Madison City Council checks out Savannah’s tour house ordinance as well as Rome’s accessory permit

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

When it comes to tourism in residential zones, the Madison City Council is looking to other Georgia tourism-dependent cities for possible solutions.
Madison Planning Director Monica Callahan shared several documents pertaining to tourism in residential zones with councilmen. Two of those documents were from other cities in Georgia: one was the Savannah tour house ordinance and the other was language from the Rome accessory permit.
She noted councilmen had a working document for their consideration and recommended they keep it simple.
Councilman Michael Naples said it was “a step in the right direction.”
Resident Stratton Hicky suggested the council consider having tour limitations determined by the individual property.
Callahan said two problems would be, one, it would be at the discretion of a staff interpreter and, two, how neighbors would get to comment and how they would be notified.
City attorney Joe Reitman said they try to treat everyone the same: evenhanded.
At the end of her presentation, Callahan recommended the council move house tours from the zoning ordinance to code because it would be more timely. As it is now, zoning takes 45 days.
She asked councilmen to consider what restrictions or limitations they would like to include as well as tour limitations regarding hours, volume and number of people and/or motorcoaches.

Printed in the January 31, 2013 edition