In other news, the consultant who is going to help us write the Comprehensive Plan has arrived. This is the one I complained about hiring, but now I think I was wrong. Focus groups started on Tuesday. The county and the consultant held all day meetings getting input about how to prepare the Land Use Map, which is required by the state to be part of the Comprehensive Plan. This is what is used to guide zoning. Without it, zoning decisions have nothing to point to as a basis. The idea is that the Land Use Map is developed by consensus with a large group of citizens, and that's what the consultant is planning to do.
They have set up a website. It is
ourplanningworks.com/pagecounty
You can sign up there to get notifications of meetings, and they will post information about the process.
It looks like a good idea, to at least have a vehicle for citizen input. There have been some things done lately that are starting to look for citizen input. Mark Belton's County Line, and the actions of our new planner, Kevin Henry, have been in line with getting involvement and providing information, and that's a good thing.
Alice
Showing posts with label Land Use Map. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Land Use Map. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Boy, am I dumb
I am an idiot. I’m running off at the mouth about why doesn’t anybody care about the zoning ordinances and the Land Use Map and the Board of Supervisors, and what is this big fascination with the sheriffs, and why does everybody care about the sheriffs when the supervisors impact your life more. And finally somebody has the sense to say, “Hey, Alice. What’s a zoning ordinance?”
Thank you so much for that question, because it tells me why so few people were interested. I can’t believe I was so dumb as to just blabber away about this stuff. There is no such thing as a dumb question, so I appreciate you calling a time out so I can explain this.
Here’s what it is and why it’s important.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. What is a zoning ordinance.
When you buy land or a house, you think you own that property, and you can live your life as you choose and do what you want with your land. You sure spend enough money on it, and you pay taxes on it, so we all think it’s really ours to decide. But it turns out that our laws say you can only do what is allowed within a set of special, local county laws, called our Page County Zoning Ordinances. So if you want to put a deck on your house, or add a new room, or put a shed in the back, or add another bathroom, or put an apartment above the garage for your mother in law to live in, you have to ask the county if you have permission to do that, by getting a Building Permit. When you go to the county to ask for a Building Permit, they will check the set of laws called the zoning ordinances first, to see if you are allowed to do that on your land.
These zoning ordinances will even tell you if you can divide up your land and sell pieces off. For example, suppose a piece of land has been in your family for the last three generations. Let’s say you want to break it up into ten lots, because you want each of your children and your nephews and nieces to have a space to build their own house. The zoning ordinances will say in there whether you are allowed to do that.
Another example: suppose you want to sell your family land to a developer to build a housing development. Suppose this would be the best price you could get for your land. The zoning ordinances will say if you are allowed to sell for that purpose.
Another example: suppose you buy a piece of land and you want to build a house on it. The zoning ordinances will say if you are allowed to build on it, and what kind of building it can be. They will also tell you if you are allowed to fix cars in your garage, or sell eggs from your home, or raise goats in your yard.
2. Where do zoning ordinances come from?
The state of Virginia has a code, or a set of rules about how to write laws. This Virginia code says that each county is supposed to lay out their land on a map, and together as a community, come up with a plan for how the community wants that land to be used. Depending on things like how the roads and the mountains and the valleys lay out, the community should pick places where it would be good to have heavy industry, where a lot of trucks come in and out, and other places where it would be good to have retail stores, and places where it should just be open green space and untouched land or parks, and other places where there should be houses and apartment buildings. This community based “vision” of how the land lays out is called a Land Use Map, and it is supposed to be part of each county’s “Comprehensive Plan”.
Our Board of Supervisors is charged with approving this Comprehensive Plan, and they did that in June, but they didn’t ask anybody what the vision was. They just decided for themselves without citizen input.
Oh, and they also forgot to put the Land Use Map in it. So to correct that, they are hiring this consultant, and the consultant is going to hold meetings with the citizens to ask how to lay out where we want business and where we want houses. The reason I and some others object to spending the $43,000 for the consultant to do that is because I think it would be better to have our own county employees and supervisors ask the citizens where they see the vision of the land use, instead of paying a consultant. We will probably need a consultant later, after the land use map is done, to help us to write the correct language that will be legal and pass the Virginia code, and we should save the money for that. The consultant wants $112,000 total, and the $43,000 is just to start, for the easy part.
We don’t have the whole $112,000 budgeted, so to pay the consultant, we have to raise taxes again in the future.
3. How do these decisions get made?
During each election, we elect 3 out of our 6 County Supervisors. One is elected for each of our five Districts. The county is divided into districts based on population. There is also a sixth supervisor who is elected “at large” to cover the whole county, and that person is the chairman of the board. Each supervisor who is associated with a district may appoint two people to be “planning commissioners”. That makes a total of 10 planning commissioners. The planning commissioners meet twice a month at the courthouse, and they consider people’s requests to change the zoning of their land. They can ask for a “special use permit” if the zoning doesn’t let them do what they want to do.
For example, maybe a person wants to build three houses on their land, and they have to ask for a special permission. The Planning Commission listens to their argument about why they want to do it, and they decide yes or no.
If the Planning Commission decides no, then the person is not allowed to do what they want with their own land. If they decide yes, then the person gets to ask the Board of Supervisors if they can do it. In theory, the Board is supposed to look at the Land Use Map and see if the request will fit in. But we don’t have a Land Use Map so they just decide whatever they think is right, without one.
If the Board then says no, the person cannot do what they want to do with their land.
4. What is the consultant going to do?
Hopefully, the consultant will help us get a land use map so that zoning decisions can be made from it. If the consultant is worth what we are paying him, he will hold citizen meetings to get input about how the land use map should be. But if the citizens don’t care and don’t show up at the meetings, the consultant will still get paid, and then our land use map will be what someone other than the citizens (the click? The Trogs and the Crits?) wants instead of what the community wants. Then we can use that map to write more zoning ordinances. There is one being rewritten right now. It is called the ByRight Subdivision ordinance (ordinance means law, or local law). It is about what you can do if you want to sell off pieces of your land. It tells you the rules for selling it off.
_______________________________________________________________
I hope I have explained it more clearly. If you have any other questions, please do not feel embarrassed about asking. I should have realized this would not be common knowledge.
To get involved with this process, and make your voice heard and your wishes known, come to these county meetings. The schedule for them is on the county website at http://www.pagecountyvirginia.gov and you can call the county office at 743-4142 to find out the location and what is going to be talked about. You can also ask the county to automatically notify you by email if any meetings are being held. You can also ask the county for copies of the minutes of the meetings, but they take months to print them, so the best thing is to keep reading this website. We try to post what happened the next day.
They are usually on Monday or Tuesday nights at the Luray Courthouse, or at Stanley Elementary School or Shenandoah Elementary School.
Thank you so much for that question, because it tells me why so few people were interested. I can’t believe I was so dumb as to just blabber away about this stuff. There is no such thing as a dumb question, so I appreciate you calling a time out so I can explain this.
Here’s what it is and why it’s important.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. What is a zoning ordinance.
When you buy land or a house, you think you own that property, and you can live your life as you choose and do what you want with your land. You sure spend enough money on it, and you pay taxes on it, so we all think it’s really ours to decide. But it turns out that our laws say you can only do what is allowed within a set of special, local county laws, called our Page County Zoning Ordinances. So if you want to put a deck on your house, or add a new room, or put a shed in the back, or add another bathroom, or put an apartment above the garage for your mother in law to live in, you have to ask the county if you have permission to do that, by getting a Building Permit. When you go to the county to ask for a Building Permit, they will check the set of laws called the zoning ordinances first, to see if you are allowed to do that on your land.
These zoning ordinances will even tell you if you can divide up your land and sell pieces off. For example, suppose a piece of land has been in your family for the last three generations. Let’s say you want to break it up into ten lots, because you want each of your children and your nephews and nieces to have a space to build their own house. The zoning ordinances will say in there whether you are allowed to do that.
Another example: suppose you want to sell your family land to a developer to build a housing development. Suppose this would be the best price you could get for your land. The zoning ordinances will say if you are allowed to sell for that purpose.
Another example: suppose you buy a piece of land and you want to build a house on it. The zoning ordinances will say if you are allowed to build on it, and what kind of building it can be. They will also tell you if you are allowed to fix cars in your garage, or sell eggs from your home, or raise goats in your yard.
2. Where do zoning ordinances come from?
The state of Virginia has a code, or a set of rules about how to write laws. This Virginia code says that each county is supposed to lay out their land on a map, and together as a community, come up with a plan for how the community wants that land to be used. Depending on things like how the roads and the mountains and the valleys lay out, the community should pick places where it would be good to have heavy industry, where a lot of trucks come in and out, and other places where it would be good to have retail stores, and places where it should just be open green space and untouched land or parks, and other places where there should be houses and apartment buildings. This community based “vision” of how the land lays out is called a Land Use Map, and it is supposed to be part of each county’s “Comprehensive Plan”.
Our Board of Supervisors is charged with approving this Comprehensive Plan, and they did that in June, but they didn’t ask anybody what the vision was. They just decided for themselves without citizen input.
Oh, and they also forgot to put the Land Use Map in it. So to correct that, they are hiring this consultant, and the consultant is going to hold meetings with the citizens to ask how to lay out where we want business and where we want houses. The reason I and some others object to spending the $43,000 for the consultant to do that is because I think it would be better to have our own county employees and supervisors ask the citizens where they see the vision of the land use, instead of paying a consultant. We will probably need a consultant later, after the land use map is done, to help us to write the correct language that will be legal and pass the Virginia code, and we should save the money for that. The consultant wants $112,000 total, and the $43,000 is just to start, for the easy part.
We don’t have the whole $112,000 budgeted, so to pay the consultant, we have to raise taxes again in the future.
3. How do these decisions get made?
During each election, we elect 3 out of our 6 County Supervisors. One is elected for each of our five Districts. The county is divided into districts based on population. There is also a sixth supervisor who is elected “at large” to cover the whole county, and that person is the chairman of the board. Each supervisor who is associated with a district may appoint two people to be “planning commissioners”. That makes a total of 10 planning commissioners. The planning commissioners meet twice a month at the courthouse, and they consider people’s requests to change the zoning of their land. They can ask for a “special use permit” if the zoning doesn’t let them do what they want to do.
For example, maybe a person wants to build three houses on their land, and they have to ask for a special permission. The Planning Commission listens to their argument about why they want to do it, and they decide yes or no.
If the Planning Commission decides no, then the person is not allowed to do what they want with their own land. If they decide yes, then the person gets to ask the Board of Supervisors if they can do it. In theory, the Board is supposed to look at the Land Use Map and see if the request will fit in. But we don’t have a Land Use Map so they just decide whatever they think is right, without one.
If the Board then says no, the person cannot do what they want to do with their land.
4. What is the consultant going to do?
Hopefully, the consultant will help us get a land use map so that zoning decisions can be made from it. If the consultant is worth what we are paying him, he will hold citizen meetings to get input about how the land use map should be. But if the citizens don’t care and don’t show up at the meetings, the consultant will still get paid, and then our land use map will be what someone other than the citizens (the click? The Trogs and the Crits?) wants instead of what the community wants. Then we can use that map to write more zoning ordinances. There is one being rewritten right now. It is called the ByRight Subdivision ordinance (ordinance means law, or local law). It is about what you can do if you want to sell off pieces of your land. It tells you the rules for selling it off.
_______________________________________________________________
I hope I have explained it more clearly. If you have any other questions, please do not feel embarrassed about asking. I should have realized this would not be common knowledge.
To get involved with this process, and make your voice heard and your wishes known, come to these county meetings. The schedule for them is on the county website at http://www.pagecountyvirginia.gov and you can call the county office at 743-4142 to find out the location and what is going to be talked about. You can also ask the county to automatically notify you by email if any meetings are being held. You can also ask the county for copies of the minutes of the meetings, but they take months to print them, so the best thing is to keep reading this website. We try to post what happened the next day.
They are usually on Monday or Tuesday nights at the Luray Courthouse, or at Stanley Elementary School or Shenandoah Elementary School.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
AND the Zoning Consultant is IN!
Page County Board of Supervisors Work Session, Oct. 2, 2007.
Present at meeting Hoke, Rust, La France, Strickler, Cubbage.
The first item on the agenda was the Monthly Report from the Public Works Department by Henry Mikus.
He reported that they had a Public Hearing in September on Amendment 7 for the Battlefield Landfill and that it was a very positive meeting. He also noted that their 2 year anniversary is coming up soon.
He said that repairs had been made to floor joists in the circuit court room and a privacy railing had been added in one of the offices.
He told the board that the paper recycling plant in Edinburg was closing and that he would need to find a new company to handle our paper products.
The second agenda item was the New Stanley Well Location by Henry Mikus.
Mr. Mikus talked about the wells near the landfill being closed and the new well location off Goodrich Road. They need electric run for the new well and they discussed whether to have underground or above ground cable. He said they also need a new pump and a fence around the well. The board also discussed digging the electric line and water line at the same time to save money.
Mr. Mikus said there would be a Public Hearing on the Town Annexation on Oct. 30.
The board changed there November work session to Wednesday November 7 at Stanley.
The next agenda item was the Ordinance Amendment on the Personal Property Tax for Aircraft.
Dr. Cardman and Mr. Markowitz discussed the economic benefits of lowering the personal property tax on aircraft to .50 on the accessed value. After some disagreement from Hoke the amendment passed unanimously.
The next agenda item was the Contract for the Phase 1 of the Zoning Ordinance Update. Kevin Henry told the Board that the Planning Commission unanimously supported the update. After some discussion the Board approved the Contract.
Next Tom Cardman talked about the Wrangler Job Retention Grant. This is as I understand it a $65,000.00 dollar incentive grant in the form of a machine and tool tax reduction for employee retention. The Board approved the grant.
Lastly Shanks talked about the Ordinance for the Economic Development Authority Membership. He was talking about staggered terms for members.
They then went into closed session to discuss:
Consultation with Legal Counsel and Briefings by Staff Members Pertaining to Probable Litigation.
Discussion Concerning a Prospective Business or Industry
Acquisition of Real Property
Present at meeting Hoke, Rust, La France, Strickler, Cubbage.
The first item on the agenda was the Monthly Report from the Public Works Department by Henry Mikus.
He reported that they had a Public Hearing in September on Amendment 7 for the Battlefield Landfill and that it was a very positive meeting. He also noted that their 2 year anniversary is coming up soon.
He said that repairs had been made to floor joists in the circuit court room and a privacy railing had been added in one of the offices.
He told the board that the paper recycling plant in Edinburg was closing and that he would need to find a new company to handle our paper products.
The second agenda item was the New Stanley Well Location by Henry Mikus.
Mr. Mikus talked about the wells near the landfill being closed and the new well location off Goodrich Road. They need electric run for the new well and they discussed whether to have underground or above ground cable. He said they also need a new pump and a fence around the well. The board also discussed digging the electric line and water line at the same time to save money.
Mr. Mikus said there would be a Public Hearing on the Town Annexation on Oct. 30.
The board changed there November work session to Wednesday November 7 at Stanley.
The next agenda item was the Ordinance Amendment on the Personal Property Tax for Aircraft.
Dr. Cardman and Mr. Markowitz discussed the economic benefits of lowering the personal property tax on aircraft to .50 on the accessed value. After some disagreement from Hoke the amendment passed unanimously.
The next agenda item was the Contract for the Phase 1 of the Zoning Ordinance Update. Kevin Henry told the Board that the Planning Commission unanimously supported the update. After some discussion the Board approved the Contract.
Next Tom Cardman talked about the Wrangler Job Retention Grant. This is as I understand it a $65,000.00 dollar incentive grant in the form of a machine and tool tax reduction for employee retention. The Board approved the grant.
Lastly Shanks talked about the Ordinance for the Economic Development Authority Membership. He was talking about staggered terms for members.
They then went into closed session to discuss:
Consultation with Legal Counsel and Briefings by Staff Members Pertaining to Probable Litigation.
Discussion Concerning a Prospective Business or Industry
Acquisition of Real Property
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Full Speed Ahead
Planning Commission notes from Sept 25
Quoted from my notes of the Board of Supervisors meeting on September 18:
“The contract for the consultant to do the Land Use Map was shown. Kevin Henry wanted them to approve the money ($43,000) and the contract (pure time and travel, no specified deliverables, just send the money based on timecards) but Tommy LaFrance said something on the order of (paraphrased and caricaturized) “why do we need to pay a consultant to borrow our watch and tell us what time it is?” And Gerald Cubbage said why do we need some outsider to tell us where to put the bubbles on the bubble map, and Carol Lee said, well, maybe we could just get a little bit of help, not this much, and Charlie Hoke said, why don’t we go talk to the Planning Commission about this again and John Rust was absent. So they tabled it, pending talking to the Planning Commission about it some more. Tommy and Gerald thought Kevin Henry was up to the job, and the job really entails input from the towns and the citizens, so what does that have to do with a consultant. Kevin said, but there’s only one of me, so it’s going to take a long time.”
I thought that meant they didn’t want to spend the consultant money on the easy part, the part which just entails facilitating meetings to find out how the citizens want the county to look. That would mean the money would still be there after the Land Use Map was developed, when they might need real expertise to develop zoning ordinances. The danger in spending the money now, on the meeting facilitation, at $43,000 for 266 hours of time, is that then, when the money is all gone, and there still is no Land Use Map because the consultants held the meetings, but citizens didn’t attend, and so consensus was not built, the Land Use Map we spent $43,000 for will still not be accepted by the community, and the money will have been spent for no good reason. Building consensus within the community is time consuming and long. You can’t just hold a meeting, to which nobody comes, and then declare that you’ve fulfilled your obligation to hold a meeting, and proceed without consensus or community understanding.
The thing about our citizens is that they won’t figure out what’s going on until this is way down the road, and somebody tells them their land is being condemned because maybe a sinkhole is under it, and now it has to be a park. THEN they want to come out with picket signs, even though this has been brewing for years, under the radar, where nobody’s paying attention to it. So the point of not hiring the consultant for the Land Use Map is just that it’s a Time and Materials contract, with no deliverables, except the Timecards. Nothing to showing up for a meeting, conducting it whether anybody attends or not, and sending a bill. So the consensus building will be particularly hard, especially because there was no citizen involvement in developing the Comprehensive Plan that was just approved, so you are not starting with agreement that the goals stated there are in the community’s best interest in the first place. You won't even be able to get the bubbles placed on the bubble map without that.
The consultants part in building that consensus, at between $150 and $300 an hour, could maybe be cut down to just a little advice, rather than to spending all that was budgeted on this part. Perhaps the consultant could just spend a week with Mr. Henry, getting him ready to run these consensus building meetings, instead of paying the consultant to run them, because in Page County, these meetings aren't going to "take" the first time. They'll need a rerun. Or maybe three or four reruns.
At the Planning Commission meeting September 25, though, nobody from the Board was there to talk about the reasons why they wanted to proceed on the Land Use Map without a consultant. Nobody from the Planning Commission had been briefed on their reasons. So the Planning Commission just had a short discussion about it, and then re-requested or reaffirmed that they wanted to hire a consultant. They didn’t have anyone to explain to them why this contract was not immediately approved. When the Board, ie Charlie Hoke, is about to turn something down, but then Charlie pipes up with, "Let's talk to the Planning Commission about it first," we, as citizens, think that means they are actually going to talk to the Planning Commission, not just let the Planning Commission go off and vote again without any discussion.
Meanwhile, the Water Quality Advisory committee has issued a report on cleaning up the river. It says there is fecal cloriform (from warm blooded mammals) in 22% of our wells. And some other kind of bacteria in 44%.
I haven’t read that report yet, but I hope it says that comes from the cows in the river instead of saying it comes from people. All the people I know have health department approved septic systems. I wonder if there are people living on the river who don’t have septic systems. I will get a copy of the report and tell you.
Or, you can call 743-4142 and get your own copy, and tell me what you think.
Also, there was more talk about Karst and how the runoff endangers wells and causes sinkholes.
I haven’t seen any news reports about sinkholes, people falling in them or cars and houses being swallowed up. I guess that’s something that would happen if we got development here. If anybody wants to post any reports about sinkholes in the county, I’d be happy to post it. Or just hit the comments button.
There was also talk about a consultant who is in the process of writing a proffer model for if developers come here. One part of the proffer model is if you allow “age-restricted” communities. Apparently, with the Baby Boomers retiring, that is a popular model, because when you get to be a grandparent, you like everybody who lives around you to just have their grandchildren visit, not live next door to you. The problem with these “55 and over only” communities is that the developer doesn’t have to pay any “proffers” for schools, and that’s why developers like them. But they potentially strain the hospitals and ambulances, if you get too many of them. Also, they can be a problem for a person who buys a house in one of these communities, and then later, events overtake them and maybe a grandchild needs to come to live with grandpa and grandma because of some problem, and then guess what? Grandpa and Grandma either have to move, or they have to refuse to take the child in. Of course, this is planning ahead, for that sunshiny day when a developer decides it would be worth his while to build houses here. That’s what the whole Planning Commission is about. Planning ahead for the future.
To quote Commissioner Charles Newton, “We don’t want to do something now that causes a problem that is very expensive to fix in fifty years.”
So this is big, long range planning. With amazing foresight.
Wish you’d been there.
Alice
I know everybody’s too busy gossiping about the various Sheriff candidates to bother paying attention to this, but I think someday you’ll be sorry you didn’t watch what’s going on here.
Quoted from my notes of the Board of Supervisors meeting on September 18:
“The contract for the consultant to do the Land Use Map was shown. Kevin Henry wanted them to approve the money ($43,000) and the contract (pure time and travel, no specified deliverables, just send the money based on timecards) but Tommy LaFrance said something on the order of (paraphrased and caricaturized) “why do we need to pay a consultant to borrow our watch and tell us what time it is?” And Gerald Cubbage said why do we need some outsider to tell us where to put the bubbles on the bubble map, and Carol Lee said, well, maybe we could just get a little bit of help, not this much, and Charlie Hoke said, why don’t we go talk to the Planning Commission about this again and John Rust was absent. So they tabled it, pending talking to the Planning Commission about it some more. Tommy and Gerald thought Kevin Henry was up to the job, and the job really entails input from the towns and the citizens, so what does that have to do with a consultant. Kevin said, but there’s only one of me, so it’s going to take a long time.”
I thought that meant they didn’t want to spend the consultant money on the easy part, the part which just entails facilitating meetings to find out how the citizens want the county to look. That would mean the money would still be there after the Land Use Map was developed, when they might need real expertise to develop zoning ordinances. The danger in spending the money now, on the meeting facilitation, at $43,000 for 266 hours of time, is that then, when the money is all gone, and there still is no Land Use Map because the consultants held the meetings, but citizens didn’t attend, and so consensus was not built, the Land Use Map we spent $43,000 for will still not be accepted by the community, and the money will have been spent for no good reason. Building consensus within the community is time consuming and long. You can’t just hold a meeting, to which nobody comes, and then declare that you’ve fulfilled your obligation to hold a meeting, and proceed without consensus or community understanding.
The thing about our citizens is that they won’t figure out what’s going on until this is way down the road, and somebody tells them their land is being condemned because maybe a sinkhole is under it, and now it has to be a park. THEN they want to come out with picket signs, even though this has been brewing for years, under the radar, where nobody’s paying attention to it. So the point of not hiring the consultant for the Land Use Map is just that it’s a Time and Materials contract, with no deliverables, except the Timecards. Nothing to showing up for a meeting, conducting it whether anybody attends or not, and sending a bill. So the consensus building will be particularly hard, especially because there was no citizen involvement in developing the Comprehensive Plan that was just approved, so you are not starting with agreement that the goals stated there are in the community’s best interest in the first place. You won't even be able to get the bubbles placed on the bubble map without that.
The consultants part in building that consensus, at between $150 and $300 an hour, could maybe be cut down to just a little advice, rather than to spending all that was budgeted on this part. Perhaps the consultant could just spend a week with Mr. Henry, getting him ready to run these consensus building meetings, instead of paying the consultant to run them, because in Page County, these meetings aren't going to "take" the first time. They'll need a rerun. Or maybe three or four reruns.
At the Planning Commission meeting September 25, though, nobody from the Board was there to talk about the reasons why they wanted to proceed on the Land Use Map without a consultant. Nobody from the Planning Commission had been briefed on their reasons. So the Planning Commission just had a short discussion about it, and then re-requested or reaffirmed that they wanted to hire a consultant. They didn’t have anyone to explain to them why this contract was not immediately approved. When the Board, ie Charlie Hoke, is about to turn something down, but then Charlie pipes up with, "Let's talk to the Planning Commission about it first," we, as citizens, think that means they are actually going to talk to the Planning Commission, not just let the Planning Commission go off and vote again without any discussion.
Meanwhile, the Water Quality Advisory committee has issued a report on cleaning up the river. It says there is fecal cloriform (from warm blooded mammals) in 22% of our wells. And some other kind of bacteria in 44%.
I haven’t read that report yet, but I hope it says that comes from the cows in the river instead of saying it comes from people. All the people I know have health department approved septic systems. I wonder if there are people living on the river who don’t have septic systems. I will get a copy of the report and tell you.
Or, you can call 743-4142 and get your own copy, and tell me what you think.
Also, there was more talk about Karst and how the runoff endangers wells and causes sinkholes.
I haven’t seen any news reports about sinkholes, people falling in them or cars and houses being swallowed up. I guess that’s something that would happen if we got development here. If anybody wants to post any reports about sinkholes in the county, I’d be happy to post it. Or just hit the comments button.
There was also talk about a consultant who is in the process of writing a proffer model for if developers come here. One part of the proffer model is if you allow “age-restricted” communities. Apparently, with the Baby Boomers retiring, that is a popular model, because when you get to be a grandparent, you like everybody who lives around you to just have their grandchildren visit, not live next door to you. The problem with these “55 and over only” communities is that the developer doesn’t have to pay any “proffers” for schools, and that’s why developers like them. But they potentially strain the hospitals and ambulances, if you get too many of them. Also, they can be a problem for a person who buys a house in one of these communities, and then later, events overtake them and maybe a grandchild needs to come to live with grandpa and grandma because of some problem, and then guess what? Grandpa and Grandma either have to move, or they have to refuse to take the child in. Of course, this is planning ahead, for that sunshiny day when a developer decides it would be worth his while to build houses here. That’s what the whole Planning Commission is about. Planning ahead for the future.
To quote Commissioner Charles Newton, “We don’t want to do something now that causes a problem that is very expensive to fix in fifty years.”
So this is big, long range planning. With amazing foresight.
Wish you’d been there.
Alice
I know everybody’s too busy gossiping about the various Sheriff candidates to bother paying attention to this, but I think someday you’ll be sorry you didn’t watch what’s going on here.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Land Use Map -- Coming Soon!
Page County Planning Commission Work Session, 10 September 2007
1. The Land Use Map work is starting soon. There is a committee forming to work with the consultants to prepare it. The committee will have some Planning Commission members on it and some citizens.The session was primarily devoted to a preliminary effort in preparation for introducing changes to the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map. Mr. Henry made a presentation on Land Use in general. The presentation addressed land use classifications (i.e. residential, agriculture, commercial, industrial and mixed.) as well as those things that should be considered when classifying land for future use and implementation strategies.
Then he described how land use characteristics should be considered in the rezoning process such as compatibility with adjoining land uses, lot size, transportation routes, etc. The issuance of special use permits requires consideration o the same types of things. However, the restrictions put on special use permits can exceed zoning ordinance provisions.
2. The public meetings about the By Right Subdivision ordinance occurred last week. About 30 - 45 citizens attended, depending on whether you count the ones that came to both meetings twice. The committee that is working on that will be meeting beginning Thursday, September 20, in the courthouse at 7 p.m. Citizens are invited to attend, but unless you are on the committee you can't speak at the work sessions. These sessions will probably be held weekly until the recommendation is made, as there is a 100 day clock on coming up with a recommendation or at least a report.
The membership of the Comprehensive Plan Subcommittee has yet to be finalized. If I understood correctly, the intent is for its member to act as a team in concert with a land use consultant for the purpose of generating detailed land use maps. There will also be an Advisory Board to this subcommittee. YOU COULD BE ON IT! VOLUNTEER! CALL THE COUNTY AND SAY YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED! 743-4142
If you want to know more about county land use, you can get a copy of the presentation from the county administrator’s office. It will cost you $.25 a page.
3. Jeff Judd resigned from the Planning Commission. He is in District 2. A person has been chosen to replace him, but that person will not be formally announced until John Rust can do it at a public hearing.
4. On Thursday night, there is a meeting at the courthouse about cleaning up the Hawksbill and Mill Creek. Citizens are invited.
1. The Land Use Map work is starting soon. There is a committee forming to work with the consultants to prepare it. The committee will have some Planning Commission members on it and some citizens.The session was primarily devoted to a preliminary effort in preparation for introducing changes to the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map. Mr. Henry made a presentation on Land Use in general. The presentation addressed land use classifications (i.e. residential, agriculture, commercial, industrial and mixed.) as well as those things that should be considered when classifying land for future use and implementation strategies.
Then he described how land use characteristics should be considered in the rezoning process such as compatibility with adjoining land uses, lot size, transportation routes, etc. The issuance of special use permits requires consideration o the same types of things. However, the restrictions put on special use permits can exceed zoning ordinance provisions.
2. The public meetings about the By Right Subdivision ordinance occurred last week. About 30 - 45 citizens attended, depending on whether you count the ones that came to both meetings twice. The committee that is working on that will be meeting beginning Thursday, September 20, in the courthouse at 7 p.m. Citizens are invited to attend, but unless you are on the committee you can't speak at the work sessions. These sessions will probably be held weekly until the recommendation is made, as there is a 100 day clock on coming up with a recommendation or at least a report.
The membership of the Comprehensive Plan Subcommittee has yet to be finalized. If I understood correctly, the intent is for its member to act as a team in concert with a land use consultant for the purpose of generating detailed land use maps. There will also be an Advisory Board to this subcommittee. YOU COULD BE ON IT! VOLUNTEER! CALL THE COUNTY AND SAY YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED! 743-4142
If you want to know more about county land use, you can get a copy of the presentation from the county administrator’s office. It will cost you $.25 a page.
3. Jeff Judd resigned from the Planning Commission. He is in District 2. A person has been chosen to replace him, but that person will not be formally announced until John Rust can do it at a public hearing.
4. On Thursday night, there is a meeting at the courthouse about cleaning up the Hawksbill and Mill Creek. Citizens are invited.
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