Controversy over the Buncombe County commissioners’ approach to Planning Board appointments continued at the commissioners’ Sept. 2 meeting. Critics questioned both the makeup of the powerful board and the lack of transparency in how the appointments are being handled.
The commissioners disqualified nine of the original 21 applicants, based on an unwritten rule requiring that all school districts be represented. Before the meeting, the commissioners interviewed six of the remaining 12 applicants for four seats on the nine-member Planning Board. The four board members up for replacement have already served a second three-year term—the maximum number allowed—without ever having been formally reappointed (see “Changing of the Guard?” Aug. 27 Xpress).
The next day, however, Clerk to the Board Kathy Hughes announced that another seat—currently held by landscape architect Jay Marino—may also become open. Activists, she said, had called attention to the fact that Marino has also been on the board since 2002. Marino’s seat represents the Asheville City District.
Meanwhile, some activists also say the board is tilted too heavily toward development interests at the expense of broader community concerns.
“Citizen groups such as the WNC Alliance, Mountain Voices Alliance and Friends of Town Mountain are advocating for a balance between development and community interests on the Planning Board,” Al Gumpert, president of the Friends of Town Mountain, said during the public-comment period before the formal meeting.
“Among the remaining 12 applicants are three or four real-estate agents, a developer, a contractor, a mortgage broker, a landscape architect and a construction executive. It would appear that the majority of the applicants, if appointed, would not bring balance to the Planning Board but would maintain the current bias toward development and have significant conflicts of interest. For example, a real-estate agent might approve a developer’s subdivision plan at a Monday Planning Board meeting and solicit that developer for a listing on Tuesday.”
Confusion about the rules governing the selection process also sparked criticism. Wondering why they’d been rejected, the disqualified applicants contacted county staff before the meeting and were told it was because they don’t live in the school districts—Erwin, Enka, Owen and Roberson—where the four members who are stepping down respectively reside. Although it’s not a written rule, the Planning Board has traditionally had one member from each of the county’s six school districts plus three at-large members.
Of the 12 remaining applicants, 11 had actually applied by district. The twelfth, Tom Alexander, was the only at-large applicant who was not disqualified. Instead, Alexander was allowed to remain under consideration for the Roberson district where he lives. Professionally, Alexander is in charge of business and development for Taylor & Murphy Construction Co. The board’s current chair, Bill Newman (one of the members being replaced), happens to be vice president of Taylor & Murphy.
“Is it just a coincidence the current Planning Board chairman works for the same company?” Gumpert asked the commissioners.
He also said he’d been unable to find any evidence of the rule about board members having to reside in certain districts. “That’s not a written policy—it’s not the county code. It seems like something you made up out of the blue,” asserted Gumpert.
“It wasn’t from out of the blue,” Commissioner David Young shot back. “When we first set up the Planning Board, that was our intent. Granted, we didn’t make it a formal policy because we wanted leeway; but by doing that we make sure, for example, that we have someone who understands the Erwin District. It seems to be good from a balance standpoint.”
The nine disqualified applicants are: former Biltmore Forest Mayor Ramona Rowe; Claudia Muse, director of the WNC Health Coalition; green builder Richard Soderquist; Dennis Michele, past president of the Asheville Civitan Club; retired builder Steve Norris; conservationist Barbara Clough; Joe Sechler, co-founder and former president of the Friends of Town Mountain; green engineer/landscape architect Tony Hauser; and attorney Stephen Lending.
If Marino’s seat is opened up, Sechler, Hauser, Lending and Soderquist would be eligible to apply for it, said Hughes. But she added that there was still some uncertainty about whether that would happen.
“The commissioners [could] decide to waive the two-term limit and allow him to continue to serve,” Hughes told Xpress. “It is their rule and they can do that. We haven’t advertised for that seat yet, but the board will probably announce that we’ll be interviewing for it soon.” The process, she admitted “is all a little confusing.”
The remaining four current members, all of whom were appointed in 2005 and are thus eligible for a second term, have indicated that they want to continue serving on the board and will most likely be reappointed by the commissioners, said Hughes. “They haven’t indicated that they want to open those seats up for interview,” she added.
The Planning Board has final approval over subdivisions and some other developments in the county. Its recommendations also carry weight on such important—and controversial—issues as rewriting development rules and interpreting them in connection with things like building on steep slopes.
The commissioners are expected to vote on the Planning Board appointments in early October.
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