City Of Milton: 'Flag Lots,' Property's Rezoning On Planning Commission Agenda

Press release from the City of Milton:

03/23/2021 3:17 PM

The Planning Commission returns to City Hall on Wednesday evening in which they’ll engage in a fact-finding exercise related to how the City might address distinctively shaped tracts known as “flag lots.”

The March 24 meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers, where seats have been spaced out to allow for social distancing as a COVID-19 mitigation measure. People can also attend virtually via Zoom using this link: https://zoom.us/j/93186794888.

After approving a past meeting’s minutes, the Commission will consider a rezoning request related to 10.8 acres at 13555 Blakmaral Lane -- a small road that connects via Providence Plantation Drive to New Providence Road.

The applicant is looking to build a single-family home in which an existing structure would stand in what would be the new home’s front yard. The purpose of the rezoning is to allow the property to be used as a winery. For that to happen, he is asking to rezone his property from CUP (Community Unit Plan) to AG-1.

Then the Planning Commission will return to a topic that its members also discussed in February: flag lots.

“Flag lots” are tracts with thin strips of land that connect with the road in one direction and with a thicker, typically rectangular or square piece of land on the other backend. (If sketched out, they’d resemble flags on paper from above.) These can occur when a rectangular/square piece of land is subdivided to create thin strips.

Several neighboring municipalities such as Alpharetta, Roswell and Sandy Springs significantly restrict flag lots. And there have been discussions at recent City Council and Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee meetings about doing something similar in Milton as part of efforts to encourage large, more uniform-shaped lots.

The Planning Commission will not take any action at the meeting. Rather, the members intend to explore the issue in-depth to better understand it.

After Wednesday’s meeting, the Planning Commission is next scheduled to convene on April 28.

This press release was produced by the City of Milton. The views expressed here are the author’s own.