Environmental Stewardship Regional Practices

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Constructing homes and businesses on steeply sloped areas can have a major impact on the natural resources in the region. The results can be erosion, altered drainage patterns and waterway degradation. In order to limit such changes, the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center has worked with its local jurisdictions to conserve their environmental resources as they update their comprehensive economic development plans.

Erosion often occurs when builders change the grade of individual lots or add a significant amount of impervious surfaces, such as roofs, roads and driveways. This can be a major problem. Property owners can lose land to severe erosion when the contours of the land and the drainage patterns are altered, and added sediment damages local waterways. Planning Director Tom O'Bryant says, "We've worked with the local governments to develop mountain protection ordinances, so development does not have such an impact on the slopes in our region, or on the scenic views."

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs suggests that ordinances protect sloped lands above 2,200 feet, and many counties have adopted this elevation standard. In 2005, White County, Georgia, which is within the Georgia Mountains region, chose to regulate new construction on lots with large areas of 25 percent slope, regardless of elevation. To preserve the integrity of the natural resources, the ordinance restricts the percentage of trees on land lots that can be cleared to 50 percent, excluding those cleared to lay the footprint of the house. It also allows for only 30 percent of a new lot to be graded. The restriction also protects the natural beauty of the area by limiting major sources of lighting on the slopes, obliging homeowners to plant trees obscuring the view of their house and preventing the construction of homes over 40 feet tall.

Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center P.O. Box 1720 Gainesville, GA 30503 Tel: 770.538.2626 Fax: 770.538.2625 http://www.gmrdc.org