Guild gets Village roads Residents oppose club's plan for Foxfire ...

NEWS April 14, 2006 Seven Lakes Times Page 23
Group looks to plan for ‘Village Tomorrow’
(Continued from front page)
Lakes really wanted to move
forward in looking at land-use in
the business village in advance
of the broader small area planning
process that the county is
just now beginning.
Cook said he felt the business
village needs attention
now, while the small area planning
process is likely to take
two or more years.
Surratt told the group that
county planners would be willing
to work with Seven Lakes representatives
to develop a public
land-use planning process
focused on the areas Cook had
outlined.
Based on that process, revisions
to the county zoning ordinance
could be developed and
submitted for approval by the
county planning board, and,ultimately,
the board of commissioners.
Surratt said it is important that
the process be conducted in a
open manner, gather as much
public feedback and input as
possible. Keeping the public and
business owners in the loop as
the process moves forward
avoids creating the potential for
opposition late in the game, she
said.
“As long as you keep the
process public, and inform as
much as you can, then you make
sure everyone is one board,”
Cook agreed.
Civic Group President and
Planning Board member Dave
Village roads
(Continued from front page)
desired resolution, Cook added.
Now that the Guild owns the
roads, the next step will be to drill
test bores into the roadways in
order to determine if they meet
NCDOT standards.
If they can be shown to meet
those standards, then it should
be possible to have NCDOT
take over maintenance of the
roadways — hopefully solving the
Kinney suggested that Cook
assemble a steering committee
to guide the planning process,
drawing a majority of its members
from the Business Guild but
also including at strong representation
from residents and other
interested groups.
Kinney noted that former Business
Guild President Rick Harris
had suggested “Village Tomorrow”
as a moniker for the effort.
Hunt stressed the need to
involve all elements of the community.
“Let’s get a lot of people
under this tent,” she urged.
Cook said he would discuss the
idea with Business Guild members
during the Guild’s April
meeting and begin to assemble
subcommittees to work on the
three focus areas.
“I would hope that when the
committees are formed there
would be a combination of business
group and people from
here, so that we are all working
together on this,” Hunt said.
“Absolutely,” Cook replied.
“It’s going to take a few weeks
to get the committees formed in
place,” he added. “This is not
going to be an overnight thing.”
Other who attended the session
included, Linda Geiger,
Carolyn Follansbee, Pud Kent
Seven Lakes Landowners Association
Board member Ed Nuti,
and Seven Lakes West Landowners
Association board member
Mary Anne Fewkes.
perennial pothole problem once
and for all.
Cook said Guild members
and others have contributed to
a fund to pay for the tests.
One of the yet unresolved
question is whether the roads
must meet current NCDOT standards,
or the standards that
were in effect when the roadways
were initially built.
Morgan
Richard
for
North Carolina House
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