By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
Faced with a pile of good applicants for the Rowan County Planning Board, county commissioners are ready to expand the board.
The move to expand the board comes a year after the Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted to shrink the board from 11 members to nine.
Officials said the smaller board would be more efficient and generate better discussion.But the revamped board evokes little discussion and routinely gives all applications a unanimous favorable recommendation.The three commissioners who pushed to shrink the board, Chairman Arnold Chamberlain, Vice Chairman Chad Mitchell and Jon Barber, have now changed their minds.
Monday evening, Mitchell made the motion to add a public hearing to the commissioners’ Feb. 18 meeting agenda to change the Planning Board makeup to 11 members. The motion passed unanimously.
Expanding the board will create four seats to be filled.
“We now have 24 applications for the Planning Board. … Some are very good applicants,” Chamberlain said. He noted that some of the applicants are willing to serve on other boards, including the County Zoning Board of Adjustments.
Two late additions to the list of applicants include Ann Furr and Greg Edds, both former members of the Planning Board.
Commissioners delayed making the appointments until after the Feb. 18 hearing.Commissioners did make several appointments to other boards. These include:- Juvenile Crime Prevention Council ó John Cowan and John Spidell for two-year terms.- Senior Services Advisory Council ó Mike Browning, three-year term.- Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee ó Eldred Wilson and Kate Petherick, three-year terms.- Nursing Home Advisory Committee ó Lena Sellers-Crook, three-year term, and Richard Sorensen, one-year term.
– Historic Landmarks Commission ó Butch Bivens, Carl J. Peters, three-year terms; agreed Rose LaCasse will continue serving until a new applicant is appointed.
– Cabarrus-Rowan Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization ó Ed Muire, planning and development director to serve as county representative; Shane Stewart, senior planner, will be the alternate.
– Airport Technical Advisory Committee ó Chamberlain announced that Mitchell will replace him on the committee. Chamberlain noted that his term ends in December and the airport project is a multi-year venture that needs a longer-term commitment.