Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 7, 1992 TAG: 9201070170
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
ZONING PIONEER PLANNING TO DO LESS
Asked in 1985 what he thought of zoning, Doug Maynard had a few choice phrases."I hate it, I despise it and I don't want anything to do with it," Maynard told his representative on the Bedford County Board of Supervisors.
The supervisor, who was hoping to appoint Maynard to the county Planning Commission, urged him to keep an "open mind" on the question of zoning - something Bedford County didn't have at the time - and appointed Maynard despite his adamant first reaction.
Six years later, Maynard is in his second term on the Planning Commission and has been chairman for five years - some of the busiest years the Planning Commission has had.
Most notably during Maynard's tenure, the commissioners wrote and started administering a zoning law.
Last week, Maynard said he will not accept another term as chairman when one is picked this month. In addition, he said, he does not plan to seek reappointment to the commission when his term expires in two years.
For a guy who once hated the very thought of zoning, Maynard may be most remembered for bringing it to Bedford. Maynard, a 43-year-old Thaxton resident and West Virginia native, remembers his first year on the Planning Commission as a "definite learning experience."
The commission was a lot different then. It made no budget request, wrote no annual report and followed only a skeleton of bylaws. Members sometimes went three months without meeting. And without a zoning ordinance, the commission dealt with little else than requests for variances to rules governing building practices.
Even then, though, discussions about how a person could use his or her land often got emotional, Maynard discovered early.
During his first year, a group of subdivision residents - including a judge, the judge's wife and several state troopers - packed into one of the commission's meetings in the courthouse basement.
"I'll never forget it as long as I live," Maynard said.
The crowd wanted the Planning Commission to tell a landowner in the subdivision that he could not use the subdivision road near his land for a development, despite the fact that he owned part of the roadway, Maynard remembered.
Maynard made the motion to turn down the crowd's request. "No government agency . . . can tell a man he can't use his land," Maynard said.
The rest of the commission agreed with Maynard, but he figured out then that his role on the board might not always make him popular.
Within a year of his appointment to the commission, Maynard was head of it. Another commissioner had been elected chairman - but promptly turned it down and nominated Maynard.
"The next thing you know, I was the stinking chairman," Maynard said.
Maynard didn't even know Robert's Rules of Order at the time.
"I was scared," he said.
You wouldn't know it to see Maynard heading the commission these days.
He took statewide courses on planning, read parts of the state code that relate to development and, of course, figured out the rules of order. Maynard also became the first Bedford County commissioner to serve on the board of directors for the Virginia Citizens' Planning Association.
"He doesn't do anything halfway," said county planner John Dooley. "If there's something he doesn't know about, he goes all out to learn it."
The Planning Commission and its role in Bedford County have changed during Maynard's time as chairman.
It now has detailed bylaws, annual reports to the Board of Supervisors and budgets.
During his tenure, the commission has developed ordinances on mobile-home parks, tall structures, noise; an updated comprehensive plan; and zoning. The commission is working on creating a capital improvements program.
"He's definitely seen the Planning Commission through some extremely active times," County Administrator William Rolfe said. "You probably wouldn't find many planning commissions that have been as active."
But active times have meant more meetings.
That was one factor in Maynard's decision to leave the board at the end of his term in 1993.
The commission meets regularly three times a month. Then there are the special meetings and hearings, plus phone calls and visits.
"I'm just meetinged out," Maynard said. "Meeting after meeting after meeting."
Without the Planning Commission, Maynard - an investigator in the public defender's offices in Bedford and Roanoke - said he plans to spend more time doing what he likes. "I'll enjoy much more farming and my wood shop and I might even be able to see what's on Tuesday night TV," he said.
Maynard has not ruled out getting involved in Bedford County government again sometime.
A factor that was not an issue in his decision to leave the commission, Maynard said, was the public criticism he has faced, particularly over the controversial topic of zoning.
Being chairman of that board during the adoption of a zoning ordinance meant that Maynard often took the brunt of its opponents' ire. He viewed that as part of the job.
Some people despised the concept of zoning altogether; others complained that the non-traditional ordinance was too subjective, too confusing or too unpredictable.
What those loud opponents probably never knew was that Maynard had once hated zoning, too.
That hatred vanished in his first year on the commission.
That year, an ethanol plant wanted to move to Montvale, and the planning commissioners, with no zoning ordinance, realized they had no way to stop it.
"I slowly but surely saw the error of my ways," he said. "You realize it after you see the problems of unregulated development."
Bedford's zoning ordinance, which looks at each development project individually and allows neighbors to participate in the outcome, is not perfect, Maynard admitted.
"But the next perfect ordinance will be the first perfect ordinance," Maynard said. "Zoning is needed."