BOARD VOTES DOWN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, AUTHORIZES REFERENDUM
Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 -- 11:10 AM
After six years in the making, an amended ?Clark County Year 2025 Comprehensive Plan? appears dead after being narrowly defeated Tuesday night. Thirteen supervisors voted in favor of adopting the ordinance, 14 voted against it. Supervisors Maryanne Olson of the Town of York and Neillsville-area supervisor Larry Fitzmaurice were absent.
In a virtual ?redo? of a December meeting that saw the plan tabled until April, the board room was packed with eighty to ninety area residents ? virtually all of them sporting ?no? tags or holding anti-plan signs.
This was not what plan supporters had hoped for when Granton-area supervisor Fritz Garbisch first floated the idea of a ?compromise amendment? a couple weeks ago. But, saying he?d received plenty of phone calls on the topic, Garbisch didn?t bring the amendment and said he now felt an advisory referendum should be held.
"I had many telephone calls of people who just wanted to express their opinions by having their right to vote. That's what this board should do: give the citizens of Clark County the right to vote on the Smart Growth comprehensive plan," Garbisch said to applause.
But Town of Dewhurst supervisor Charles Harwick successfully moved to bring the ordinance from the table and amend it with language that would delay activation of the plan until 2010 and make the ordinance ?void and unenforceable? if the state legislature rescinds Smart Growth legislation. Both motions passed on 15-12 votes.
Once on the floor, Thorp-area supervisor Elvin ?Bud? Fleming touched a nerve with the large crowd by saying signs referring to the plan as socialism were ?silly?. He said the document was ?harmless? but a necessary tool to prevent unwanted development.
"This thing is harmless. There's nothing here that could hurt anyone," Fleming said to snickers. "There's no authority in here that doesn't already exist."
It was likely the groundswell of public opposition that spelled the plan?s doom. It was only seven months ago the same board voted overwhelmingly, 10-19, to defeat a resolution that would have ?suspended? the planning process. And before last month?s county board meeting, people involved with the planning process felt comfortable they had the votes needed to adopt the ordinance.
But the idea of an advisory referendum pushed by Greenwood-area supervisor Bob Rogstad seemed to win favor with many board members.
"I don't know how anyone could vote for something that they don't understand, and there's no one on this board that understands the full implications of Smart Growth," Rogstad said.
Supervisor Nicole Strickland of the Owen area sounded another popular point amongst critics: there was no need to rush into adopting the plan.
"There's nothing stopping us from making local plans. I don't understand why we must pass Smart Growth right now as if it's our last hope -- its's simply not true," Strickland said.
But based on a more forceful recent memo from the state Department of Administration, Clark County Corporation Counsel Frank Vasquez said the county would ?likely? have to repay nearly $200,000 in grant money received from the state if the plan wasn?t adopted by the new deadline of January 20th.
Interestingly, after voting down the plan itself, the board voted overwhelmingly to still send the issue to voters. On a vote of 23-4, they authorized a referendum question that will ask voters: Should the Clark County Board of Supervisors pass an ordinance to adopt a comprehensive plan? The referendum will go to voters during the April election.
In the event the board should have a change of heart, Corporation Counsel Frank Vasquez told us this morning they could just entertain a new ordinance ? they would not have to ?rescind? their action, which would require a two-thirds majority vote. Vasquez says a new ordinance may include the same content, but must be given a different number.
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