The result is increased chaos in the Jefferson County Planning Department. This could not have come at a worse time. In less than five weeks residents will commence early voting on zoning for the county, the question: Should they keep the old ordinance, which has now been thrown out by the Supreme Court, or adopt a new ordinance.

Confused? You are not the only one.

In a late Friday evening email to county commissioners and staff, Jennifer M. Brockman, the director of the Jefferson County Planning Department wrote “We have asked legal for input ASAP as to whether this [supreme court decision] takes effect immediately. As soon as we know the answer to this, we will change the website [county] links and make sure that we have the correct version available for public review and comparison to the proposed ordinance.” She added that public education “information related to the ‘existing’ ordinance may change based on which ordinance is actually in effect at this time.”

The key and most controversial change contained in the 2005 amendment to the zoning ordinance reduced the development density allowable in the rural areas. The amendment reduced the density from one house every ten acres to one every fifteen acres.

The case was between the Jefferson County Commission, represented by James Casimiro, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, and a group of land owners and developers represented by Peter and Alice Chekmakian. 

 To see the case click here http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/fall09/34583.htm

TIMELINE TO CHAOS

In the last four years we have had six different zoning ordinances in Jefferson County, and in a few weeks there could be a seventh:

7 April  2005, ‘Old ordinance’

8 April  2005, Amended ordinance (county commission change)

26 Feb 2008, ‘Old ordinance’ (following Judge Steptoe decision)

2 Oct  2008 , ‘New ordinance’ (county commission change)

8 Jan 2009, ‘Old ordinance’ (following petition drive)

24 Sep 2009, ‘Amended ordinance’ (following supreme court decision)

7 Nov 2009, ‘New ordinance’ or ‘amended ordinance’ (following referendum)

For a look at the decision go to http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/fall09/34583.htm

This decision follows the firing of County Administrator Leslie Smith on September 24 by three of the county commissioners (Surkamp, Morgan and Widymyer). Smith is on administrative leave till October 24.

The meeting will be held at 1:00 pm September 29th, 2009 to occur at the Old Charles Town Library Meeting Room 200 East Washington Street, Charles Town.

In an August ruling, Circuit Court Judge David Sanders declared that the names of Jefferson County zoning referendum petitioners should be kept secret and not made open to the public as requested by The Observer through a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request.

Sanders said that the list of petition names was never a public document. It was prepared by a private citizen group and was therefore not subject to West Virginia Freedom of Information laws.

Lawyer Stephen Skinner, who represented The Observer, had repeatedly argued that the list containing the petition names is a public document because of its very nature as a public petition. In addition, he has argued, the lists are public because the Jefferson County Clerk’s office created its own version of the petition during the verification process by creating lists of non-valid names, which were then submitted to private citizens in the county. Skinner also argued that the petition forms with people’s names and addresses were left in public places during the petition drive and therefore were available for public inspection.

According to  local media reports, petition organizer Ronda Lehman said: “It’s a great win for the people. And in the future in Jefferson County, people will feel safe that they can voice their opinion without fear of retaliation.”

The referendum on Jefferson County’s new zoning ordinance is scheduled to be held on November 7 2009. For a look at the new ordinance go the county website: http://www.jeffersoncountywv.org/Planning%20and%20Zoning.html .

The Observer plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of West Virginia.