By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
Public input on the county’s land-use study could cause changes in the current draft.
The Land Use Steering Committee is set to meet Thursday for what could be its final session.
During a meeting Monday night, a member of the Rowan County Planning Board criticized members of the land-use committee.
Mac Butner, vice chairman of the Planning Board, said some committee members have “a bit of a cavalier attitude.”
Some members of the land-use group have directed critical comments at the Planning Board and Board of Commissioners.
Butner suggested the committee should show more respect for the Board of Commissioners, which appointed them, as well as the Planning Board.
Butner also questioned the timing of the process, saying land-use planning is competing with the summer months when people are on vacation. “There’s not many people focused on land use,” he said, adding that survey results won’t accurately reflect public opinion.
County Planning Director Ed Muire said the Planning Board will get the land-use study in August and may have a subcommittee review the various sections.
The Land Use Steering Committee meets at 7 p.m. Thursday to consider the input from workshops at West Rowan and South Rowan high schools and from surveys filled out online.
On several key issues, people who filled out the surveys online had a markedly different view than those attending the workshops.
For example, a proposal to promote and expand a voluntary agricultural district program drew overwhelming support from the 47 people who attended the workshops. Of those weighing in online, 88 percent objected.
Online respondents also opposed several of the farmland-related proposals, with 92 percent objecting to the idea of establishing a county-supported position to implement farmland recommendations. At the workshops, more than 70 percent supported the recommendations.
If a second meeting is necessary, the land-use committee will most likely meet again Aug. 7.
The meeting on Thursday takes place at the J. Newton Cohen Administration Building, 130 W. Innes St.