The Troup County Commission on Tuesday voted to loosen requirements on existing nonresidential buildings in the Quality Development Corridor, an overlay zoning district on major highways and county roads.

The ordinance includes facade, parking and landscaping requirements, but it “does not work well with existing buildings and proves a great hardship on small-business owners,” county planner Nancy Seegar wrote in summarizing the changes.

“Since creating a hardship for businesses in Troup County is not the goal of the ordinance or of any staff, revisions to the existing ordinance became necessary,” she said.

The changes allow administrative approval of new and existing buildings so that site plans with no variances don’t have to go before the Planning Commission, causing a possible delay in a business opening.

In addition, an existing building’s site plan doesn’t have to be done by a design professional as long as it’s to scale.

“Requirements are much less and leeway is given to the property owner in how the requirements are implemented,” Seegar said.

Also, mobile homes, mobile home parks and mobile home subdivisions are no longer prohibited in the Quality Development Corridor because the ordinance pertains to nonresidential development standards.

In another matter Tuesday, the commission approved an intergovernmental agreement with Columbus to share equipment for 800 megahertz radio communications.

The agreement was needed to obtain frequencies to program radios that were purchased for Troup’s public safety officers several months ago through a grant from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. The radios will allow Troup to communicate with LaGrange without having to go through the 911 Emergency Communications Center.

LaGrange also has to approve the agreement, along with Harris County and Phenix City, Ala.

Each jurisdiction will be responsible for maintenance costs based on its share of radios.

Also Tuesday, the robotics team at Troup High School demonstrated a robot that picks up plastic balls and shoots them across the room.

John Stadler and Peter Anderson lead the team, comprised of James Rensenhouse, Andrew Anderson, Jannis Kaiser and Kassie Smith.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.