Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 15:46:15 -0500
From: John Graybeal
Subject: Mike Cross Was The Only Democrat to Vote Against Zoning
With all due respect to Larry Hicks, his recent post is an astonishing collection of factual errors except when he says incumbent Commissioner Mike Cross voted against County-wide zoning in November 2015. But, contrary to his other statements, this November 2015 vote was the only one directly involving zoning.
The issue at the December 2015 meeting was not whether to approve zoning. That approval action had already been taken at the November meeting with Mike Cross opposed. The December vote related to the lot sizes that would be established. Mike Cross voted for R1/R5 lot sizes knowing that his opposition to zoning in November had already failed. Contrary to Larry Hicks, this December action was not the vote that counted.
And, also contrary to Larry Hicks, the December 2014 vote did not involve zoning at all. The motion then was to direct the Planning Department to initiate public discussion/community meetings. Quote unquote.
And, finally, contrary to Larry Hicks, Commissioners Crawford, Hales and Howard did not vote against zoning at the February 2015 meeting. That vote also had nothing to do with zoning but involved whether public meetings were to go forward. The motion was that the regional meetings be postponed. Again, quote unquote.
These facts do not require any teasing out of the truth, as Hicks puts it. The Board minutes for all of these votes are very clear. The sad and unfortunate fact is that Mike Cross has been the only Democrat on the Board to vote against zoning. Commissioners Crawford, Hales and Howard have consistently favored it. And Mike Dasher, the Democrat opposing Mike Cross this year, has clearly stated his support for County-wide zoning.