Besides an apparent lack of public desire, there’s an even bigger reason Oktibbeha County supervisors are unlikely to enact zoning regulations suggested by a pending comprehensive plan: any such new rules could shift the electorate in 2015’s election, thereby oust incumbents who are expected to have tight races.
Supervisors have used every opportunity to downplay the potential for such rules in the past year as the Oxford-based firm Slaughter and Associates prepared a rough draft of Oktibbeha County’s upcoming comprehensive plan. The document outlines basic land uses in terms of expected growth and development, and is the foundation for legal action to establish zoning conditions.
But supervisors will fall well short of pushing for such legislation as few constituents have made public calls for a zoning ordinance. In the past year, only one public comment urging their development emerged in regular board meetings or special hearings on comprehensive planning efforts.
Forcing zoning requirements, which some supervisors have called a possible over-extension of government, without significant public calls to do so is sure to energize the local electorate after a polarized 2011 election in which the board took heat for increasing taxes and an OCH Regional Medical Center bond.
Former District 1 Supervisor Carl Clardy and former District 5 Supervisor John Young were both ousted from their seats in the last election. Clardy was replaced by John Montgomery after losing his race by 87 votes, while Joe Williams defeated Young by 50 votes in the Democratic Primary.
Williams did not face a Republican challenger in the 2011 General Election.
After securing his spot on the board in 2007, District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard barely held on to his seat four years later as he staved off an upset to Republican Dennis Daniels. Howard prevailed by only three votes.
Both Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Daniel Jackson have publicly diffused any board speculation for implementing a zoning ordinance this year whenever the topic has emerged from either supervisors or the public.
Howard, who is an African-American representative of a mostly Caucasian district, is unlikely to call for any zoning requirements because of how close his election could be and due to the Montgomery-Jackson coalition. Neither Williams nor Board President Orlando Trainer, the board’s longest-serving supervisor, have pressed for such a resolution.
While supervisors declined this week to comment directly on the record about how imposing such an ordinance would impact their respective elections, one did describe the implications as “a death sentence” for his continued political ambitions of for any new candidates who choose to run on the platform.
It was Jackson who handled the one public commenter Monday calling for zoning ordinances by saying, “All the time, I see how people get agitated about zoning issues in the city. I’m sorry you’re disappointed, but we can’t please everyone.”
“I’ve always been cautious of zoning because it leads to, in my opinion, too much governmental control over the taxpayer, and that’s who I’m here to protect. Not that there shouldn’t be a framework or standards for growth, but when you start talking zoning, it becomes a dangerous tool,” Montgomery said Wednesday. “Overwhelmingly, people are against too much regulation in the county. That freedom is why they live out there.”
Although his clients are unlikely to move forward with the rules, Mike Slaughter, the comprehensive plan’s author, advocated for such controls Monday if supervisors are serious about controlling future land uses as the county continues developing.
“There’s a better way to think about it than, ‘People live in the county because they don’t want to be told what they can do with their land.’ (Without true land-controlling policies), their neighbors can do whatever they want to, and they can’t stop them,” he said after Monday’s meeting. “Any public entity, whether that is a city or county, that wants to control land uses in Mississippi can only do so by adopting a zoning ordinance. There are no teeth or legal enforcement associated with just a comprehensive plan.”
Supervisors held a legally required public hearing on the comprehensive plan Tuesday but did not take any formal action on the matter. The board is expected to wait at least a month before approving it in order to receive more public input.
Officials will soon publish a version to the county’s website — www.oktibbehacountyms.org – for public inspection, and hard copies will be available at the board’s administrative offices within the Oktibbeha County Courthouse Annex.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.