April 30, 2010 —     Since landowners made their concerns known last fall and during a forum on Feb. 9, a committee appointed by Rowan County Fiscal Court has been working to revise Subdivision and Manufactured Housing Regulations.

    Last week, fiscal court approved first reading of the regulations at its regular meeting.

    The main change deals with families leaving land to their children.

    Committee Chairman Cecil Watkins said the committee was successful in making the proper amendments.

    “I feel really good about it,” Watkins said. “I think it is going to help the citizens in Rowan County and save them money. It will assure them they will have secure roads and they will be able to give land to their families. It is the right thing to do for the community.”

    Committee members met weekly to work on the revisions, which took a little over a month to complete. He said he felt the committee was able to address everyone’s concerns.

    “We took all the history of the subdivision regulations and we took the comments and concerns from the public and we drafted the Subdivision and Manufactured Housing Regulation Amendments,” said judge-executive Jim Nickell.

   The newly drafted document addresses the issues and concerns many landowners and farmers and developers had with the original adopted document, he said.

    “I think we addressed the main issue which was the exemptions,” Nickell said. “Many people were worried about being able to give their land to their children. As you will read in the revised document, you will see that anyone who is giving land to their immediate family is exempt from the subdivision regulations.”

    The only corrections made to the Manufactured Housing portion of the revised document were typos, he added.

    “The subdivision regulations were not meant for the private landowner anyway,” Nickell said. “They were written for the developer. The purpose was for people who are selling off lots for a profit. For example, if a person buys 90 acres and sells it off into lots, they are considered a developer. They are required to install streets, lights and other infrastructure into the subdivision they are developing.”

    Landowners, farmers and developers attended a fiscal court meeting in January and asked the court to rescind the subdivision regulations that were adopted July 15, 2008 by the Rowan County Fiscal Court and the Morehead-Rowan County-Lakeview Heights Joint Planning Commission.

    During the January meeting, Nickell declared a special called meeting for Feb. 9. The fiscal court invited the public to attend to address the issues they had about the regulations. Fiscal court members devised a plan that evening to develop a Subdivision Regulations committee. The purpose of the committee was to revise the subdivision and manufactured homes regulations.

    During a regular meeting April 20, the fiscal court conducted the first reading of the regulations.

    The fiscal court voted unanimously to approve of the amendments to the Subdivision and Manufactured Housing Regulations. Watkins and Harvey Pennington appeared before the Planning Commission to present the revisions, Nickell said.

    “The planning commission reviewed the revisions and gave their stamp of approval on the document,” Nickell said.

    The public is welcome to request a copy of the Subdivision and Manufactured Housing Amendment document, he said.

    “We will have copies available in the county judge’s office,” he said. “Anyone who has Internet access can have their copy emailed to them as well.”

    Nickell said it was important that citizens give their input whenever the fiscal court drafts regulation documents.

    “I think having a public meeting that gave people a chance to talk about their concerns,” he said. “We listened to their concerns as a court and made those changes.”

    The advertisement for the next reading for the Subdivision and Manufactured Housing Regulations will appear in The Morehead News, he said.

    “We will have the second reading at the next meeting which is May 25,” Nickell said.

    Anyone with questions concerning the amended document may call the judge’s office at 784-5151.