At the outset of the discussion on the Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commissioner’s 2010-2014 Strategic Plan during Tuesday’s Vance County Board of Commissioners’ work session, County Manager Jerry Ayscue noted that there are two parts of the plan that have not yet been approved by the EDC.
Ayscue told commissioners that those parts would be available for review by the board before its regular May meeting.
The city approved the plan without discussion on March 8, 2010 during its last regular meeting.
Member Dan Brummitt questioned the fact that the document is marked “draft”. He said that he thought that the EDC wanted commission input, and that he did not think that citizens would like for the commission to pass something and then decide what’s in it. He said it was not something the commission could support in a draft state.
Commissioner Terry Garrison, who serves on the EDC board, said that the EDC has approved the document and doesn’t intend to change it.
Commission chair Danny Wright stated that he was ready to approve the plan in its present form and had no concerns about what would be presented later.
Regarding legal implications of the naming of local businesses and individuals in Appendix C of the plan, County Attorney Jonathan Care said that he agreed with the chairman of the EDC (local businessman Sam Watkins) that the list was part of comments received from surveys sent out and did not see how they were a statement to be adopted or approved by the board or any other government.
Care cautioned the board on the EDC’s desire to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. He said that the proposed change would take authority away from the county commission and make it a funding entity only.
Commissioner Scott Hughes criticized the plan for containing what he characterized as opinions. He specifically objected to a comment on page 60 of the plan that refers to the Henderson Police Chief and Vance County Sheriff “bickering”. Member Deborah Brown concurred specifically regarding Appendices B & C that contain the survey results. She said that those results should be referenced, but not part of the actual document. Brown said that the document should mention that the survey results can be obtained at the EDC office.
Members agreed that the plan should end on page 48, with only Appendix A to be included of the three appendices originally presented.
Brummitt then listed a large number of concerns with the plan, including:
Brummitt was consistently critical of the way county-wide zoning is touted in the plan.
The issue of the EDC’s favorable stance regarding county-wide zoning in the document caused the most acrimony. While Danny Wright and Garrison supported the inclusion of language in the plan that supports county-wide zoning, Brummitt argued that zoning as an objective would be more suited to a fifteen- or 20-year plan.
He characterized the inclusion of zoning in the plan as “wasted energy”.
Brummitt argued that zoning is a tool to slow and control growth, not stimulate it. He cited Timmy Baynes, director of the Kerr-Tar Council of Governments as the source of his claim.
Danny Wright was adamant that he would not support a request to the EDC to eliminate a discussion of issues related to zoning from the document.
“I’m not going to stifle what they see as a problem,” Danny Wright said.
The board chair asked Ayscue to create a red-line copy for the board to use to review its suggested changes. It is expected that the revised document will be available this coming Monday.