Section 12-3-294.1. Master plan; creations; contents; notice and hearing on preliminary plan; adherence to plan; amendment

   (a) The authority shall, on or before July 1, 1996, cause to be created a master plan for the management, preservation, protection, and development of each of its projects as defined in Code Section 12-3-291. The master plans for adjacent or contiguous projects may be combined into one document. The master plan for a project shall delineate, based upon aerial or other appropriate means of survey, the present and presently anticipated future uses of the land area of each project and shall also designate areas to be managed as environmentally sensitive, historically sensitive, and active use areas.

(b) In the creation of a master plan for a project, the authority shall, after preparation of a preliminary plan, give notice of the existence of the preliminary plan in the legal organ of the county in which the project is located and in at least two newspapers of state-wide general circulation not less than 60 days prior to the meeting of the authority at which the preliminary plan is to be considered for final adoption. After giving this notice, the authority shall hold a public hearing at a convenient location and receive and consider such oral and written comments on the preliminary plan as may be presented.

(c) The authority, in the exercise of its authority to develop, manage, preserve, and protect its projects, shall be guided by and shall adhere to the master plan for a project, as the same may from time to time be amended as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section.

(d) The authority may from time to time amend the master plan for a project, but only in compliance with the following procedure:

   (1) Any proposed amendment to a master plan shall be described in written form and, if capable of such description, in visual form and presented publicly at a regular meeting of the authority;

   (2) After the proposed amendment is presented publicly at a regular meeting of the authority, a brief summary of the proposed amendment shall be advertised in the legal organ of the county where the project is located, distributed to the media by news release, and published in appropriate publications of the authority. Each such advertisement, news release, and publication shall also contain:

      (A) The time and place of the public hearing on the proposed amendment, which public hearing shall be held no earlier than 15 days after the latest publication of the advertisement in the legal organ as required by this paragraph;

      (B) Directions as to the manner of receiving comments from the public regarding the proposed amendment; and

      (C) The date on which the meeting of the authority at which the proposed amendment will be considered for approval or rejection, which meeting shall not be held any sooner than 30 days after the meeting of the authority at which the proposed change was announced pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection;

   (3) The authority shall transmit three copies of the information required by paragraph (2) of this subsection to the Office of Legislative Counsel at least 30 days prior to the date of the meeting at which the proposed amendment will be considered. The Office of Legislative Counsel shall immediately furnish the presiding officers of each house of the General Assembly with a copy of the information received. The presiding officers, or the Office of Legislative Counsel if a presiding officer is unavailable, shall then assign the information to the chairperson of the appropriate standing committee in each house for review and provide copies to any member of that house who makes, or has made, a written request;

   (4) In the event a standing committee to which the information has been assigned as provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection files an objection to a proposed amendment to the master plan with the chairperson of the authority prior to the authority's taking action on the proposed amendment and the authority adopts the proposed amendment over the objection, the authority shall notify the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives, the chairpersons of the standing committees to which the information was referred, and the Office of Legislative Counsel within ten days after the adoption of the amendment to the master plan. Thereafter, by introduction of a resolution to override the amendment within the first 30 days of the next regular session of the General Assembly, the amendment may be considered by the branch of the General Assembly whose committee objected to its adoption. In the event the resolution is adopted by the members of the branch of the General Assembly in which it is introduced, it shall be immediately transferred to the other branch of the General Assembly, which branch shall consider the resolution within five days of its being received. In the event the resolution to override the amendment to the master plan is adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the members of each branch, the amendment to the master plan shall be void on the day after the adoption of the resolution by the second branch of the General Assembly. In the event the resolution is ratified by a vote of less than two-thirds of the members of either house, the resolution shall be submitted to the Governor for approval or veto. In the event the resolution fails to pass both houses or is vetoed by the Governor, the amendment to the master plan shall remain in effect. In the event of the Governor's approval of the resolution, the amendment to the master plan shall be void on the day after the date of the Governor's approval of the resolution;

   (5) Any proposed changes to the boundaries of any area or areas delineated on a master plan as a part of an area designated to be managed as environmentally or historically sensitive shall, at least seven days prior to the public hearing required by paragraph (2) of this subsection, be surveyed and marked in such a fashion as to be readily discernible on the ground by members of the public; and

   (6) At the meeting of the authority which has been identified in the advertisement required by paragraph (2) of this subsection as the meeting to consider the approval or rejection of the proposed amendment, the authority shall consider in an open and public meeting the proposed amendment to the master plan, which, if approved, shall become a part of the master plan for that project, subject, however, to the provisions of paragraph (4) of this subsection.

Code 1981, § 12-3-294.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 105, § 18.