Moratorium Imposed on Development in City

Seeking to protect the rural flavor of tiny Bradbury, the City Council has approved an urgency ordinance curtailing all development on parcels larger than 20 acres.

In this wealthy hamlet of less than 1,000, council members enacted the ordinance to protect the terrain and hills above the city, officials said.

The ordinance forbids development for 45 days.

City Manager Douglas Dunlap said the new law gives the city a chance to update its zoning and subdivision regulations to prevent too many homes on a parcel.

There are about four 20-acre parcels within the city limits that could be developed, he said.

For years, Bradbury saw virtually no new structures. But Dunlap said in recent years a series of massive 10,000-square-foot homes have began to appear on the landscape.