Published: November 24, 2009 10:57 pm      

Greenbrier officials reject plan

LEWISBURG — Tempers flared and voices were raised as the Greenbrier County Commission unanimously voted to reject a proposed comprehensive plan during an emergency session Tuesday.

Civility reached its nadir during an exchange between a pair of men on opposite sides of the issue, one of whom accused the other of engaging in land speculation. The purported speculator responded with what sounded like a threat against his accuser, saying, “I’d like to stick it to you ... buddy.”

Following about two hours of public input, much of it covering the same ground that had been scoured during previous sessions, commission president Betty Crookshanks summarized the main areas of concern and proposed postponing any vote on the plan.

Waiting to act until the commission’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 8 would allow time for a professional review of the sections of the plan dealing with individual property rights, housing, economic development, forestry and farming issues, she said. But it would also push action beyond the Nov. 28 deadline set by State Code. The governing body has only 90 days to either amend, reject or adopt the plan after the planning commission makes its recommendation, which the planners did in late August.

Initially, Crookshanks proposed ignoring the deadline, saying, “Someone could take us to court, but we’ll have (the review) done by (the time a hearing is held in circuit court).”

Planning commission president Britt Ludwig, an attorney, offered to read the relevant portions of State Code aloud to allow the county commissioners to make an informed decision.

Crookshanks brushed the offer aside, saying, “We probably need to vote on this right now.”

Noting the session under way was only announced as a working session, during which no votes could legally be taken, Crookshanks said, “It is an emergency. We need to bring it up and vote on it.” She added, “I guess the only thing we can do is abide by the law.”

Prior to declaring the emergency session, she warned, however, “I’m not going to vote to adopt this plan.”

Glenn Singer, a member of the Lewisburg Planning Commission, suggested the county commission could provisionally adopt the plan and send it back to the planners for amendment, but that course was not accepted.

During a regular county commission session earlier Tuesday, Singer had also spoken in favor of adopting the plan, questioning the motives of both the county commissioners and a segment of the county planning commission.

“I wonder about the ethics of appointing people to the planning commission who are uninterested in planning,” he said.

Several of the newer appointees on the planning commission have been among the comprehensive plan’s most vocal critics.

With the county commission’s rejection, the comprehensive plan now goes back to the planning commission for a review that will be guided by a written explanation of the governing body’s decision. The planners have 45 days to complete that review, at which point the plan, which may be amended, will return to the county commission.

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