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Milton Coalition Letter to Citizens

Posted on by Milton Coalition in Uncategorized

Dear concerned citizen:

Join the over 1600 citizens and that have signed our petition since last Monday!

STOP CLUSTER HOUSING IN RURAL MILTON!  We need your help in stopping developers and other Special Interests from abusing Milton’s zoning laws to maximize their profits by cramming homes into rural areas of Milton, leaving Milton citizens to pay the price:  lower property values, overcrowded schools, congested roads, stressed amenities, and strained infrastructure.

We have created a blog with information and a petition you can sign.  We also recommend that citizens write to City Council to express their opposition; instructions are provided below.

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Failing to get the Conservation Subdivision Ordinance (CSO) passed, developers are using rezoning and variances to achieve the goals of the CSO on land currently zoned AG-1 by Milton’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, including:

  • Cluster homes on ¼ acre lots
  • Higher density of homes
  • 50% lot coverage of homes (a variance is needed to permit this vs. 20% lot coverage allowed under current zoning)
  • Community septic

A new cluster housing subdivision has been proposed on Ebenezer Road.  It seems not to matter that over 800 citizens signed a petition against “conservation” cluster housing.  And even though staff and the Planning Commission (in a 7-0 vote) have recommended denial of this rezoning, a majority of City Council members have voted to approve the Ebenezer Road rezoning allowing cluster housing at the end of a remote rural road in Milton.  Fortunately, the Mayor vetoed the approval (which was upheld by Council in a 3-2 vote) and the rezoning is set for another vote on June 20th.

Approval of such cluster housing will accelerate already overheated development in Milton.  This means more strain on overcrowded schools, congested roads, and overstressed infrastructure.  Approving cluster housing through rezoning and variances is actually worse than the CSO because the protections and restrictions of a CSO are absent.  Such rezonings are an abuse of our zoning laws, representing an end-run around our zoning code.

The truth is that developers are proposing cluster home developments to make unattractive land profitable to develop.  A developer crams homes on the most hospitable areas of the property, claiming the remaining areas as “greenspace”–much of it unbuildable or uneconomic to develop.  Environmentalism is used as a cynical ruse to achieve rezoning and variances.  In a sad irony, approval of such “green” cluster home subdivisions actually accelerates loss of “greenspace” and is the antithesis of conservation.

Approval of the Ebenezer application would set a very dangerous precedent in Milton.  If approved, Milton citizens should expect a flood of similar applications as builders rush to develop land in Milton that is currently unprofitable to develop.  The developers cash in and the citizens of Milton pay the price.  A new proposal to rezone another property (Donegal Lane) to allow cluster housing was submitted last week.

Unfortunately, developers have many advantages:  time, money, connections, zoning expertise, and paid attorneys.  So once again we have to mobilize citizens in opposition.  We need for citizens to again speak out against cluster housing in un-sewered areas of Milton.  We ask that you take the following actions:

  1. Sign our petition at Milton Coalition Petition Against Cluster Housing or paste the following link into your browser: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/i-oppose-permitting-less-than-1-acre-lots-in Please leave a comment to let council know your thoughts.  Please have each member of your household sign separately.
  2. Write to City Council and the City Manager to express your opposition. Their addresses are provided below.
  3. Express your opposition at the June 20th City Council meeting (6 pm at Council Chambers) when the Ebenezer application is going to be considered.
  4. Please forward this e-mail to family, friends, HOAs, etc. in Milton, so they can also express their opposition.
  5. Contact us at miltoncoalition@outlook.com if you would like to receive occasional updates on this issue or if you have questions/comments.
  6. Post our blog and petition to your social media.

Following are the e-mail addresses of City Council members and the City Manager:

Interim City Manager:  Steven Krokoff, steven.Krokoff@cityofmiltonga.us, 678-242-2570

Mayor and City Council members: joe.lockwood@cityofmiltonga.us,karen.thurman@cityofmiltonga.us,matt.kunz@cityofmiltonga.us,bill.lusk@cityofmiltonga.us,burt.hewitt@cityofmiltonga.us,joe.longoria@cityofmiltonga.us,rick.mohrig@cityofmiltonga.us

If you want more information, go to the Milton Coalition blog.  It is your one-stop shop for all information on current re-zonings.  Click on this link Milton Coalition Stop Cluster Housing Website or paste the following URL into your browser:  https://miltoncoalition.wordpress.com/  You can also contact us at miltoncoalition@outlook.com

The Milton Coalition’s longer term aim is to work with City Council to find land-use solutions (e.g., tightening our current zoning laws) that citizens can unite behind (and there are many of them) as opposed to developer-submitted solutions that are divisive and that citizens do not want.

Thank you for your efforts on behalf of Milton.  They are appreciated.

With deep civic pride,

The Milton Coalition

A non-partisan group of concerned citizens advocating for clean, competent, courageous, and citizen-centric government.

miltoncoalition@outlook.com