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Cairo nears completion of zoning law

Mar 03, 2011 9:10 am
Doron Tyler Antrim of the Daily Mail reports that the Cairo Zoning Commission has held what could be its final work meeting in a three-year process to write their town's first zoning laws, with the group saying it hopes to schedule a meeting with the town board and planning board this month to discuss the changes to the document since its unveiling last November. The amended law and zoning map will soon be published online and made available in town hall, the group said. The body will need to hold its own public hearing on the plan before it’s handed to the town board for consideration. Following a public hearing by the zoning commission, the law will be handed to the town board. The board must then hold its own hearing. Since November, several amendments have been made to the 158-page document, including expansions of commercial zoning, much grandfathering of existing businesses and land uses, and increases to sign sizes. Also a five-member Zoning Board of Appeals, appointed by the town board, will need to be established upon passage of the law. Each member will serve a five-year term. Enforcement of the law will fall to a zoning enforcement officer, another appointed position, which officials have said could be the same person as the code enforcement officer. Cairo was one of a handful of towns in the WGXC listening area still without any zoning laws of any sort.