Blythewood Online 691

Category: News

  • Council Crunches Final Numbers

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council put the finishing touches on its proposed $1,241,000 budget for fiscal year 2014-15, at a three-hour work session on Tuesday. Councilman Bob Massa, a CPA who works closely with the Town’s financial consultant, Kem Smith, reviewed the budget highlights for Council, explaining that the Town’s estimated revenue is expected to increase $30,000 from the FY2014 budget and expenditures are expected to decrease by $181,261 from last year’s budget.

    “Most of this decrease,” Massa said, “is a result of deferring two previous capital fund projects – the McNulty Road right-of-way purchase and the Town Center complete streets projects, for a total of $100,000 – to FY2017 and beyond.”

    Massa pointed out that while the renovation of Bojangles caused a decrease in the Town’s Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) toward the end of FY2014, the restaurant is now reopened and should bring the LOST revenue back up to last year’s level. He also explained that the Town’s business license revenue was lower by $15,000 due to decreased actual collections in FY2014. A $5,000 increase in budgeted miscellaneous revenue is also due to actual FY2014 collections.

    The Manor will have an increased revenue budget resulting from increased rental rates that began in Jan. 1, as well as a reduction in the amount of free use, Massa said. Last year much of the Manor’s expenses were paid out of the general fund. He said that is no longer the situation; therefore, budgeted expenses for the Manor will increase.

    Massa said the estimate to pave the roads in the park is $182,000. He made a note on the budget that, per Smith, “we will have approximately $177,000 left in the bank and should pave the park area in FY2015.”

    The general fund will reflect a small surplus in the FY2015 budget, but Massa explained that’s because bond payments were, in the past, paid but not budgeted. He said those payments will now be properly reflected in the budgets and the payments will be in and outs through the general fund.

    Massa forecast approximately $14,000 in encumbrances in the budget that will roll forward to FY2016.

    Code Enforcement

    There was considerable discussion about the need for better code enforcement in the town citing unpermitted construction in neighborhoods, signs and peddlers that show up on weekends in the town.

    “While I think code enforcement is an issue,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said, “I don’t want to create a full time position. When someone sees something (code violation) they should call Town Hall. That’s how you find things.”

    “We’re missing out on a lot of revenue with poor code enforcement,” Massa pointed out. “We’re losing permitting fees, business license fees, etc. when people don’t license their home businesses with Town Hall.”

    After much discussion, Council came to no specific conclusion about hiring code enforcement.

    Tree Preservation Ordinance.

    Council has been considering a new, stringent tree preservation ordinance for a year or so, and last month asked the Town’s Planner, Michael Chris, to review some examples of ways homeowners and commercial property owners would need to comply with the new ordinance. The current tree ordinance is applicable to new construction. The proposed ordinance, if passed, will apply to all commercial property owners (old and new) after a five-year period. Chris explained a proposed point system in which homeowners and commercial property owners will have to either plant trees or donate financially to a town tree fund if they do not have the required number of trees (points) on their property. First reading has been passed by Council and could come up for vote at the June 30 meeting.

    Council will vote on the proposed FY2015 budget at the June 30 meeting to be held at 7 p.m. at The Manor. No Council workshops will be held during July and August.

  • Town Fills Top Spot

    Gary Parker

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted unanimously at its monthly workshop on Tuesday to hire Gary Parker, 67, of Archdale, N.C. as the Town’s new Administrator. Parker will begin work on Monday at Town Hall.

    Parker retired as Town Manager of Sunset Beach, N.C., Dec. 31, 2013, where he had been employed for five years. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from N.C. State University in Raleigh.

    Asked what he sees as Parker’s role as the Town’s administrator, Mayor J. Michael Ross told The Voice that Parker’s strengths are budget and grant writing.

    “We are looking for both of these, and after talking to two Council members who Parker served with in the past, I think he’s the right one for our town,” Ross said. “It will take a while to find out his expertise, but we, the present Council members, are who the people elected and we’re looking for someone to administer the town. We are not looking for a visionary. We’re looking for a town administrator.”

    Ross said the 40-hour-per-week job will pay $75,000 and that Parker has already taken temporary residence in 29016 and is house shopping. Parker’s wife, Debbie, who still works for the town government in Trinity, N.C., will move to Blythewood after two more years, Ross said.

    Parker was one of four candidates selected as finalists from a field of 16 applicants for the position.

  • POA Plot Thickens

    LongCreek Residents Want Answers

    ‘Sick’ Tree May Have Been Healthy

    BLYTHEWOOD – The pot continued to boil in Blythewood’s LongCreek Plantation last week when 50 or so of the subdivision’s residents packed their Property Owners’ Association’s (POA) board of directors’ meeting on June 11 at the Columbia Country Club. Residents chastised the board, saying it had not held developer Gateway LLC to the same standards to which it holds the subdivision’s residents in regard to adherence to deed restrictions and covenants.

    In two separate purchases, Gateway acquired 10 acres and later another 1.4 acres at the southern entrance to LongCreek Plantation in the spring of 2013, where it is currently developing a new neighborhood called The Gates. On Jan. 17, the developer had the subdivision’s signature giant oak tree cut down followed by the removal of the stone entrance sign and fountain in order to make way for an entrance road into the new neighborhood. According to deed restrictions in a contract between Gateway and the property’s previous owner, Trinity Presbytery, Inc., the tree and sign were specifically protected from removal.

    POA board president Stephen Stackhouse told POA members at the Wednesday evening meeting that the issue of the deed restriction on the tree and sign removal was between the Presbyterian Church and Gateway and that the POA board could not, without liability, insert itself into third party deed restrictions. Stackhouse said South Carolina law states that a POA and its board’s powers must be explicitly granted by contract, declaration, bylaws or statute, and that the board is only authorized to enforce the provisions of the LongCreek declaration and bylaws.

    “We are not authorized to enforce any other restrictive covenants,” Stackhouse said. “That was a contract between the church and the developer.”

    While the media and those LongCreek residents who are not members of the subdivision’s POA were barred from the meeting by Stackhouse, The Voice acquired a recording of the meeting. On the recording, Stackhouse can be heard explaining that the tree in question was removed because it was “rotten to the core.” Yet, published minutes provided to The Voice of the POA board meeting on Jan. 8, stated that the tree was being regularly checked by arborists Sox and Freeman, and that it “was said to be in good health for the time being.” Nine days later the tree was cut down. No information about the tree or its fate appeared in subsequent board meeting minutes or other correspondence with homeowners.

    POA member Bernie Randolph pointed out that deed restrictions also called for the subdivision to maintain a 20-foot vegetation easement with 50 percent opacity along where the tree and sign were located and that now very little vegetation is left.

    “We, the homeowners, have to abide by the (deed restriction) rules and so should the developer,” Randolph told Stackhouse in the recording.

    Stackhouse countered that another reason the tree and signs had to be removed was because they were partially in the S.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) right of way. POA member Gene Barbrow told Stackhouse he, too, had spoken with DOT’s engineer who said that if (Gateway) had not wanted a road there, DOT had no problem with the sign and tree being there. But the engineer said “if you put the entrance road there, the sign would be in the line of sight,” indicating that it would have to be removed, Barbrow said.

    Other evidence was presented by residents that they said indicates that the developer had for at least two years planned to remove the tree and sign. The tree and sign had already been eliminated on a sketch plan submitted by the developer for a traffic study in 2011, according to documents acquired from DOT by Barbrow through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. A site plan prepared for the developer dated October 2013 also showed a road where the tree and sign were located.

    POA member Nicole Lofurno told Stackhouse that recently another POA homeowner was fined $500 by the POA board for cutting down trees.

    “This developer cuts down our signature tree and nothing happens. That’s not fair,” Lofurno said.

    While Stackhouse conceded that he didn’t really like the sign that was removed, he said, “If you don’t think I’m going to keep the developer’s feet to the fire, you don’t know squat.”

    “Besides all the problems associated with this issue, I am once again disappointed that our POA board does not keep us informed of what they plan to do,” Lofurno told The Voice. “We were blindsided that Gateway was going to remove the tree, sign and fountain. And our board seems irritated that we even want to ask questions about things like this at their meetings.”

    In an email to POA members following the meeting, Stackhouse said he did not plan to comment publicly about the article that appeared last week in The Voice.

  • Blythewood at the Ball Park

    Everyone in Blythewood is invited to attend the Columbia Blowfish/Highpoint-Thomasville HiToms baseball game at Capital City Stadium, Saturday, June 21 at 7:05 p.m. Free admission, $3 per car for parking. Gates open at 6 p.m. for pre-game activities – a Kids Catch at 6:10 p.m. (bring mitt and ball). Pick up your ticket voucher before Wednesday, June 18 at Town Hall.

  • Council Gives First OK to Incentives

    WINNSBORO – County Council Monday night unanimously passed first reading of an ordinance to authorize a fee-in-lieu of taxes agreement, infrastructure credits and other incentives to an economic development project code-named “Project Leprechaun.” According to the ordinance, the project also includes property in Fairfield County in the I-77 Corridor Industrial Park.

    Tiffany Harrison, Director of Fairfield Economic Development, said she could not comment on the project, but said only that it was a “great project for Fairfield County.”

    The I-77 Corridor Industrial Park, Harrison said, is not a physical park in itself, but a master agreement between Fairfield and Richland counties comprising various individual businesses located in several different industrial parks. Joining a multi-county industrial park agreement qualifies industries for many state tax incentives, Harrison said.

    Two other ordinances aimed at expanding the I-77 Corridor Regional Industrial Park, one to include University Residences, LLC, and another to include PTI Plastic & Rubber, Inc. also passed second reading Monday night without dissent.

    In other business, Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, told Council that the lowest bid to replace a decommissioned fire truck came in $2,177 over budget, but that administration was moving forward with the $302,177 purchase.

    “We will have to make reductions in that department to fulfill that order and replace that fire truck,” Pope said. “So we’ll be moving forward unless you have other questions about it.”

    Pope said delivery time on the truck was 8 months.

    Pope also told Council that the construction company making repairs to the retaining wall around the Drawdy Park football field had obtained its building permit from the Town of Winnsboro last week. Pope said administration was also working with Winnsboro to put into writing policies and practices regarding the inspections of County properties that sit inside the Town limits. The Town has agreed, Pope said, to defer inspections of the Drawdy Park repairs to the independent engineering firm hired by the County to oversee the project.

    Council also took some criticism during the second public comments portion of the meeting over a May 27 vote to hand over long-term strategic planning duties to the Central Midlands Council of Governments (COG).

    “We’ve had quite a few plans done over the last few years and we haven’t done anything when we got them back,” Billy Smith, a District 7 resident, said, “so what’s going to change to make us do anything to work these plans out? We’ve got the same council members. Everything else is the same, except just a different plan.”

    Councilman David Brown (District 7), who put the COG motion on the floor on May 27, responded that his motion included the use by the COG of all previous plans undertaken by the County, including the 2012 Genesis study, in formulating a current study. Pope, meanwhile, said that parts of the Genesis plan had indeed been implemented, and Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1) said that those implementations – economic development infrastructure along Peach Road – are helping to bring industry to Fairfield County.

    “I think the jobs are now starting to come because of the work that was done three or four years ago,” Perry said. “By having the COG get involved, it’s going to help us even more.”

  • N.C. Cops Nab B&E Suspect

    David Ezel Simpson

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina man wanted for a string of church break-ins in Fairfield County last month was arrested June 6 by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. David Ezel Simpson, 63, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at a home in the 5900 block of Fairmarket Place in Charlotte and is being held at the Mecklenburg County Jail where he faces extradition.

    Simpson is wanted in Fairfield County for the May 26 break-ins at Weeping Mary Baptist Church at 7109 Highway 321 N., Winnsboro, and New Independent Methodist Church at 371 Odyssey Drive, Blackstock. Simpson is also a suspect in a break-in and motor vehicle theft at Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 2508 Camp Welfare Road, Winnsboro.

    A Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputy responding to an alarm call at Weeping Mary in the pre-dawn hours of May 26 spotted Simpson fleeing the church parking lot in a 2002 Kia SUV. After a high-speed chase down Highway 321, Simpson crashed the SUV into a tree on Bull Run Road, kicked out the window on the driver’s side door and continued on foot. In spite of being tased and physically taken to the ground twice by the deputy, Simpson managed to evade capture, running into a nearby wooded area. Fairfield County’s bloodhound unit and a helicopter from the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) searched the area for hours, but with no luck.

    The Kia was traced back to a Simpson family member, investigators said, and items inside the SUV were identified as those having been stolen from Weeping Mary as well as from New Independent Methodist Church. The stolen goods – a keyboard and other miscellaneous items, worth approximately $1,100 – were returned to the churches.

    The New Independent break-in occurred some time between 1 and 3 a.m. on May 26, but was not discovered until later that afternoon. The suspect, believed to be Simpson, cut the wires to the church’s alarm system and forced his way in through the front door.

    A third incident also believed to be attributed to Simpson was discovered the following afternoon at Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church. A church member there found the church bus missing from the parking lot at 12:04 p.m. on May 27. Investigators found that the church had been broken into through the front door, and that the door to the pastor’s office had also been forced open. The only thing missing were the keys to the bus, which had been kept in a desk drawer inside the pastor’s office. The bus, worth $30,000, was found a short time later parked on the side of the road with its emergency flashers on, approximately 7 miles from the church near Highway 21 N.

    Simpson’s bond has been set at $75,000, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesperson. The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said Simpson was fighting extradition and it may take several weeks before he faces a Fairfield County judge.

  • DHEC Delays Quarry Hearing

    WINNSBORO – A tentatively scheduled July 24 public hearing on a proposed granite quarry off Rockton Thruway was officially postponed Monday, according to a letter from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, announced the delay at Monday night’s County Council meeting just minutes after residents of the Rockton area once again aired their concerns before Council during the meeting’s first public comments session.

    “This rock quarry that’s coming is not welcome,” Clarence Pauling, a resident of the nearby Middlesix community, said. “This rock quarry is going to destroy my community. Please don’t let it destroy my neighborhood.”

    Pauling said his main concern was the potential dust stirred up by the mining operation, which he said would pose a serious health risk.

    “This place is going to kill us,” Pauling said. “Even if it doesn’t get me, it will get my kids, it will get my grandkids. It will get your kids and your grandkids.”

    Billy Smith pressed Council for action, and said that if it is too late and the company is indeed on its way to Fairfield County, then perhaps Council could seek some monetary concessions from the company in order to help pay for future water infrastructure. Smith noted that the company, Winnsboro Crushed Stone, LLC, plans to control dust with water spray. With water an ongoing issue in Fairfield County, Smith suggested the company might be able to help with securing new sources.

    “What is our intent? What do we intend on doing to find out the answers to the questions that the people who live in this area are asking? They talked about the dust and they spoke about studies. Are we going to ask about that? I have heard nothing out of our Council since they asked for the public hearing,” Smith said. “Why don’t we talk to this company and try to get them to work with us and try to set aside some money – we’re looking for money right now, are we not, to go and do something about water? Are we not looking to go maybe pull water from (Lake) Monticello? Why don’t we talk to this company to see what they’re willing to offer us? Why don’t we do those types of things? Why do we sit here and do nothing constantly?”

    Pope, meanwhile, reminded the quarry opponents that the mining application process was a state and not a County process. And even with the property in question already zoned to allow for mining, Pope said that “DHEC does not even really acknowledge the local zoning in the application process.”

    “It is a state process, and I think it’s very important for everyone to know and realize that,” Pope said.

    Pope said that DHEC itself was waiting on additional information from other state agencies, which in turn could be provided to the County.

    “Things such as information from DOT (the Department of Transportation), information from the railroad and the Department of Natural Resources,” Pope said. “It is certainly not that the Council does not have any reaction to anything. I think we first need to be respectful of the process and get the information in order to know what questions to actually ask.”

    According the DHEC’s letter to the County, the July 24 hearing was being delayed to allow Winnsboro Crushed Stone time to submit their air and water permit applications for the quarry. Once those have been submitted, DHEC said, a hearing will be rescheduled. Monday night, Pope said it was his impression from DHEC that the rescheduled hearing would encompass all three permits, but David Ferguson, Council Chairman, said he was doubtful all three items could be squeezed into a single meeting.

    “Generally the length of those things is 2 hours,” Ferguson (District 5) said. “And I’m thinking if they’re going to compile all that information, and were talking about a 2-hour presentation, that’s not going to cut it. I’m a little disappointed that they’re rolling it all together. I know what DHEC is trying to do: they’re trying to get in and get out. But the fact of it is with the questions that these guys have and the questions that Council is going to have, I’m a little reluctant to think it’s going to take place in a 2-hour meeting.”

    A DHEC spokesperson told The Voice Tuesday that the public hearing would be for the mining permit application, and that “staff from our air and water programs will be available at the hearing to answer questions related to their specific permit applications and permitting processes.” Public hearings specifically for air and water may not be required, DHEC said.

    Pope said DHEC had suggested the possibility of another, less formal meeting that would open the floor for dialogue between Rockton residents, the Council, DHEC and Winnsboro Crushed Stone. But DHEC said Tuesday that no additional community meetings have been planned at present.

    “Our program areas will be meeting soon to determine our next community involvement steps,” DHEC said.

    Pope also suggested that Council take a road trip to Chesterfield County to tour the Buckhorn quarry, which is owned by many of the same interests as Winnsboro Crushed Stone. Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said Council should also take a look at the quarry in Blair, owned by Vulcan Materials.

    “The whole thing is about what we instructed Mr. Pope to do, to get as much information as we can possibly get from studies, make sure we get all the studies done that can be done so that once we take this argument to DHEC we have all the information that we need to have and all these questions are answered,” Ferguson said. “That’s whose job it is. That’s who the state has put in charge of mining. There are a lot of hoops that they have to jump through and we have to make sure that they jump through them. The council’s going to see that all the questions are answered. That’s all we can do, but I promise you that’s exactly what we will do.”

  • A ‘Heady’ View

    You Can See for Miles and Miles –
    The view from Blue Ridge Escarpment at Caesars Head.

    Up in northern Greenville County, you’ll find one of the Blue Ridge Escarpment’s more prominent landmarks, Caesars Head. Some believe this rock outcropping resembles the Roman Emperor, Caesar, thus its name, though some believe the landmark took its name from an early pioneer’s dog. Regardless of its origin, Caesars Head surveys a kingdom of stunning views, and the landmark’s name gives Caesars Head State Park its identify as well.

    Caesars Head, composed of durable granitic gneiss more than 400 million years old, connects to Jones Gap State Park in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, an 11,000-acre area of pristine southern mountain forest. Driving through the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area you’ll encounter curves aplenty and scenic overlooks. Highway 276, a road favored by mountain lovers, delights travelers between Brevard, N.C., and Pumpkintown. Its hairpin turns and steep grades challenge drivers who motor up 3,208 feet to Caesars Head State Park. Come autumn colors pull hard at leaf worshipers and Highway 276 sees its share of fall foliage and sightseers.

    Atop Caesars Head you stand upon the Blue Ridge Escarpment 3,266 feet above sea level. From here you can see Georgia and North Carolina. The panoramic view includes Paris Mountain near Greenville. In the fall people come to watch hawks wheeling and spiraling — a process called “kettling” — as they migrate to Central and South America for the winter. You, too, can migrate from here. Day hike to one of eastern United State’s highest and beautiful falls: Raven Cliff Falls, near Caesar’s Head, plummeting some 420 feet. Brave? Cross its swinging footbridge Indiana Jones style. Shaky-step your way across and brag about it later.

    A drive up to Caesars Head and its namesake park never disappoints. There’s much to do: bird watching, especially autumn’s hawks, camping, fishing, and waterfalls to see. Keep an eye out for black bear. Make the trip in autumn and you can see fall color aplenty. Make the drive in summer and enjoy the cooler air. It’s a good place to be active. Over 50 miles of hiking trails will test your legs. Primitive camping is available here too. Pack a picnic basket and enjoy eating at one of the picnic tables and shelters. Be sure to make the tight descent through cracked rock walls known as the “Devil’s Kitchen.”

    Be sure to put the Visitor Center on your schedule. It houses exhibits of area attractions, a relief map of the Mountain Bridge trail system, hawk displays and gift and souvenir items. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily during daylight saving time. It’s closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

    If You Go …

    Caesars Head State Park

    8155 Greer Highway

    Cleveland, S.C. 29635

    864-836-6115

    128 miles, a 2 hour and 20 minute drive.

    • From Greenville: Take Hwy. 276 W. for about 30 mi. Park is located at the top of the mountain right off the Hwy.

    • Open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during daylight savings time.

    • Free Admission

    www.southcarolinaparks.com/caesarshead/introduction.aspx

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a Southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.

  • Ridgeway Hosts Ag+Art Preview

    RIDGEWAY – The Town of Ridgeway will host a preview on Tuesday, June 17 of what to expect on June 21 and 22 when Fairfield County participates for the first time in the annual Ag & Art Tour that began in York County in 2012 and now includes Chester, Lancaster and Fairfield. Not to be confused with the tour itself, Tuesday’s Kickoff will take place on the lawn of the Century House in Ridgeway from 5-8 p.m. and will feature a sampling of the seven Fairfield County farm sites that will provide venues along the tour route later in the month.

    While the Kickoff is free, barbecue tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce office or at the Cotton Yard Market in Ridgeway. There will be two free music venues and several artists whose work will be displayed on the street.

    The Ag & Art Tour is designed to get visitors and residents off the main roads and to experience the agricultural and artistic endeavors of folks throughout these counties.

    “It will be a wonderful weekend of fun for the whole family,” said Denise Jones, Chairwoman of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, who is helping organize the tour. “The tours are self-guided so that visitors can follow their map and travel to visit the various farmers and artisan venues to view everything from quilt making and gardening to animal care, arts, crafts, food preparation and more. It’s the only tour of its kind in the state that combines agriculture, the arts and tourism.”

    And the venues are not just show-and-tell. Most will have their products for sale.

    The first Ag + Art Tour in York County attracted 3,000 visitors. When it expanded in 2013 to include Lancaster County it attracted 6,000 visitors.

    “It’s been a huge success,” Jones said. “And we think the number of visitors could double again this year with the addition of Fairfield and Chester counties.”

    While the four counties are working together through the Olde English Tourism Commission and Clemson Extension Service, each county plans its own tour.

    “This combining of agriculture and art is very natural,” Jones said, “and I think folks on the tour will really enjoy this authentic experience.

    “And to get a sneak peak at what the Tour is all about,” Jones added, “plan to attend the Kickoff next Tuesday in Ridgeway. I think everyone will really enjoy it.”

    For additional information, go to AgandArtTour.com.

  • BZA Elects New Chair

    Sabra Mazcyk

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Board of Zoning Appeals elected a new chairwoman on Monday evening. Vice Chairwoman Sabra Mazcyk was elected unanimously to fill the seat left vacant by former Chairman Bob Massa who gave up his seat on the board when he was elected to Town Council last November. Longtime board member Pat Littlejohn was elected Vice Chairman.

    The Board then heard a request by subdivision owners DR Horton and Crown Builders for a special exception regarding a decorative wall they want to build at the entrance to Holly Bluff subdivision. The subdivision is located on Blythewood Road near the intersection with Fulmer Road.

    Landscape designer Richard Soltice, acting as agent for the owners, explained that in an effort to add a pleasing entrance to the subdivision, his design company, Saluda Hill, had included a 30-inch tall stone and brick wall that would encroach about 8 feet into a lot at the entrance to the subdivision. Soltice explained that no one had yet purchased the lot, so there was no objection to the wall from any property owner. He said those who purchase front end lots such as this one are frequently happy to have esthetically pleasing landscaped structures such as this wall adjoining their properties. After some discussion and no objections from neighboring properties, the Board voted unanimously to grant the special exception.

    The Town’s Planning and Zoning consultant, Michael Criss, announced that the Board would most likely be called to convene again on July 14. While the Board only meets when an issue is brought before it, Criss said he expected another application to be filed prior to the mid-July date. The BZA is a quasi-judicial board whose rulings are appealed to the Circuit Court.