Monday, March 7, 2011

Questions on the historic district?

Maybe I can help, maybe not. I emailed Katie Ross with a few questions on what could happen after the public hearing that's coming up on March 19th. Since there may be others with these same questions, I figured I'd share a couple things with the good folks of Waxhaw that I learned from the good folks of Waxhaw.

* After the public hearing, the town commissioners can essentially approve any possible iteration of a historic district as long as it does not extend outside the original historic district proposal. In other words, they can approve the original proposal, they can approve the significantly scaled down Planning Board-recommended plan, anything in between or as long as it stays within the original proposal. As long as the board approves something that doesn't breach the boundaries of the original proposal, they can approve it; the Planning Board's role is purely advisory.

* The mayor and all town commissioners (read Daune Gardner, Joyce Blythe, Martin Lane, Brett Diller, Erin Kirkpatrick, and Phillip Gregory) are scheduled to attend the public hearing.

* The decision makers (read the aforementioned commissioners) will likely wait to make their decision at the regular board meeting on April 12th. But here's Katie's full response on this question since it's quite informative:
"The Board of Commissioners have a policy to vote on small zoning matters the same day/night as the public hearing and vote on large zoning matters at their next regular meeting. Since the Board meets twice a month, that typically means 2 weeks. However, because the public hearing is on Saturday, March 19 their next regular meeting is 3 days later on Tuesday, March 22. While I do not wish to speak for the Board, I am fairly confident that they will not vote on the boundary until their April 12 regular meeting."
I'm waiting for confirmation that this is in fact the case. It ultimately in the board's hands as to when they plan to vote. If you have any interest in influencing this date, I recommend emailing those responsible:
mayor@waxhaw.com
mlane@waxhaw.com
jblythe@waxhaw.com
bdiller@waxhaw.com
ekirkpatrick@waxhaw.com
pgregory@waxhaw.com

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