Land use planning committee meets
Source: Jefferson Post, by Linda Burchette
December 26, 2007
In an effort to avoid the controversy of past land use planning efforts, the newly formed Ashe County Comprehensive Land Use Advisory Board plans to be transparent and broad-based in its work to determine the county’s need for a plan.
In an organizational meeting Thursday evening, the board members introduced themselves and welcomed Chris Robinson as facilitator. Robinson is dean of the Ashe and Alleghany Campuses of Wilkes Community College. He is equal, he said, to the other members of the board and will simply serve to direct the meetings and he or other members will report their efforts to the county commissioners and planning board.
Members of the Comprehensive Land Use Advisory Board come from all over the county and from various backgrounds:
Judy Bare of West Jefferson is a former teacher with experience in development and farming. She said she would like to see the county achieve a balance between land preservation and development.
Walter Clark of Lansing has educational degrees in planning and law, 25 years of experience managing coastal areas, and is deputy director of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust as well as co-owner of the former Swansie Shepherd blueberry farm. “I know this is a contigious issue, but the message I always want to get across to people is that land use planning is a tool that empowers people,” he said. “Without it, all of us are victims of economic forces. This way, we have a voice in planning and preparing for growth.”
Emilie Enzmann of Todd is owner/operator of Todd Mercantile. She has been active in working to preserve the heritage of land in the Todd and Fleetwood communities especially along the New River.
Jon Gatewood is a broker with Mountainscape Realty in Jefferson, and has been chosen by the Ashe County Board of Realtors as their representative. He said he has lived in Atlanta and seen firsthand the difficulties of dealing with growth. He expects to share the opinions of the local board of Realtors with the land use advisory board.
Cabot Hamilton of West Jefferson is publisher of the Jefferson Post. His grandparents were from the Beaver Creek and Transou communities of Ashe County. He was on the original committee that helped form the Unified Development Ordinance several years ago that attempted to introduce land use planning in the county. The experience, he said, was rewarding despite the dismal failure of the document, and he hopes to share his experience with the new board.
Bill Henson of Laurel Springs has been chosen by Ashe County Farm Bureau to represent that group. He is a retired vocational agriculture teacher and farmer who has done some developing of family land. He said he hopes the county can find a balance between the two because growth is coming.
Cindy Howell of Lansing is a homemaker who says she has “no dog in this fight,” but drives up and down Silas Creek watching gated communities going up right and left and trying to make sense of it.”
Jim King of West Jefferson is a farmer chosen by the Farmland Preservation Advisory Board to represent them on the land use advisory board.
Don McCracken of Jefferson is a Korean War veteran and retired right-of-way agent for the NC Department of Transportation. He said during his many years of service, he worked mostly in Ashe, Alleghany and Avery counties and he and his wife chose Ashe as a retirement home.
Rev. Billy Robinson of West Jefferson is pastor of Mount Jefferson Presbyterian Church. He is a former environmental consultant for the U.S. Army. He said he grew up in Atlanta and saw how not to do planning. He moved to Charlotte, he said, where he watched them try to do it right but get railroaded by growth. He said he couldn’t complain about zoning if he didn’t sit on the board as invited, and he is committed to the process.
Warren Shepherd of Deep Gap is a general contractor chosen by the Ashe County Home Builders Association to represent them. He is an Ashe County native who has lived in Pinehurst and seen how restrictive some communities can be. He said he wants to see the county preserve its heritage, and he has a personal interest in giving more people the choice of living in Ashe County, not just the affluent.
Alternates for the board are Michele Decker of Lansing and David Alff of Jefferson. Decker is a self-employed event planner and Alff works for McFarland & Co. The alternates will attend the meetings and participate in the discussions, but have no voting power. They could become a voting member to replace any member who leaves the board.
The new board members were greeted by Commission Chairman Richard Blackburn who said that while he has no personal interest or agenda on the subject, he would feel neglectful in his elected duties if he did not pose the question to county residents of “Do we need it?” in referring to land use planning. Considering the rapid growth, especially in housing in Ashe County, the commissioners have decided that an independent board was needed to examine the issue of planning. Blackburn told the land use advisory board that he believes there is enough political will on the board of commissioners to consider a plan and the commissioners fully support the work of this advisory board. “If we have land use planning, then we have a better and more orderly approach to dealing with the issues,” he said.
Some of the points made in this initial meeting included an overview of the proposed process, ground rules and setting a calendar of meeting dates.
The board agreed to meet on the second Tuesday of each month in the county commission meeting room (small courtroom) at Ashe County Courthouse. They expect to start the meetings at 5:30 or 6 p.m. and meet for about two hours. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 5:30 p.m. and the public is always invited to attend.
As for the proposed process, Robinson offered a power point presentation on the role of the advisory board and process.
“The Ashe County Land Use Planning Committee [Board] was developed by the Ashe County Board of Commissioners and the Ashe Planning Board to provide broad-based input for future land use plans in our community,” Robinson reported. “The 13-member committee includes citizens from throughout the county and includes appointed members from key constituencies. The committee is charged with gathering input from other citizens in the county, both on a formal and informal basis. Committee members are assumed to be committed to the process and to spending the requisite time on this very important issue. The work product of the committee will be presented to the two boards (commission and planning) for possible action. The advisory committee will be dissolved upon the presentation by the committee unless the two boards ask it to continue with a revised mission.”
“We are here to determine if a land use plan is needed in Ashe County. We are not here to develop a land use plan,” Robinson said.
Robinson also noted that by a transparent process, he means all meetings are open to the public and he will issue press releases after each meeting. Citizen input will be actively invited and encouraged, and the group may soon include non-voting representatives from the younger generation of high school and community college students. What the county decides, Robinson said, most affects their future.
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