Published: November 11, 2009 10:56 pm      

Greenbrier officials gather input on plan

LEWISBURG — After months of emphasizing agricultural issues, opponents of Greenbrier County’s proposed comprehensive plan changed direction Tuesday night, telling the county commission the big issue is who framed the document.

Of the 40 residents who spoke during the evening’s public hearing, only 15 urged the commission to reject the plan.

’The evidence continues to mount that (residents’ input) was left on the cutting room floor,’ said planning commission member Vernon Hayslette, who was only recently appointed to the agency. ’The burden of developing the plan fell on the consultant.’

David Whitt, also a member of the planning commission, sought to distance himself from the majority of his colleagues, saying the plan contains ’word after word from planning textbooks.’ Disdainfully, he added, ’They (the planners) are the mother of this creature (the plan).’

Organ Cave resident Jewell Doering protested, ’There’s a lot of fearmongering going on here.’ She noted, ’The invitation (to participate in the planning process) was issued countywide.’

Planning commission member Rob Gronan pointed to the nearly 500 people who filled out questionnaires and dozens more who attended one of several meetings staged to gather public input as proof the citizenry was included in the process.

’I think this plan represents the consensus of the people who were there,’ Gronan said.

Ted Bostic, a native of Greenbrier County, warned the commissioners that, without proper planning, they could face the same problems their counterparts in Berkeley County, where he now lives, have been contending with. The population there exploded in a matter of a few years from 25,000 to more than 90,000, he said.

’Berkeley County is in serious trouble now because of the growth,’ Bostic said, citing the pressure on infrastructure such as roads and water and sewer systems, not to mention the school overcrowding the burgeoning populace has created. ’You’ve got to plan ahead.’

Lewisburg attorney Brandon Johnson noted he rarely attends county commission meetings, but often watches the sessions when they are broadcast on the local public access television channel. He said he believes, from what he has seen in those broadcasts, that Commissioners Karen Lobban and Betty Crookshanks ’aren’t sold on the plan.’ He asked the two to state their positions on the issue and to share the research, if any, they had done to support those positions.

’I think I have a right to know what you think,’ Johnson said when Crookshanks protested that the public hearing was designed to elicit public input, not question the commissioners.

Lobban said she had written down all the opinions expressed Tuesday evening and planned to give the information due consideration before voting on the plan. ’I have made no decision,’ she said.

Crookshanks said of the proposed plan, ’There’s some things I like and some things I don’t like.’

The county commission will hold a working session to discuss the comprehensive plan following the next regular session on Nov. 24. No date has been set for a vote on the issue.

’ E-mail: talvey@register-herald.com