Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992 TAG: 9202190333
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
FRANKLIN ORDERS MAPS TO ZONE WHOLE COUNTY
Franklin County supervisors took the first step Tuesday to countywide zoning.Boone Supervisor Homer Murray said it was time to correct a "hodgepodge" arrangement that has left more than half the county without zoning protection.
"I say let's give every citizen of the county the same protection," Murray said.
The Board of Supervisors voted 6-1 to direct the county staff to draw up zoning maps for three voting districts without land-use protection.
Blue Ridge Supervisor Hubert Quinn, the one member who objected, referred to a "gentlemen's agreement" in which a past Board of Supervisors agreed to impose zoning only in districts whose representative wanted it.
"There's four on the board who were gentlemen then, and I hope you will be gentlemen now," said Quinn, who campaigned on an anti-zoning platform last fall.
But Murray said the agreement - which originated in the 1984-1988 term of the board - was no longer in effect.
"The last election eliminated that," he said.
In 1988, the county enacted a zoning ordinance that exempted the county's southern tier, made up of the Blue Ridge, Snow Creek and Blackwater districts.
All bets were off last fall when pro-zoning candidate Page Matherly captured the Snow Creek seat.
Countywide zoning will not happen overnight. It could take many months for the county staff to draw the zoning maps and complete other projects it has been assigned.
In other action Tuesday, the board hastily canceled a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that would have made it illegal to carry loaded rifles in vehicles.
Gills Creek Supervisor Charles Ellis, who was pushing such an ordinance, said he decided to withdraw the hearing after talking with state game wardens.
Ellis said the wardens told him the proposed ordinance would be difficult to enforce and contained a definition of "loaded" that was too specific.
Ellis said he concluded that it would be better to wait for a statewide law rather than pass a local ordinance. He said a petition drive by gun-control opponents had nothing to do with his decision.
In another matter, the board voted 4-3 to accept a $71,665 bid from Orbacom Systems Inc. of Cinnaminson, N.J., for the console in the new E-911 communications center.
Sheriff W.Q. "Quint" Overton had recommended going with a $81,672 bid from Motorola Communications and Electronics Inc. because the company had provided good products and service in the past.
"I know what I got now and I've got to stand by it," Overton said.
But a majority of the board members said there was no justification for paying $10,000 to accept the high bid.