Developers lose battle on buffers.

Byline: Merritt Melancon

Feb. 27--While river advocates see stream buffers as the thin green line keeping Georgia's waterways healthy, some property rights advocates see them as the government seizing property without paying for it.

Some property owners sought a remedy through Senate Bill 510 -- which would have required county governments to pay property owners for the land tied up in stream buffers -- but lost last week when the provision was taken from the bill as it passed out of committee.

As it was initially introduced, SB 510 would have required local governments to pay landowners if local laws require them to set aside more than 25 feet of undisturbed stream buffer -- the current state-mandated minimum.

It still would allow counties to apply for variances to state Environmental …