Commissioner wants county involved in planning and zoning commission

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – One Macon-Bibb County commissioner wants the county to have oversight of Macon-Bibb County’s Planning and Zoning.

Commissioner Joe Allen is sponsoring a resolution that would direct the county attorney to prepare legislation to replace the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning as “the legal entity with responsibility for administering the planning and zoning laws for Macon-Bibb County”.

But, Allen told 41NBC he does not mean that the county take over the entity.

“That was not the intent that I had to take over that board,” said Allen. “What I wanted to do was to, and that’s my fault. I should have read it better. What I want to do is have two members of our board sit on their board as we do with the other boards that we deal with in Macon-Bibb County.”

Allen says, just like commissioners sit on the Industrial Authority board, commissioners need to be on the Planning and Zoning commission as well.

Commissioner Scotty Shepherd, who is listed as a co-sponsor of the resolution told 41NBC he is backing out of the resolution. He says he does not think the county should interfere with planning and zoning. Shepherd says he plans to vote against the resolution at Tuesday’s committee meeting.

41NBC reached out to Planning and Zoning, but did not get a response.