Local Government Implementation of the Environmental Planning Criteria

Proceedings of the 2001 Georgia Water Resources Conference, April 26 and 27, 2001, Athens, Georgia.All of Georgia's 692 cities and counties are required to adopt local regulations protecting wetlands, water supply watersheds, aquifer recharge areas, protected river segments and protected mountains that occur within their jurisdictions. So far about 250 governments have adopted the required regulations. The balance will address the requirements according to an established schedule linked to comprehensive plan implementation. A number of implementation challenges have been identified. Two critical local issues are how to address the local need for occasional variances and how to insure enforcement of local regulations in jurisdictions lacking sufficient administrative capacity.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202. The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397) or the other conference sponsors