The City Council may from time to time amend any regulation pertaining to any zoning district; or may amend any other Article or Section of this Zoning Ordinance.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

An application to amend the text of this Zoning Ordinance may be initiated by:

(a)

The City Council; or

(b)

Any person, firm, corporation or agency, provided said individual, firm, corporation or agency is the owner or owner's agent of the property for which an amendment is sought, and further provided that the applicant has attended a pre-application meeting with the Zoning Administrator; or

(c)

The Zoning Administrator.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

Applications to amend the text of this zoning ordinance shall require submittal of an application fee, application form, and proposed text amendment in a form approved in advance by the Zoning Administrator. The Zoning Administrator shall waive the application fee required by this Section when an application is initiated by the City Council or the Zoning Administrator.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

In cases where an applicant is proposing a text amendment to modify or create a new zoning district or to add a permitted or conditional use to an existing zoning district, and where the applicant also desires to rezone property to the new or modified zoning district (or establish a conditional use in accordance with the amendment), the two applications shall not be considered concurrently.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

At least fifteen (15) but not more than forty-five (45) days prior to the date of the public hearing before the City Council, the city shall cause to be published within a newspaper of general circulation within the City a notice of the public hearing before Mayor and City Council. The notice shall state the time, place, and purpose of the public hearing.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023; Ord. No. 731, § 1(Exh. A), 3-6-2025)

The City Council shall consider the following standards in considering any proposal that would result in a change to the text of this Zoning Ordinance, giving due weight or priority to those factors that are appropriate to the circumstances of each proposal:

(a)

Is the proposed amendment consistent with the purpose of this Zoning Ordinance as stated under Article 1?

(b)

Does the proposed amendment further or is it compatible with the purpose and intent of the Comprehensive Plan?

(c)

Is the proposed amendment required to adequately address new or changing conditions or to properly implement the Comprehensive Plan?

(d)

Does the proposed amendment reasonably promote the public health, safety, morality or general welfare?

Copies of the standards for review, as outlined above, shall be printed and available for distribution to the general public at the public hearing held by the City Council.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), adopted June 1, 2023, repealed § 33.6 which pertained to public hearing and derived from the Zoning Ordinance adopted Dec. 13, 2006.

(a)

Within a period ninety (90) calendar days from the date of the public hearing held by the City Council on any such application(s), the City Council shall render a decision on the application(s).

(b)

The City Council may approve or disapprove the proposed text amendment as written, or it may approve modifications of the text amendment as originally proposed.

(c)

In rendering a decision on any such application, the City Council shall consider all information supplied by the applicant and Zoning Administrator.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

Any application for an amendment to the text of this zoning ordinance may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the person or agency initiating such a request, upon written notice to the Zoning Administrator.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

(a)

When any application for a text amendment is initiated by a party other than the City Council or the Zoning Administrator, and said text amendment is withdrawn within ten (10) calendar days from the date of approval for initiation by the Zoning Administrator, one half (1/2) of the entire application fee paid by the applicant shall be refunded to the applicant. The Administrator shall refund that portion of the application fee within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of withdrawal of the application.

(b)

No portion of a required application fee shall be refunded on any application withdrawn by an applicant later than ten (10) calendar days from the date of approval for initiation by the Zoning Administrator.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

When a text application is filed by a property owner, the Zoning Administrator shall notify the applicant of the action taken by the City Council on the application no later than five (5) working days from the date the City Council took action on said application.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

The procedures set forth in O.C.G.A. § 36-66-4(h)(1) shall apply:

(a)

Where a text amendment proposes to revise one or more zoning classifications or definitions related to single-family residential uses of property so as to authorize multi-family uses of property pursuant to such classification or definitions, or to grant blanket permission, under certain or all circumstances, for property owners to deviate from the existing zoning requirements of a single-family residential zoning; or

(b)

To any zoning decisions that provide for the abolition of all single-family residential zoning classifications within the territorial boundaries of a local government, or that result in the rezoning of all property zoned for single-family residential uses within the territorial boundaries of a local government to multi-family residential uses of property.

This Section shall not apply to zoning decisions for the rezoning of property from a single-family residential use of property to a multi-family residential use of property when the rezoning is initiated by the owner or authorized agent of the owner of such property.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

This Article is intended to comply with the provisions of the Georgia Zoning Procedures Act, O.C.G.A. § 36-66-1 et seq., which Act is incorporated by reference in its entirety into this ordinance. Where any provision of this Article is in conflict with any provision of the Act, the Act shall control. Or where this Article is incomplete in having failed to incorporate a provision necessarily required for the implementation of the Act, such provision of the Act, so as to meet the mandate of the Act, shall be fully complied with.

(Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), 6-1-2023)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 694, § 1(Exh. A), adopted June 1, 2023 added a new provision designated as § 33.11 and renumbered to former § 33.11 as § 33.12.