MARSHALL - Members of the Madison County Planning Board stressed that they'd like to see the county decide on its hotly contested 50-foot ridge top setback requirement issue treated with deliberateness and urgency in a timely manner, but that won't be the case.
In its May 14 meeting, the Madison County Board of Commissioners opted to reform its ridge top work group and to send the issue back to the Planning Board to reshape its recommendations in what Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Michael Garrison called "a mulligan."
In a corresponding move, the county commissioners and County Manager Rod Honeycutt decided to reform/restructure the ridge top work group to not include a commissioner.
The planning board, which voted in December 2023 to recommend to scrap the 50-foot setback requirement for building on ridges higher than 3,000 feet as laid out in the county's Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance, will now amend its recommendations to the commissioners. Currently, Madison County is the lone county in the state with a setback requirement for building on ridge tops.
The move was partially in response to concerns and criticisms from residents and a public official who spoke out against the county commission's decision to hold the work group meetings internally and closed to the public, as one public official wondered whether such a structure potentially violated public meetings laws.
In a letter to the editor submitted to The News-Record & Sentinel, Spring Creek resident Maxine Dalton said she disagreed with the county commission's decision to notice meetings in the Asheville Citizen Times rather than the local News-Record & Sentinel.
In the letter, Dalton said she was "surprised" to read about the county commissioners' decision April 9 to approve the Madison County Planning Board's recommended changes to the county Land Use Ordinance relating to biomass facilities, as she had searched The News-Record & Sentinel for the meeting notice, but it ran in the Asheville Citizen Times.
According to Dalton, Madison County Board of Commissioners Chair Matt Wechtel responded in an email to Dalton with the North Carolina General Statute 160d-601, relating to procedure for adopting, amending or repealing development regulations.
(a) Hearing with published notice- Before adopting, amending, or repealing any ordinance or development regulation authorized by this Chapter, the governing board shall hold a legislative hearing. A notice of the hearing shall be given once a week for two successive calendar weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the area. The notice shall be published the first time not less than 10 days nor more than 25 days before the date scheduled for the hearing. In computing such period, the day of publication is not to be included but the day of the hearing shall be included."
North Carolina General Statute 160d-601
Still, Dalton said she disagreed with the county's decision to notice the meeting in the Asheville paper.
"The letter of the law notwithstanding, I find it wrong that a public hearing that will impact the citizens of Madison County can be published in the Asheville Buncombe newspaper," Dalton said in the letter.
"We have our own culture, our own topography, and our own values about what we want in our community."
Board member Jeremy Hensley inquired whether a commissioner can be on a work group.
"You can be on one, but it now becomes a committee that has to be appointed by the commission with open meeting laws and notices to the public," said County Manager Rod Honeycutt, who was delegated to facilitate the ridge top work group's operations.
According to Honeycutt, the ridge top work group, which held its first meeting April 24, was comprised of Honeycutt, Assistant to the County Manager Mandy Bradley, Development Services Director Brad Guth and a member of the county zoning/inspection team.
Honeycutt said the work group had contact with environmental health, forest service, realtors, builders, construction and state DOT, and planned to meet monthly to bring back recommendations to the county commissioners.
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In his report to the board, Honeycutt said he recommended the group, as well as a similar courthouse work group transition to "a professional/staff-only work group," in which "we invite commissioners in to give updates to as the listening audience and not as participants, and use this forum to bring the work group's recommendations forward."
But Garrison said he felt the ridge top setback decision should be sent back to the Planning Board.
"I recommend we kick it back to the Planning Board, where it started from," Garrison said. "There's people on that board who've made suggestions as to what they wish they had done, or in hindsight think they should have done. So I think the Planning Board should be planning.
"There are people who are interested on that board of going back and visiting some of the concerns that our community members and commissioners have."
Board members Alan Wyatt and Hensley said they agreed with Garrison's recommendation.
According to board attorney Donny Laws, a professional staff-only group would only be giving advice to the county commission.
"That's all we're seeking from the Planning Board as well, is advice," Wechtel said.
Garrison said he felt the decision to hand the issue back to the Planning Board would allow Planning Board members the opportunity to develop their recommendations.
"There are people on that board that have experience with our local ordinances," Garrison said. "They have experiences with the very issue that people are concerned about. They're hearing those people's concerns, and are interested in going back and getting a mulligan to try to come back with something that's a little more beneficial overall for the wellness of our county.
"So I'm going to give them a chance to do it."
Garrison spoke out against the criticisms and defended the county's work in its deliberations.
"I will say, as a point of disappointment, this board has worked as transparent as possible in everything that we do," Garrison said. "And our work groups have been hugely beneficial, the official ones and the unofficial ones, at doing the business of the county and actually soliciting people from the county to engage in that business as well, to help us to make decisions, not just on what we think, but to gain information from the community, people who have lived here 50 years, and people who have lived here five years, and then to try to formulate and make good decisions.
"So far, we've done a good job of that. Most of the product that's been generated has, ironically, Brad, has seemed to meet just about everyone's requirements. So I'm proud of that. Just because there's a few little grumbles that find some minute aspect of a law that they think that the commissioners are subverting and trying to do things covert is offensive to me. But that being said, we're going to work in earnest to prove that that's not the case, and that we will entrust this county manager and those that work within county government to continue to do what we have been a part of all along."
Garrison said he feels as if the county adequately rectified the situation.
"For those that whined and cried at that, we fixed it. So, now go back to whatever it is you were doing," Garrison said. "For those that were elected officials that did it, shame on you. You should have been minding your own business and doing the business that you were elected to do, instead of the business of what we're elected to do.
"Otherwise, put your name on the ballot, and you do this job, and I'll sit in the audience and watch you."
Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for nearly three years, including earning a first-place award in beat reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6071 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
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