Key points:
• The Norcross Planning & Zoning Board recommended a code change requiring special permits for car-related businesses at its Aug. 5 meeting, clearing up a conflict that led to an appeal.
• Board members also approved a code change that allows them to receive compensation for attending official meetings.
• The board unanimously recommended eliminating minimum parking requirements for commercial uses in the historic downtown, clarifying increased square footage exemptions.
The Norcross Planning & Zoning Board recommended approval of a code amendment requiring a special permit for all car-related sales and services in the city’s general business zoning district at its Aug. 5 meeting.
The C2 district currently allows three automobile-related uses by right (and all related to motorcycles). The unanimously recommended code change would require an approved special use permit for any car-related service or sales.
Auto shop’s appeal
Norcross Senior Planner LeDarius Scott said that when a conflict in code exists (allowing a use by right and requiring a permit), then “the more restrictive use prevails.”
“If an AutoZone were to come to Norcross, they’d have to go before mayor and council for approval,” Scott said. “At the last Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, we had a guy who filed for a business license at 29 Beaver Ruin, which had been auto-related for many years.”
Scott said the Norcross Zoning Board of Appeals granted the business owner a “legal non-conforming status,” and the change ensures that situation doesn’t happen again. All board recommendations require council approval.
“The owner terminated the license [last year], and this guy came in six months after the grandfathered status was lost,” he said. “They were supposed to file for a special-use permit, but that person decided to challenge our decision [to deny the business license.”
Without a rezoning item or plat approval on the agenda, board members also approved a change to the 2019 Unified Development Ordinance, or land-use law, that allows them to receive compensation.
Incentivizing city volunteers
Scott said board members now have the opportunity to earn $950 a year or $75 per meeting, received via check, or a “Christmas bonus” at the end of the year.
“This has been a rule in our code that’s been there for a while; we don’t know why,” Scott said. “The Planning & Zoning Board is an important board that we have for the city. You all make the recommendations for rezonings and special-use permits, and very important matters.”
Planning & Zoning Board members said they have discussed their compensation and asked about the “catalyst who really put this in motion.” One member shared a rumor from a former city council member, explaining that pay may have been withheld because the board is not quasi-judicial and doesn’t have a final vote.
Scott said Assistant City Manager Tracey Rye recommended the code change, and staff found no reason the board couldn’t be compensated. He said the proposal will go before the Norcross City Council at its Aug. 24 work session, with a final vote in September.
The vast majority of city planning commission and local board members in metro Atlanta serve as unpaid volunteers. Compensation is rare for local-level citizen volunteers, though Gwinnett County pays members of its planning commission $250 per meeting they attend.
All five members of the Norcross P&Z Board serve four-year terms. Walter Bell leads the citizen-led board, with Vice Chair David Grayson and Secretary Antonio Henson.
Two members’ terms expire in June 2029, and three more seats will open in June 2030. The Aug. 5 board meeting was 14 minutes; however, others can last more than an hour.
Other planning and zoning items
The Norcross Planning & Zoning Board voted unanimously to recommend the proposed code change for parking exemptions and new zoning map at its July meeting.
The recommended ordinance would eliminate minimum parking requirements for most commercial uses in the city’s historic downtown. The new code uses square footage to calculate whether “off-street parking spaces shall be required for any building, use, or site.”
During approval of July’s meeting minutes, city staff clarified that the board’s recommended minimum square footage for the “retail, food and drink, and personal services” use category is 5,000, not 2,500. For “professional, business, health care, and other services uses,” the minimum square footage triggering parking requirements is 10,000, not 5,000.
Related stories:
• City officials debate demolition moratorium ahead of Aug. 10 vote
• Norcross approves parking expansion budget, backs downtown businesses
• City Council approves on-street parking and public safety upgrades
