November 14, 2017

Last night’s City Council working session was the best that I have attended in the last two years . . . and I have attended nearly every one.  City staff covered three important initiatives that really have the potential to significantly impact smart land use and preserve and honor Milton’s rural character.  Here is a run-down of the 3 topics covered.

Tree Preservation Ordinance.  The need to refashion this ordinance was originally broached with the City in March 2016 by the Milton Coalition.  A tree ordinance committee was appointed and a consultant hired.  The committee has been working hard for many months.  It has taken a considerable time to write the ordinance.  However, based on what I heard last night, it was well worth the wait.  The Tree Ordinance Committee has created a new ordinance from scratch that captures the aspirations of the community for preserving the rural look-and-feel of our community.  The goal is reach and maintain a tree canopy of 60%–a fairly aggressive and admirable benchmark for tree preservation.  The goal is to obtain Council approval of the ordinance by the end of the year.

Transfer of Development Rights Bank.  So far, Milton’s Transfer of Development Rights program has had very limited impact.  Currently, the program requires a willing buyer to find (with some assistance from our City) a willing seller.  However, to date, there have been only a few transactions, and little land has been conserved.  To facilitate TDR transactions, the concept of a TDR bank was discussed, wherein the city would buy and “bank” TDRs and later sell these TDRs to buyers.  Such a bank would provide more “liquidity” in the TDR market, thereby leading to more transactions and increased conservation of greenspace.  Two experts from the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson School of Government presented their ideas on TDR banks and answered Council’s questions.  City staff was given the green light to continue exploring establishment of a TDR bank.

Large Lot Incentives.  A few months ago, staff presented some high level ideas (i.e., 5 bullet points on 1 slide) about incenting larger lots in Milton.  City Council directed staff to further analyze these ideas.  Last night, Carter Lucas, the City Engineer, presented his analysis, which was impressive.  Clearly, staff has done considerable work to not only detail the original five ideas, but to also identify and flesh out additional large lot incentives.  If structured correctly, these large lot incentives could be a game changer for land conservation in Milton.  City Council directed staff to continue forward with their development of a program to incent large lots.  At a previous meeting, Scott Reese, a development professional, provided some good ideas for incenting large lot sizes.  Following is the video of his remarks.

Last night’s meeting underscored a point that many of us have been making for months . . .  the City needs to focus on land-use solutions that the community can rally around . . . and there are many, as last night’s meeting demonstrated.  Unfortunately, for many months, the city’s land use efforts have been mired in debate over conservation subdivisions (and other developer-driven issues, like rezonings).  Despite overwhelming citizen opposition to conservation subdivisions, a few council members aggressively pushed the concept and thereby slowed progress on other more practical (and less controversial) land-use solutions.  It took an election and replacement of some council members to get the City back on track and implementing solutions that the community can unite behind.  Yes, elections do have consequences; they clarify issues, highlight citizens’ priorities, and provide direction to our government.

Staff is to be commended for their fine work on the tree ordinance, TDR bank, and large lot incentives.  The staff working on these initiatives are Kathy Field, Mark Law, Michele McIntosh-Ross, and Carter Lucas.  A big shout-out to the four of them.  Kudos also to City Manager Steve Krokoff, who clearly understands citizens’ concerns about over-development in Milton and is aggressively seeking solutions to address the problem.  And starting in January, it looks like Mr. Krokoff will have a more supportive Council backing him.  I encourage citizens to watch last night’s working session discussion.  Below is a link to the video.  I also encourage citizens to attend Council meetings.  We need to support our staff and elected representatives.  Only three citizens were in attendance last night; we need many more citizens to show up and engage to keep the positive momentum going.

November 13, 2017 City Council Working Session

Advocating For Smart Land Use,

Tim Becker