Oakland officials extend 50 moratorium again

Developers looking to build along Highway 50 in Oakland will have to wait even longer.

The Oakland Town Commission called a special meeting Monday night to pass a resolution that extends the temporary moratorium that was originally placed on the main corridor in October 2012.

“We’re in the process of adopting the rewritten overlay ordinance, so to protect ourselves during that adoption process, we went ahead and extended the moratorium,” Max Spann, town planner, said Tuesday. “Once it’s adopted, we will repeal the moratorium.”

This ordinance suspends the processing of applications and plans relating to development in the State Road 50 Overlay Corridor while town officials work on updating its rules pertaining to construction, architecture, signage and landscaping. After setting the original moratorium in 2012, the commission extended it again in April and October of 2013 and this April.

The latest extension continues until December.

“We want to make it as quick as possible,” Spann said. “But when you have pressure from the development community that feasts upon incomplete codes and ordinances, you want to make sure that, internally, you want to do a thorough job in solidifying the town’s codes and ordinances to protect the town from incomplete development.”