FOLEY — New development permits will be postponed for about two months while Foley officials prepare new regulations.
The Foley City Council is scheduled to vote Monday, June 6 on final approval for an ordinance to update land development. On Monday, May 16, the council voted to enact an immediate moratorium on land disturbances until the new ordinance goes into effect. Leslie Gahagan, city environmental director, said the moratorium will keep developers from applying for permits under regulations that are about to become out of date.
“In order to avoid an influx of people trying to follow the old rules and submit all their projects, we’re asking for a moratorium on land disturbance permits until these new rules come into effect,” she told council members.
Gahagan said the new ordinance consolidates and updates regulations on development.
“This has got all the traffic requirements, all the engineering,” she said. “It’s got all of our permitting requirements, statutes on land-disturbance permits so that they have expiration dates as well as enforcement mechanisms. We’ve got a lot of new updated standards including a 25-acre maximum disturbance allowance, any greenspace requirements, tree protection credit. So, there’s been a lot of work going into this.”