Few public issues can stir emotions in a rural community than a proposal to start planning and zoning. As a crowd filled a meeting room Wednesday in Bracken County, Kentucky, the county judge-executive warned, "You will come up to the front, state your name, address the court and there will be no arguing among yourselves or you will be escorted out by the sheriff," reports Wendy Mitchell of the Ledger Independent in nearby Maysville.
"Many of those in attendance described themselves as farmers and property owners concerned about governmental interference in the use of their property," Mitchell reports, while officials say "Lack of zoning plans have detoured industrial site development." In a video posted with Mitchell's story, a local landowner said many people move to the county for its rural ambience and might not want it industrialized.
One of the magistrates on the county fiscal court, Kentucky's equivalent of a county commission, got into an argument with a planning commission member over past problems, including the placement of the magistrate's business into a non-business zone. (The business would still be allowed to operate.) To the opponents, a member of the 10-year-old county planning commission said, "We really tried to educate the people. There were many meetings over the years .... Where were you guys?" The proposal is still pending. (Read more)
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