Woodsong Help.
woodsong,
I am looking at a 17 acre parcel of land in the middle of a set of subdivisions. Its pretty well setup to develop.
There is a 2 acre lake on the land and it slopes.
I obtained a poor topo map from http://www.terraserver.com. What kind of info can I get from the County to determine this lands utility? Topo maps? Flood plain? etc..
What dept deals with these issues? The property is in Gwinnett Co.
-Frank[ Edited by nasof on Date 07/20/2004 ]
Frank,
If you're open to suggestions from people in addition to woodsong...
floodplain mapping available online f(download and hard copy) rom FEMA (fema.gov), hard copy from the municality and county/regional planning agency;
water & sewer mapping from the municipality;
plans of the surrounding subdivisions from the municipality;
topo mapping (download and hard copy) from www.usgs.gov, www.gisdatadepot.com, as well as the engineers who designed the surrounding subdivisions.
Contact people: county planning agency or commission; municipal manager's office -- best to describe the data you're looking for and personnel in the manager's office can direct you to the correct departments. Plans of the existing subdivisions should be on record at the municipality as well as utility mapping.
Thanks!!, I'll check these links out.
Is the floodplain data free? or do you need to pay? Some of these site are confusing with thier options.
I don't believe it's free at FEMA's site--not expensive, however. If you go to the municipality/county, you may be able to get the data free.
Hi nasof,
I am in Cherokee County so you are not too far from me.
Go to this site:
http://www.co.gwinnett.ga.us/cgi-bin/bvgwin/egov/page.jsp?aolFX=y&pm=Departments
Click on the planning and zoning dept. to look up the zoning info. Public Utlities dept. should be able to answer any of your questions re: sewer lines, etc. I personally would probably opt to not pay for floodplain maps unless you know there is a creek on the property and in walking it it appears to have wetlands, etc. Note that the lake can be a good and a bad thing....nice amenity but it also gets the EPD watching you more than you may want.
Nancy has posted some good info. The things I would confirm first:
1) existing (and surrounding) zoning and the zoning district's allowed use(s). Find out what the required lot size is and lot width and setbacks.
2) long term land use plan for the property and the area in general.
3) basic topo of the property (such as terraserver, etc.)
4) availability, size, and depth of the lines for water and sewer. Also check other utilities like gas, etc. Having sewer at the street can be great unless the property is lower than the street. Make sure you have at least an 8" sanitary sewer line and an 8" water line.
5) Road access- whether it be on a county or state road and if property sight distances are possible for a curb cut for the new subdivision.
Good luck. Note that you will have to comply with the NPDES regulations if you disturb more than 1 acre of land.
Woodsong,
It is my understanding that if your site is larger then one acre, no matter how much land that you disturb, then you must comply with NPDES regs.
The Engineer for the NonPoint Source Program, EPD told me once that if I as much as unloaded a dozier on a site larger then one acre that I better have an E&S Plan
pspiers,
Nope. As long as you do not disturb more than one acre you do not have to comply with NPDES regs. I just developed a small site that is 1.14 acres that was zoned for 14 units per acre. We were able to create a land plan that allowed for only 0.99 acres to be disturbed and I did not have to comply with NPDES. A few years ago it only kicked in if you disturbed over 5 acres but has since changed to 1 acre. I will try and dig through the EPD literature and find the exact reference but as long as you disturb less than one acre you are ok.
Woodsong,
OCGA 12-7-7 requires an LDA permit for any land-disturbing activity except those exempted by code 12-7-17. Section (a)(8) of 12-7-17 exempts any project involving one and one tenth acres or less, unless the project is within 200 feet of state waters. Actual disturbed area does not matter concerning LDA premits.
Instructions for the Notice of Intent for NPDES states that "the Owner and Operator of any activity that has a discharge of storm water from a site where construction activities occur must apply for a NPDES permit".
I know that it is confusing and I am not sure that even the EPD understands their on requirements.
Quote:
On 2004-07-26 19:34, pspiers wrote:
...
I know that it is confusing and I am not sure that even the EPD understands their on requirements.
pspiers,
It's reassuring, in a kind of perverse way, to know that the PA DEP isn't the only state env'l agency out there that doesn't understand its own requirements.
As it turns out, the county's storm water management dept. had very good topo and flood plain maps that put a flood plain through the middle of the property. It makes it very difficult to divide it into the 15 lots I had planned. I think I'll pass on this one.