§ 21-77. Application procedure.

(a)

The permit applicant shall submit to the mayor and city council twelve (12) copies of all information required by federal and state agencies for the facility for which it requests a city permit at the time such information is submitted to the state and federal government. The review procedure shall not begin nor shall the application be designated as complete until such time as all required data are submitted and the appropriate fees are paid, or suitable arrangements for payment have been approved by the mayor and city council.

(b)

A designee of the mayor and city council shall compile copies of all reports, applications, minutes of the planning commission meetings, reports by consultants and similar materials. These shall be placed in one (1) location with free access by the public and availability of copying any portion or all of any document at cost.

(c)

Within forty-five (45) days of the submission of the application, the mayor and city council shall set a time for a public hearing so that the applicant can present its plans to the planning commission and answer questions regarding the same.

(d)

After the hearing, the mayor and city council, after consultation with the planning commission, shall have sixty (60) days in which to determine if the application is complete and shall mail notice of its determination to the applicant. If it is not complete, the applicant will have six (6) months to complete the application. However, the applicant may at the end of six (6) months make a showing of cause of the mayor and city council and if the mayor and city council finds that the delay is justified and in good faith, they can grant the applicant a maximum three-month extension.

(e)

Each application shall require an analysis conducted by the city staff and a consultant or consultants selected by the mayor and city council upon the recommendation of the planning commission. The analysis shall be completed within ninety (90) days from the day the application is determined to be complete. In certain instances where the complexity of the application requires more than the usual ninety (90) days, the city staff and/or consultant may request an additional sixty (60) days from the mayor and city council and the proponent has the option of requesting the mayor and city council to extend the analysis period to allow time for responding to staff and/or consultant request for additional information on a completed application.

(f)

The city staff and each consultant shall make reports on the application to the planning commission at their meetings.

(g)

The planning commission shall call a public meeting for public comment on the completed application along with the analysis of city staff and consultants. The purpose of this meeting shall be for public review of the application. The staff shall give notice by regular mail of the time and place of the public meeting to the owner and adjacent property owners as specified on the map. Said notice shall be mailed not less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date specified thereon. Notice of a public meeting shall be posted by the applicant on the proposed facility property on each and every street of access not less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date specified thereon. Said posted notice shall be at intervals of not greater than one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet. Notice shall also be placed by the applicant in the official legal organ of the City of Cartersville not less than fourteen (14) days prior to the dates specified thereon.

(h)

Within forty-five (45) days after receipt of the final analysis, complete application and public comment, the planning commission shall make a recommendation to the mayor and city council at a public meeting whether to accept the application, deny it, or accept it with modifications. However, before making a recommendation to the mayor and city council to accept the proposal or accept it with modifications, the planning commission shall make the following determinations:

(1)

That there is a bona fide need for the facility and there is no reasonable alternative facility which will pose a lesser threat to the environment and/or historic resources.

(2)

That the construction and operation of the facility will not pose an unreasonable health or environmental risk to the surrounding locality.

(3)

That the proposed site is not located within properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the Georgia Register of Historic Places.

(4)

That the applicant (or facility operator) has the capability, and financial resources to construct, operate and maintain the facility.

(5)

That the applicant or operator has complied and/or taken or consented in writing to take any and all reasonable measures to comply with the applicable federal, state and local regulations and ordinances, including but not limited to the provisions of this article.

(6)

That the applicant's plan represents the best available technology for handling the waste for which the applicant has demonstrated that it will employ the best management practices in handling the waste at the proposed facility.

(7)

That the incineration facility is compatible with an integrated joint city and county long-range solid waste management plan, taking into account alternative methods of management such as recycling.

(8)

That the applicant has a valid contract with the operator of a state licensed landfill for the disposal of the projected ash production of the incineration facility for a three-year period.

(9)

That the incinerator facility is compatible with the Bartow County, Georgia Comprehensive Plan: 1992-2011 (December 1991) including the cities of Adairsville, Cartersville, Emerson, Euharlee, Kingston, Taylorsville, and White adopted by the City of Cartersville on April 2, 1992.

(i)

At its next scheduled meeting, the mayor and city council shall make its decision to grant the permit, deny it, or grant it with specified conditions, after having considered the recommendation of the planning commission and making the determinations provided hereinabove in section 21-77.

(j)

A permit shall be valid for no more than twenty-four (24) months from the date it is granted by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Cartersville unless the applicant begins construction of the facility prior to the expiration of the permit and continues to operate the facility according to specified conditions.

(Ord. No. 15-92, § I, 7-23-92)