Basic Information About Land Use Plans in Georgia, and in the City of Sugar Hill

Since the passage of the Georgia Planning Act in 1989, local governments in Georgia have been required to submit a state-approved land use plan to guide their planning and zoning decisions in order to maintain “qualified local government status,” which is just a fancy way of saying they can get money from the state government.

The Georgia Planning Act also established some rules for the 12 “regional commissions,” state agencies that are supposed to assist local governments with their planning and “develop, promote and assist in establishing coordinated and comprehensive planning in the state.” Local governments complete their land use plans under the direction of one of the regional commissions.

When you read the government information about regional commissions from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (to whom the regional commissions report), they use the words “help” and “assist” to describe how those commissions interact with local government. In practice, they direct local governments, who happily comply with all mandates as long as it keeps the money coming.

The City of Sugar Hill reports to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), which is governed by a board consisting primarily of local government officials. This ARC board also includes a Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) representative. It only includes a maximum of 15 citizen members who are hand-picked from different districts by the ARC board’s elected officials.

The City of Sugar Hill completed its current land use plan in 2019.

The City likes to brag about including citizens in the update process, but to what extent is that happening? The 2019 plan includes the names of citizens involved in the plan, and there were only about 50 people out of the City’s more than 25,000 residents.

These people were not exactly a broad sampling of the Sugar Hill population, either. The Steering Committee that guides the process consisted of City elected officials, City employees, and City appointees from the Planning Commission, Arts Commission, and Historic Preservation Society. Plenty of people on the lists seem to have tight relationships with elected officials, such as the Youth Council Mayor, the CEO of the Sugar Hill Business Alliance, a photographer friend of the Council’s, and even a council member’s soon-to-be spouse. Only later in the process do the names of the unaffiliated begin to appear on the lists (along with additional City friends). And it’s unclear how much influence those ordinary folks’ input had on the final document.

The next land use plan is due on February 28, 2024.

The City needs to include the input of more people and a wider variety of people. The City’s vision should not be the exclusive domain of elected officials (who were not even elected by a large percentage of the overall Sugar Hill population), people who work at City Hall (especially the ones who don’t live here), or people who are BFF’s (or married to) Council Members.

I started following the City of Sugar Hill in 2019. In that time, growth and development have consistently been two of the top issues I hear about from residents. My pieces on those topics attract more readers and engagement than almost anything else.

All of you need to channel that interest (and often frustration) into a commitment to participate in updating the land use plan, even if you have to go out of your way to do it. It’s worth your time.