Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Since you mentioned LPDS...
I have a question. Does Athens have a provision, like the one I've heard about in other places, under which a permit expires if it's not acted on within a certain period of time (usually 1 year)? If so, is Bruno running the risk of losing LPDS or having to go through the process again? Or has he already taken some step that moots the issue?
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It's my understanding that building permits expire after one year if no work is done. Once work commences, it must not stop for a period longer than 6 months.
I checked online (which I should have done to begin with) and found the sale of the Cofer property to the Rubios was dated 18 May 2006. No permits are shown to be active on the property, but that may not mean anything. Note that the permit process is separate from the zoning process...I assume the zoning will remain stable whether or not any construction takes place.
the zoning will stay in place whether Rubio does anything with the property or not.
But all those conditions and things -- were those actually part of the zoning? There were conditions, right? And those are often attached to a particular project and thus related to a permit and not the zoning. I'm not satisfied with the answers so far.
The specific design conditions are only tied to Mr. Rubio's project as approved by the commission. They are NOT tied to the zoning. If Mr. Rubio wants to change his design plans, he will have to resubmit them to planning. He can wait as long as he wants to pull permits and build the project as approved because the major hurdle, the broad change to the zoning of the property, is already behind him.
If this multi-million $$ project (as approved) never sees the light of day, the changes made to the zoning will stay in place. Mr. Rubio could sell the property as it is zoned now, to someone who can do something completely different (subject to the official approval process).
To put it another way, the rezoning is property-specific and essentially changed the zoning map for Athens-Clarke County. It would take another rezone to alter this. Any project the fits within that zoning classification is okay.
Not quite. Mr. Rubio received an approval for a PD, or Planned Development. He may not do anything of substance during development that is different than the plans approved by the Commission. If he sells the property, it reverts to the underlying zoning.
Be careful with the word "reverts." I don't think there is a reverter in the zoning.
I'm not positive but I think the "PD" designation does mean that there is an expiration date and I know that sometime in the last year or so, some of the PDs that had been approved were rescinded. The parties that had been granted the PDs had abandoned their projects and the PDs were cancelled without any objection and, I think, the zoning designation actually did "revert" back to the original pre-PD zoning.
I'll have to ask HerzHonor about that to get the specifics. I could be wrong about some of the legal fine-points.
The issue was never the PD. It was always the zoning of the property. The plans were used to sell the M&C on the concept of rezoning the property so it could be used as a restaurant. The current plans can be completely scrapped and/or expire without the NEW zoning changing back.
Granted, any substantial changes to the PD as it exists will have to be approved by Planning/M&C, but that won't be near the fight it was to change the zoning. The zoning is done now, and it ain't changing back.
I'm a big fan of Mr. Rubio's restaurants, and have enjoyed eating at all of them. It's gonna take a big pile of $$$ to make the vision he sold to the M&C a reality. So much so, I don't see how it can realistically be funded by his current and future sales.
This was the root of the argument posed by the more articulate opponents of the development. Should LPDS fail, or never get built as planned, the door is wide open for a less responsible occupant/business to take advantage of the less protective zoning.
Al, I take it your are "retired cowboy?"
yep, Mr. Blackfin, I am. I'm not making any attempts to be anonymous and I actually tried to set up a blogger ID under my own real name but Google seems to like to trifle with me or I'm just a techno-moron or something.
Anyway, to my surprise (not really delighted about it), this ID actually worked when I tried to use it.
So, let the record show, that the blogger currently identified with the moniker (sp?) of "retired_cowboy" is really Al Davison.
And, yes, I have offcially "retired" as a "cowboy" in the "rodeo" of politics. In the future, I'm probably not going to do any more than just be the clown that jumps into the barrell while the bull is chasing the the cowboy he just threw off his back. ;-)
Al
I said "blogger" - that's not correct. I'm just reader/lurker/sometimes-poster.
Whatever. I'm still not getting back on that bull!
Al
Innuendo abounds.
Wait... there's more to politics than just being the clown that jumps into the barrell while the bull is chasing the the cowboy he just threw off his back. ;-) Do tell...
sure, there is. You can be the guy that ties the cowboy to the bull and then opens the gate and laughs!
Al
Hehehe...OK, I'm busted by Andy - I'll go quietly, sir. ;-)
Actually, I did make a very brief, and thankfully aborted, flirtation with participation in rodeo (saddle broncs) as an alternative to motocross but I never actually got into the saddle of a real bucking horse. I was stupid enough to try it but my older, wiser friends were smart enough to keep putting off my debut until I got frustrated and gave up on the idea.
So, my experiece with hay is mostly limited to crashing into haybales during my motocross racing days.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday!
Al
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