Did Randolph County Cross the Line?
Bob Oliver, the attorney representing Randolph County’s area planning commission claims the county commissioners violated the law in imposing a moratorium on CAFO’s:
In a letter between attorneys, Oliver asked John Tanner, who represents the board of commissioners, “[by] what authority the commissioners implemented a moratorium as we find no indication that it was passed as an ordinance.”
Tanner declined to address the issue in the commissioner’s meeting on Monday, but told reporter Joy Leiker that the fact that the ban was not enacted as part of an ordinance might be an issue. Oliver claims there is legal authority holding that moratoriums related to land use are zoning issues and not proper issues to be addressed by the county commissioners.
The stakes might be getting higher: 3 CAFO applicants have been denied under the ban.
February 6th, 2008 18:58
Could the planning commssion just not approve additional CAFOs rather than say they had put a moratorium in effect?
If the issue is the terminology, then perhaps moratorium is not the proper choice of words.
February 7th, 2008 12:54
Charlotte:
The issue is that the planning commission did not impose the moratorium - the county commissioners did. Since approvals of CAFO’s do not go up to the county commissioners, they have, in effect, stuck their noses into the planning commission’s business.