COVINGTON, Ga. — Homebuilders' pleas for more time and predictions of higher prices apparently did not sway county commissioners from approving new development regulations that increase lot sizes and decrease building densities in some areas this week.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners also let a moratorium on new residential construction in unincorporated Newton County — in place since early 2021 — expire Tuesday, July 19, rather than renew it. 

Commissioners voted 3-0 with one abstention to approve the numerous changes to the county's Unified Development Ordinance recommended by Interim Development Services Director Shena Applewhaite.

The changes included increasing minimum residential lot sizes to 40,000 square feet for lots served by septic tanks and 35,000 square feet for lots on sewer. The current minimum lot size is 25,500 square feet for all lots. 

Also, within part of northwest Newton — in the Almon / Crowell Road Overlay District — it decreases from three to two the number of units that can be built on one acre. It also requires all new roads in the overlay district to provide an interconnected network of roads with no dead-ends or cul-de-sacs permitted.

John Dearing said he had developed more than 1,000 lots in Newton County and asked if commissioners could delay approval of the changes until local homebuilders could consider their effects.

"This is going to be a road map of some description that's going to last a long time," he said. "Let's do it right the first time around."

Garrett Wiley of the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association asked for time to get feedback from local developers and builders "and go back to the drawing board and ask the staff to come up with something that can be agreed upon."

Joe Padilla of Smith Douglas Homes — which is building houses in a new community off Brown Bridge Road — said increasing the size of a building lot adds tens of thousands to the cost of a new residence.

"The industry has not had a chance to weigh in with the staff," Padilla said. "I think all of us just saw (the changes) in the last day or two."

He said supply chain issues and interest rates led to higher home prices in recent months. The changes also do not encourage efficient use of land, he said. 

"It goes in the opposite direction of what most planning practices are advocating for," Padilla said. 

"It's also going to add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a home," he added. "Right now we're at a point where housing in Metro Atlanta has never been less affordable."

Any changes also need to be tied to an economic development strategy that places homes within the financial reach of the county's future workforce, he said.

"You're going to have to assess whether working families will be able to afford a home," Padilla said.

Commissioners Stan Edwards of District 1, Demond Mason of District 2 and Alana Sanders of District 3 voted for the changes. District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan was absent.

District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson, who abstained, said he could see both sides of the argument.

"There are two sides to everything," he said. "I love my constituents but also I have to listen to the citizens as a whole — all of them, even our developers."

Sanders said the Board of Commissioners closely studied the changes before the vote.

She said she was not trying to stop development altogether but was trying to halt future construction of neighborhoods in which homes are comparatively close together and infrastructure — such as roads — are not built in sufficient capacity and design to support them.

District 2 Commissioner Demond Mason said the action does not stop developers and homebuilders from working with the area's business community and county planning staff to propose changes to the ordinance.

"This decision doesn't say, 'This is it, we are done,'" Mason said.