ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606030057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
MONTGOMERY COUNTY supervisors did not reappoint James E. Martin, a 16-year commission veteran. He wasn't the first chairman to get the boot.
Call it the curse of the chairmanship.
James E. Martin, chairman of the Montgomery County Planning Commission for 1 1/2 years and a member for 16 years, was not reappointed to the commission Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.
Martin had applied for reappointment and says he was "somewhat surprised" but not totally shocked by the decision.
It's been a "joking matter once you take a chairman's job you'll eventually get kicked off. It looks like it's not a joke anymore," Martin said Thursday.
Martin became the third Planning Commission chairman in four years not to gain reappointment. J. Edwin Keith was not reappointed in 1992; Ray Alcorn was taken off the board in 1993 but was reappointed to the commission in 1995.
Martin "was an excellent Planning Commission member. He was always fair-minded, level-headed," Alcorn said Friday, minutes after learning Martin had not been reappointed. "He always had the the community interest at heart. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I can't believe I'm talking in the past tense."
Martin thinks political pressure may have played some role in the decision: Riner residents want a representative on the commission from the heart of their community. Also, Henry Jablonski, the supervisors' chairman, has twice won re-election - with 54 percent and 52 percent of the vote respectively - when Martin opposed him for the District D supervisor seat in 1989 and 1993.
"The principal reason Martin was not reappointed is that more representation is needed for Riner because it is such an active area. There is a lot of re-zoning going on and a new school is being planned," Jablonski said.
" In the past there have been different people from different areas, but it's been several years since anyone from Riner has been on the commission at all," he said.
While a "core" Riner resident wasn't on the commission, Martin - who lives in Vicker - said he thought he and two other planners from District D have represented Riner's interests well.
"I always looked at the Planning Commission as nonpolitical," Martin said, where members may have differing views but come together with a consensus of what is best for the county.
"When you look at the county politically, then the county is not being served to the best potential."
Martin, 53, joined the advisory board as the county began developing its first comprehensive plan - a blueprint for planned, orderly growth in the county.
"I felt good about being a part of developing that ... to kind of help guide growth in the county," he said.
Michael W. Ewing, who joined the board last year to fill an unexpired term, was reappointed to a four-year term. Don Linkous, a member of the county's Recreation Commission since 1980, also was appointed to the Planning Commission along with Kitty Brennan, a retired school teacher and Riner resident. Longtime planner Richard Sullivan did not reapply. The appointments were made after an executive session
The new members join the nine-person commission as it faces two major issues. Next week, it will vote on whether the state's attempt to take land in a county agricultural and forestal district for the "smart" highway might have a negative effect on county policy. And on June 24, the planners have a joint public hearing with the supervisors on a developer's plans for 534 homes atop Price Mountain, the dominant ridge between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
Martin abstained on the original Price Mountain vote by the planners - later ruled illegal because only four of the nine members voted to approve the plan - "because there was a good deal of information that came in after the public hearing" that he wanted to absorb.
Over the years, Martin said he has opposed requests to remove property from protected conservation zones before the eight-year period has expired and says if he had remained on the commission, he "probably would have" voted against VDOT's request.
Martin was in the middle of his second year as chairman.
"I should have got smart and quit during the first [term]," he said.
Martin said he doesn't have any hard feelings, but he's concerned that the supervisors' history of replacing chairmen might make some shy away from the post.
``It does look like that's a jinxed place to be."
Martin hints that this might not be the end of his public service in Montgomery County.
"Don't count me out - you might see me again," he said.
As a third-time opponent to Jablonski?
"It's a good possibility. ... This will give me time to step back and see where I've been and where I want to go in the future."
- Staff writer Jon Cawley contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB