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CGRDC says it's not getting information it needs on DRIs
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Effingham County officials and the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center seem to have a difference of opinion on developments of regional impact submissions.

While Effingham County staff members contend the CGRDC isn’t responsive on DRIs, CGRDC officials say they aren’t getting the information they need from the county.

“The DRIs don’t get turned around in timely fashion, and that hampers us,” Effingham commission Chairwoman Verna Phillips said. “That’s been a problem for a long time.”

But according to CGRDC senior planner Tricia Reynolds, the CGRDC isn’t getting everything required under Department of Community Affairs rules. Local governments are supposed to submit two forms, known as form 1 and form 2, and GIS maps. There’s also a pre-review questionnaire.

“Our review is not initiated until all that is submitted,” Reynolds said. “For somebody to say it takes weeks, they don’t have the correct information.”

County officials say the delay in information from the RDC slows down their decision-making process.

“We have people pushing us to make these zoning decisions, and we don’t have the information we need,” Phillips said. “It’s been a problem for a long time.”

Once all the documentation is received, the CGRDC is supposed to return its comments in 30 days. Effingham officials say that process isn’t happening. CGRDC officials say it is and it’s not their fault the process is being slowed.

“We need sufficient information to do our review and do it in a thorough enough manner that the DCA requires us to do,” Reynolds said.

The CGRDC needs such information as who the applicant of the DRI is, where the project is, its anticipated impacts on such things as stormwater, solid waste, schools, public safety and the economy and background information. The developer is required to fill out the pre-review questionnaire and return it to the CGRDC. With that, the DCA expects the RDC to look at issues and determine what the impacts on the quality of life might be, Reynolds said.

The DRI process also could be changing for coastal counties, at the behest of the DCA, because of the concerns that are unique to coastal counties, such as the health of the marshes and creeks.

Reynolds said the CGRDC has reviewed two DRIs for Effingham and two more are pending, waiting on submission of information from local governments. According to the CGRDC, it received all the pertinent information on the Laurel Grove development on April 6 and returned its review on April 23; it got all its necessary paperwork on the Old Augusta Road development on May 8 and finished its review on June 7.

Between July 1, 2006, and June 30 of this year, 44 DRIs were submitted to the CGRDC.

According to Reynolds, the CGRDC can extend its review period past 30 days if it doesn’t have enough information.

She also said the CGRDC knows what information it has on hand on DRIs.

“We track this stuff,” she said.