Article 10 — Buffer Requirements

Buffer: Land area used to visibly separate one use from another through screening and distance; to shield or block noise, light, glare, or visual or other conditions; to block physical passage to non-similar areas, or to reduce air pollution, dust, dirt and litter.

Clearing: The removal of vegetation from a property, whether by cutting or other means.

Construction Buffer: A type of buffer which is temporary and remains in effect during the construction of a project.

Department: The Cherokee County-Municipal Planning Commission as established by the Cherokee County Zoning Board of Commissioners and as operated through the actions and administration of the appointed Director of said department or his/her designee.

Development Regulations: The adopted regulations providing for the subdivision and development of real property within Cherokee County, Georgia, as amended from time-to-time by the Board of Commissioners of Cherokee County.

Diameter Breast Height (DBH): The diameter of a tree measured at a point 4 and ½ feet above the ground.

Director: The Director of the Department of Planning and Development or his/her designee.

Grading: The placement, removal or movement of earth by use of mechanical equipment on a property.

Land Disturbance Permit (LDP): Any permit other than a Building Permit issued by Cherokee County that authorizes clearing or grading activities on a site or portion of a site. Said permit may be clearing, clearing and grubbing, grading, or development permit as defined and authorized under the Development Regulations of Cherokee County.

Landscape Strip: Land area located within the boundary of a lot and required to be set aside and used for landscaping upon which only limited encroachments are authorized.

Screening: A method of shielding or obscuring one abutting or nearby structure or use from another by opaque fencing, walls, beams, densely planted vegetation or the like.

Shrub: A woody plant of relatively low height, as distinguished from a tree by having several stems rather than a single trunk.

Timber Harvesting: The felling, loading and transporting of timber products (pulpwood, etc.)

The term “timber harvesting” may include both clear-cutting and selective cutting of timber.

Tree: Any self-supporting woody perennial plant, usually having a main stem or trunk and many branches, and at maturity normally attaining a trunk diameter greater than 3 inches at any point and a height of over 10 feet.

Tree Diameter: The widest cross-sectional dimension of a tree trunk measured at diameter breast height (dbh) or at a point below dbh for new trees or multi-trunked species, but in no case less than 6 inches from the ground.

Tree Thinning: Selective cutting or thinning or trees only for the clear purpose of good forestry management in order to protect said forest from disease or infestation and in no way shall be construed as clear-cutting.

Zoning Buffer: A buffer required by the Zoning Ordinance or as a condition of zoning or variance approval for a specific property.

Zoning Ordinance: The 1992 Zoning Ordinance of Cherokee County, Georgia, as amended from time-to-time by the Board of Commissioners of Cherokee County.

Buffers shall be required between dissimilar districts of uses in accordance with the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance or as a condition of zoning or variance approval.

There is hereby established along primary and secondary streams, a fifty (50) foot undisturbed natural buffer. Said setbacks shall be measured from the stream bank of all primary and secondary streams. A one hundred fifty (150) foot undisturbed natural buffer is hereby established along the Etowah River. Any and all stream bank buffer regulations shall be reviewed, enforced and/or approved by the Cherokee County Engineering Department.

stormwater or sanitary sewer pipes), and natural bottom detention ponds (sediment basins must be located outside of the construction buffer) and their appurtenant structures which require no grading and removal of trees, may encroach upon the construction buffer.

It shall be the responsibility of the Department to enforce these regulations. The Director or his/her designee shall have the authority to revoke, suspend, or void any Clearing, Clearing and Grubbing, Grading, Development, or Building Permit, or to Grubbing, Grading, Development, or Building Permit, or to withhold issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, and shall have the authority to suspend all work on a site or any portion thereof, where tree removal or damage occurs in violation of these regulations.

Any person violating the provisions of these regulations shall be guilty of violating a duly adopted Ordinance of Cherokee County, and upon conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction, may be punished either by a fine not to exceed $500, or confinement in the County jail not to exceed 60 days, or both. The Court shall have the power and authority to place any person found guilty, of a violation of these regulations, on probation and to suspend or modify any fine or sentence. As a condition of said suspension, the Court may require payment of restitution or impose other punishment allowed by law which may include mandatory attendance at an educational program regarding tree preservation. The owner of any property wherein a violation exists, and any builder, contractor, or agent, who may have assisted in the commission of any such violation, shall be guilty of a separate offense.

The provisions of any ordinances or resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are repealed, save and except such ordinances or resolutions or parts thereof, which provide stricter standards than those provided herein.

Should any section, subsection, clause, or provision of this Article be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of this Article in whole or any part thereof other than the part so declared to be invalid.

This article may be amended from time to time by resolution of the Board of Commissioners of Cherokee County. Such amendments shall be effective as specified in the adopting resolution.

This article shall become effective upon its adoption.