Board of Appeals defers decision on Brookhaven homeowner's putting-green variance for stream-buffer determination

The Brookhaven Board of Appeals on Thursday deferred a decision on a homeowner’s request to reduce a 75-foot stream buffer to 53 feet to install an engineered artificial-turf putting green, saying staff must first complete a site-specific stream-buffer determination.

Jennifer Wolfe of It’s Permittable LLC, who represented homeowners Ryan and Britney Blackburn, asked the board to approve the variance and described the feature as a “small permeable artificial turf putting green” engineered to allow vertical drainage and to minimize environmental impact. Wolfe told the board the rear drainage feature is “not a functioning creek, but rather a shallow drainage ditch that is dry approximately 90% of the time,” and said the applicants will meet the city’s permeable-turf specifications and submit required permit documentation.

Supporters including neighbors and community figures told the board the feature is modest and that comparable properties already have pools and turf. Applicant Ryan Blackburn said the green is intended as a family recreation area: “Golf’s been a huge part of my life,” he said, and the turf would provide a place for his children and their friends to play.

Staff recommended denial. Board discussion centered on two threshold issues: whether the drainage feature is legally a stream subject to the 75-foot buffer and, if it is, whether artificial turf should be treated as impervious area under Brookhaven code. City staff explained that the city engineer treats typical artificial turf as impervious unless it meets the city’s permeable-synthetic-turf specification, which can yield a credit but still counts as impervious for buffer purposes; staff also noted an earlier Georgia Department of Natural Resources email and a January stream-buffer determination by a land-development manager that identified the feature as a conveyance channel with intermittent flow.

Board members debated hardship and precedent. Some said the lot’s topography and existing conditions weighed in favor of a variance; others warned the board needed a defensible basis to depart from staff recommendations in a case that could set precedent for recreational encroachments into buffers.

The board voted to defer the case to the Dec. 17, 2025 meeting so staff can perform or update a site-specific stream-buffer determination and the applicants can pursue any necessary plan revisions. The board’s deferral was seconded and carried.

Next steps: the applicants may request and pursue a stream-buffer determination (staff said the department typically completes such determinations within about five business days after application), submit any revised plans or engineered turf details to meet Brookhaven’s permeable-turf standard, and return to the board on Dec. 17.