rights not to suffer significant negative impacts from that land use.

Forsyth County's phenomenal growth and growth prospects hold out the promise of huge profits for the development industry, and that causes some in the industry to covet illogical uses of land to maximize profits. Conversely, the desire to perpetuate a quality of life dependent on living in a rural atmosphere causes some residents to try to prevent legitimate uses of property.

I think the following extremes illustrate the point. On one hand, an established residential area should be protected from having obnoxious land uses next door, such as a landfill. A landfill in a residential area might bring huge profits to the landowner. But, it is not fair to the residents in the area because it would produce an objectionable odor, increase truck traffic, put more trash along the roads, lower property values, potentially pollute ground water and perhaps pose a health risk. On the other hand, some residents neighboring a proposed new housing development might like the land to remain vacant because they enjoy the open spaces and scenic vistas, but that is not fair to the landowner proposing the development.

Well thought out plans and zoning ordinances provide a set of rules to help decision makers achieve consistent and fair treatment of rezoning applications. Plans and ordinances that are compatible and mutually supporting are also necessary to allow rezoning decisions to stand up to court challenges.

The development community has much to gain or lose from land use plans and zoning ordinances. Therefore, the development community is very interested, organized and involved in land use planning and zoning ordinance determinations to safeguard its interests, and perhaps gain an unfair advantage.

By contrast, lacking the profit motive, the average county citizen is not very involved or organized when the ordinances/laws are established. However, the average citizen can get quite emotional when something happens in their back yard that they do not like. But, many times citizens getting involved, only when a specific rezoning is being decided, is too late. The ordinances/laws were established long before the rezoning request, and were produced in an environment of average citizen apathy and development community aggressiveness.

People elected to County government leadership positions establish the zoning laws of the community. Those zoning laws can substantially determine the future profits for those in the development community. Therefore, many in the development community will encourage candidates, sympathetic to their special interests, to run for public office, and they will then generously contribute work and finances to the election campaigns of those candidates. I think we see the results of years of development community election success in some of our neighboring counties like Fulton, Gwinnett and Cobb. Fast growth, high-density development, large populations, helter-skelter commercial development and overburdened infrastructures.

The large majority of citizens do not get involved in selecting, working for, or financially supporting political candidates. In fact, the average citizen does not usually know much about local candidates or what they will really do if elected. Therefore, average citizens are more inclined to being influenced by well run and misleading political campaigns, fueled by money from special interests.

There are other pitfalls for Forsyth County citizens in establishing MLUDPs and Zoning Ordinances. We are part of the large and fast growing Metropolitan Atlanta area, and that is the biggest reason for our fast growth. There really is no effective overall Metro Atlanta planning and control. Therefore, we in Forsyth County can do things that will attract more than our County's share of Metro Atlanta's growth. The formulation of our plans and ordinances can encourage a lot of any particular type of development. We could attract more than our share of high density housing. We could attract more than our share of commercial activity. We could attract more than our share of desirable or undesirable industrial development. We could attract more (or less) than our share of upscale housing. We could attract more than our share of crime. And, as a result, We could achieve an ultimate build out of Forsyth County that produces a desirable or undesirable quality of life. If we are determined we can make better choices for ourselves and future generations.

I think the development and implementation of the new Zoning Ordinance are the most important events in determining the future well being of the County. If average citizens are interested, involved, and as aggressive as the development community will be during the creation of the new Zoning Ordinance, the future quality of life in the County will be brighter for most County residents. If average citizens are not interested I expect the future quality of life in the County to be degraded by faster, denser and less orderly development, and overburdened infrastructure.

Even if citizens are interested, what else is necessary to insure a Zoning Ordinance that fairly represents the interests of Forsyth County citizens? First, it is imperative that the Zoning Ordinance is constructed to satisfy the conclusions of the Vision 20/20 Quality Growth Strategy and the Master Land Use and Development Plan. Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance development is not a skill readily available in our citizenry, our elected officials or the County Staff. Therefore, I believe that the County should engage an outside firm specializing in zoning ordinance development. Also, a committee of Forsyth County citizens, representing the broad cross-section of the various interests in the County, should be established as an advisory group and a sounding board for the professionals. Care must be exercised to insure that no one special interest has too much representation on the committee.

Public hearings during and after the Zoning Ordinance creation process will help assure the citizen interest and input necessary for producing a Zoning Ordinance that represents the breadth of Forsyth County citizenry.

Now let me make a few observations and cautions based on my conclusion that fast and dense development produces the greatest profits for the development community. The MLUDP identifies areas for high-density development of up to six housing units per acre. I have been told by landowners that many of the purchase offers they receive for their land are based on the number of houses the potential purchaser will be allowed to put on the land. For example, if one house per acre is allowed the land is worth $15,000 per acre, but if three houses per acre are allowed, the land is worth $45,000 per acre. This example points out that the price of the finished house has little to do with the lot size.

Often, past justification for high density housing has been to allow developers to offer more affordable or low cost housing. But, as smaller lots were made available the low cost housing did not materialize because the market would support higher priced and more profitable houses on the smaller lot. Because the high-density development offers the highest profit potential it will naturally be developed faster than low-density development, as is currently being demonstrated in Cherokee County. Controls will be necessary to keep a continuous desired proportion between high-density and low-density housing.

There are other potential pitfalls in creating a zoning ordinance. There are provisions in the MLUDP for density-based zoning and the elimination of minimum lot sizes and setbacks in some residential zoning categories. This can produce quality of life benefits by allowing a developer to use only part of the land for housing and use the remaining land for parks, golf courses etc., or just leaving the land untouched and left as enjoyable open space. However, density-based zoning can also allow a developer to use land not suitable for development to justify high density on the portion of the land that is suitable for development. According to the newspapers, Cobb County has had some bad experience with this zoning concept. As an example, if a one hundred-acre parcel of land has fifty acres in wetlands or floodplain not suitable for development, twice as many houses would be allowed on the remaining developable fifty acres. Density-based zoning would double the housing density that a corresponding minimum lot size would allow on that one hundred acres. For many practical reasons a minimum lot size of one acre will allow less than 100 houses on one hundred developable acres, and it will allow less than 50 houses if only 50 acres are developable. However, density-based development with a requirement of an average of one acre per home, and no minimum lot size or setbacks, will allow 100 houses on that same developable fifty acres.

There is also encouragement for neo-traditional or nodal type development in the MLUDP. This form of development is getting a lot of attention in the Metro Atlanta area these days as a means of reducing air pollution by decreasing the use of cars. The theory is that if houses and commercial areas are closer together, and much more densely developed, people might do more walking and less driving to satisfy their needs. However, we must determine if this really fits the realities of the marketplace, or is it a disguise for denser and more profitable development? If this produces the quality of life desired by upscale housing buyers would there not already be a lot more of this kind of development? Would this really significantly reduce the use of the automobile? How many commercial establishments would be satisfied to be small enough to be closer to the housing? Would smaller business establishments mean higher prices? Can smaller business establishments realize enough profit to make them attractive to business owners? Have not larger profits that come with greater sales volume caused larger and fewer supermarkets that provide lower prices and more variety? Would people buy housing closer to their place of employment, or would they still exercise their freedom to commute to work? Would there be more schools closer to more homes, or would the higher population density generate larger schools, within reasonable commuting distance of homes, to reduce costs? Will churches really be closer, or will most people still drive to get to a church of their choice?

This kind of nodal development also has emotional appeal for some of us because it invokes fond memories of our youth. It sounds to many of us like it is similar to what we had when we were young. But, our standard of living has increased tremendously since those days, and our range of choices is much broader today. I think most of us, if faced with the choice, would choose the living situation we have today, rather than that of our childhood or years when we had fewer practical choices. I do not think many would advocate the government disallowing our freedom of choice to force people to live in an environment less attractive to them.

In summary, there are a few points I would emphasize. Forsyth County is at a critical point in its development, and a more desirable future can be created with proper Zoning Ordinance implementation of the County Vision 20/20 Quality Growth Strategy and the Master Land Use and Development Plan. There are diverse desires for the future of Forsyth County among its citizens. There has been and there will be much organized encouragement for increased density and a high rate of growth by some in the development community during the creation of the new Zoning Ordinance. The new Zoning Ordinance is so critical to the future quality of life in Forsyth County that outside professionals should be engaged to create the ordinance. A citizens committee, representing the breadth of Forsyth County citizen interests, should be established as advisors to, and be a sounding board for, the professionals who create the new Zoning Ordinance. The Zoning Ordinance creation process should offer several public hearings during the process to help assure the best outcome.