Stephens Co. Considers More Changes to Nuisance Ordinance

Stephens County Commissioners are considering some more changes to the county’s nuisance ordinance.

On Tuesday, the county commission held a public hearing and first reading of the proposed changes.

County Attorney Brian Ranck said that the county is proposing to eliminate some county guidelines from the current ordinance in the agricultural area.

“It basically eliminates what were spelled out distances where animals or fowl could be kept from occupied dwellings,” said Ranck. “It also eliminates some minimum floor area or square footage requirements based on some citizen comments and the commissioners’ desire at the retreat.”

Ranck said the change is to remove the county guidelines and refer to state and federal law for any guidelines that may exist.

This issue came up after concerns were raised about these guidelines and how strict they were during discussions surrounding other, unrelated changes that were made to the nuisance ordinance earlier this year.

Earlier this year, local resident Bryan Dooley was one of those who had concerns about these rules the county is looking to eliminate.

However, Dooley said he also has concerns about the proposed change, noting that the state and federal law has no guidelines in this area.

He said completely removing the guidelines would create potential problems.

“If someone, say my neighbor, wants to come up, he has five acres of land, he could put 100 head of hog on it, he could do so,” said Dooley. “What is that going to do to me?”

Ranck noted that the county is trying to remove rules that Dooley and others say were too burdensome.

Dooley said that these proposed changes go too far and the county needs to find a middle ground somewhere.

“Change some figures,” said Dooley. “Let’s investigate it. Just don’t rubber stamp something.”

Dooley encouraged the county to find guidelines that were fair, but not burdensome.

County commissioners took no action on the proposed changes Tuesday.

Another public hearing and reading will have to be held on the proposed changes before a vote can be taken.

In one note from Tuesday’s meeting, county commissioners did approve a series of budget amendments for Fiscal Year 2016.

Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers said all of the budget amendments were within the departments.