Proposed Revision to the Building Permit Ordinance:

After discussion among the public and county employees and after the first reading at the county meeting on July 19th, we have made the decision not to adopt the amendment to our building permits ordinance related to requirements of paving new driveway entrances. Instead we will enforce GDOT guidelines which require a negative slope (sloped down) away from the county road toward the ditch line for any new driveway connecting to a county road. This applies only to newly built driveways or gravel drives that are going to be paved in the future. (If existing drives are causing debris and silt to enter the county road, the county will have the authority to request that the driveway be repaired to keep silt and debris off the county road, or grant permission for the county to make the repair.)

We will make this change in policy as opposed to an ordinance change. We will also be notifying all paving contractors to let them know that if they pave any driveways onto county roads without the negative slope away from the county road, they will be required to tear out and redo the paving. This will not require any additional permits other than the normal driveway permit that has been in effect for several years.
We will simply rely on our contractors to do the job correctly and we have no doubt that they will comply.

Our concern is and has been all along that some contractors are continuing to grade new driveway entrances where they intersect county roads allowing runoff, gravel and silt to be carried onto the county road causing a potential hazard for the driving public. This can cause spinouts, broken windshields, accidents and if it ever rains again, this winter can cause ice buildup on the public roadway in extremely cold weather.

Therefore, paving will NOT be required but is still recommended for the first 25’ where a private road intersects a county road. Again, no new permits will be required.

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