Roswell Code Meetings Continue

The City of Roswell's hearings on the Unified Development Code began on Monday, and they continue tonight and on Wednesday. 

Tonight's community meeting takes place from 7-9 p.m. at the Roswell Area Park, 10495 Woodstock Road, in the Bill Johnson Community Activity Building. 

There will be two meetings on Wednesday: from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 220 of City Hall, and from 7-9 p.m. in the community room of Hembree Park, 850 Hembree Road. 

The city says it's "time for a zoning code clean-up," but a citizen at Monday's first meeting was not impressed with what was presented. 

Blogging today on Roswell Patch, Lee Fleck pointed out that "Roswell’s staff and all of City Council hid in the back of the room" at Monday's meeting at East Roswell Park: 

"And after nearly an hour when the consultant’s presentation was over, no open question and answer period was provided that would have allowed those in attendance the opportunity to ask questions themselves or be able to listen to other’s questions and hear the city response.

"And when Mayor Wood was challenged about the lack of public exchange his response was, that way no one could 'grandstand.' That is correct, Roswell’s Mayor considers any public exchange a nuisance."

Fleck concludes: 

"The truth is that the UDC is exclusively focused on more apartments, higher density and more urban living to the benefit of developers which will further stress city services and add more traffic to our overcrowded roadways and encourage more crime in our neighborhoods, thus negatively impacting Roswell’s quality of life."

Grow Smart Roswell, concerned the possible changes will make Roswell too urban, has put together a website with information about the UDC independent of city government. 

The Roswell City Council will hold the first of several special called work sessions on the UDC on Thursday, starting at 5:30 p.m. It will be a joint meeting of the UDC committee and the mayor and city council. 

Another UDC work session is scheduled for Sept. 28.

What do you think of the UDC hearings? Do you think Roswell citizens will have a meaningful say in code changes? Tell us what you think in the comments.