“If what you can do with the land changes, so does the value of the land,” he said. “I feel that going forward, all owners of record should be grandfathered in. When you buy property, you don’t like the rules to change while you own it.”

Local accountant David Pettigrew said that the new standards are a shot in the heart of local businesses because they could increase the cost construction as much as 30 percent.

“This will eliminate the people that want to build homegrown in Milledgeville,” Pettigrew said. “It would be great if we had the money of Hilton Head, but we don’t.”

Pettigrew said that many of the landscaping requirements are a burden to the cost of construction, and that Milledgeville should be weary of attempts to emulate Madison, which he emphasized is withering on the vine.

“Let’s not become Madison; let’s be forward-thinking,” he said. “We don’t want to be stuck in the past — we’ve got some good history — but tourism brings $6-an-hour jobs. Industry brings $20-an-hour jobs.”

Following Pettigrew’s presentation, Mason, although saying she personally thinks the standards are a great idea, motioned to postpone the commission’s decision for one week.

Also in Monday’s meeting, the commission gave a positive recommendation to the Animal Rescue Foundation’s proposal to install a crematory at the South Wilkinson Street location. To facilitate the crematory, ARF needs to rezone the property from commercial to office-institutional with a special use for the crematory.

Finally, commissioners gave a positive recommendation to Tim Wright to rezone property at 621 S. Jefferson St. from single family duplex to multi-family to allow a 14-building apartment complex with a total of 32 bedrooms.

The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for a final up or down vote.