The Milton City Council has extended until Feb. 7 its moratorium on applications for zoning and development permits and approvals for new-home projects along unpaved or partially paved roads.
The moratorium gives the city’s Community Development Department time to consider changes to zoning and subdivision ordinances “to ensure that the division of land in AG-1 (zoning districts) with frontage along unpaved/gravel roads is undertaken consistent with the policy objectives of the City Council,” according to a resolution passed at a recent Council meeting.
In September, the Council adopted an emergency moratorium after a loophole was discovered in city ordinances that allowed denser housing than intended.
Existing ordinances require minimum lot sizes of three acres if a subdivision fronts an unpaved road, but only one acre if it faces a paved road. As Milton has 12 miles of gravel roads, this has kept a lid on densities. But earlier this year, projects were approved with one-acre lots because the gravel roads serving them had small extensions of pavements.
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