Upson County extends subdivision moratorium 120 days; commissioners continue work on alcohol licensing changes

Upson County commissioners voted to extend the county’s subdivision moratorium by 120 days and continued discussion of revisions to the county’s beer-and-wine ordinance, including moving license fees to be set by resolution.

The chair moved to extend the moratorium (the existing end date is Nov. 24) for an additional 120 days to allow planning staff more time to finalize ordinance language on flag lots, road distances and acreage requirements. The motion passed on a roll-call vote.

On the beer-and-wine ordinance, staff pointed commissioners to the proximity and surveyor certificate language already in the draft (section 6-49) and proposed moving licensing fees to a separate resolution to make fee changes easier in the future. Staff said proposed fee levels would largely match the city’s outside-downtown fee of $7.50 and suggested an application fee of $500; commissioners asked staff to include the fee resolution with the ordinance when it returns for final action.

Next steps: planning staff will finalize ordinance language for the flagged topics (flag lots, road distances, acreage), publish required public hearings and return the ordinance and fee resolution for formal approval within the moratorium extension period.