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Public Hearing on Zoning tonight Edgefielddaily.com web posted July 20, 2005 The Edgefield County Council will be holding the Public Hearing on the new Zoning Ordinances tonight at the Council Chambers on Jeter St. at 6:00 pm. The public is invited to attend and those wishing to speak should arrive early in order to sign up to voice your opinion on the matter to the County Council. The ordinances zone the entire county and were inserted and voted on in the special called meeting on June 22, 2005. Since Edgefield Daily.com broke the story on the effects of the ordinances a firestorm erupted from the public and with a capacity crowd at the July 5 regular meeting of council. The County Council suspended a second reading and referred the matter to the Edgefield County Planning Commission for review. The Planning Commission will hold their meeting on the ordinances tomorrow night, Thursday July 22, at the Council Chambers at 6:30 pm. They were given 30 days to review the matter at the July 5 council meeting. The backlash from the ordinances came when it was discovered that under the guise of fighting a chicken farm the council voted to zone the entire county and was not informed of the repercussions of the ordinances before them. Edgefield County Administrator Wayne Adams is the council’s advisor and is responsible for the drafting of ordinances and informing council members as to the content of each ordinance. A majority of councilmen that Edgefield Daily.com has spoken with said Adams did not properly inform them on the matter. In addition to creating anger among the vast majority of county residents (80% of the county is unzoned) the way the ordinances were inserted has taken the stage as the number one complaint. Administrator Adams presented the county council with the ordinances at the special called meeting to give the Vested Rights ordinance a final reading before the end of June as was stated at the June 7 regular meeting. The casual non-descript meeting was no place for such important legislation to be inserted, much less one with such divisive and historically explosive consequences in tow. The impact of Administrator Adams’ actions has been said to be definitive grounds for the administrator’s job by several county residents. The “impetus” of the ordinances, according to copies of a letter authored by Administrator Adams on June 28, 2005, came from complaints from Trenton residents about approved chicken houses being placed near Courtney Road. Edgefield Daily.com has learned the ordinances were drafted in an effort to stop businessman Rodney Cato from being able to receive a county permit once the ordinances had received a first reading. By instituting the “pending ordinance doctrine,” which was used just days later, Mr. Cato was denied his county permit. Mr. Cato would not comment on whether he is going to challenge the ordinances in the courts but did say he was not going to “walk away” from his near two year business venture in earlier interviews. Mr. Cato could not be reached for comment on this article. County Councilman Norman Dorn, the only no vote on the ordinances, said in a conversation with Edgefield Daily.com that he felt the way the zoning ordinances were inserted was improper. “It wasn’t proper and I wasn’t going to be a part of it,” he said. Councilmen have had to face sharp criticism over the initial vote. Councilmen Joel Hudson and Everett Kitchens were both put in office to curtail the over-ambitious zoning of the county. Councilman Norman Dorn has opposed zoning since 1998. However, with a vote on the record zoning the entire county Hudson and Kitchens as well as Willie Bright, find themselves telling voters it was all a mistake. That isn’t sitting well with a lot of voters. The public hearing is shaping up to be heated on both sides of the zoning issue and the actions of the administrator. One local journalist we spoke with said the public hearing looks like it is going to be very interesting. The Public Hearing will be held at the Edgefield County Council Chambers located at 225 Jeter Street, Edgefield at 6:00 pm tonight. The building is located behind the courthouse on the corner next to the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office. Return to Main Page
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