County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Q.  I read your questions last week about the new stream buffer rules. Thank you for working so hard on this issue.  However, I am still a little confused.  When will the new rules take affect?
A.  We really do not know exactly because EPD will let us know when they have completed their part of  setting the exact interpretation of the new rule, but I doubt that will happen any sooner than three months.  It will then take another couple of months for the county to write and adopt an amendment to our ordinance.  So, on the short side I would guess five months.  On the long side possibly a year.  However, it is very likely that anyone applying for permits after the rule was adopted would still have to follow the new rules.

Q. Thank you for all of your hard work, but did you have very much help or pretty much have to do this on your own?
A. Absolutely I had help! I had lots of help.  First, the commissioners from all the fifteen counties are to be commended in being willing to work with and through me and our committee and let us “carry the ball” for all of them.  We did not always agree, but in the end, we think our goals were met.  Most of the counties also had to be willing to financially support this effort, since our attorney, while excellent, was expensive.

Q. Who individually provided the most assistance to you?
A. This was a total team effort.  Our side of the committee (government) was made up of Commissioners Steve Gooch and Deborah Hutcheson of Lumpkin County, and Commissioner Gary Pichon of Dawson County. Greg Blount of Troutman Sanders was our environmental attorney and Callie Moore, Executive Director of the local Hiawassee River Watershed Coalition provided us with our technical support. Callie Moore and Greg Blount were pivotal and we could not have succeeded without their expertise. We all worked together harmoniously. 

I would also be remiss in not giving credit to the members of the environmental committee. They were made up of environmental attorneys, engineers and several Georgia environmental organization leaders.   Even though our (government) stake in the property was completely different, for the most part we were able to work together on many of the issues, just not all of them.

Dr. Carol Couch, EPD Director and Dr. Becky Champion, EPD Assistant Branch Chief, and some EPD staff members, were also very instrumental in helping us find a final solution.

Q. Who will make the final decision as to what Union County’s watershed protection buffer will be?
A. I will.  It is the commissioner’s responsibility in each county.  However, I will seek, through a public hearing and possibly some mail outs, input from those most affected, which are the property owners along streams in Choestoe and Owltown and part of Trackrock, all in the Nottely River watershed.

Q. What buffer width, 50’, 75’, 100’ or 150’, do you think Union County will want to use?
A.  First, we have all worked very hard to get away from the 150’ buffer, so you can certainly rule it and the 100’ buffer out. This will leave the decision between 50’ and 75’.
The 50’ is the toughest to regulate and even with it, the first one mile upstream will be 100’ buffer since this is considered the “critical area” closest to the public water intake.

The 75’ buffer will be easier to educate the public on and to enforce since it will be the same for everyone within the seven mile upstream area.  But ultimately, I think it will be critical what we hear from the stakeholders who actually own the property and try to do what is best for the majority of the property owners.

Q. Why does the state have the right to take any of the use of our property?
A.  Many people still believe the old adage that “it is my property, I pay taxes on it, and I will do as I dang well please with it.”  Not only have I heard that, I used to say the same thing several years ago.  However, current legal rulings do not support the above statement.  The legal community realizes that the down stream users of the water also have a stake in how clean and pure that water is.  Each owner and user of the water (considered water of the state) has the legal obligation to pass the water on to other down stream property owners in as near the same condition as possible as it was when it entered their property.

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