Published: April 01, 2008 11:58 am      

County officials touring LaVale planning area

CUMBERLAND - The LaVale Region Plan begins the next step in the approval process today when the Allegany County commissioners tour the affected planning area.

The commissioners and Phil Hager, county planner, are scheduled to leave the County Office Complex at 8:30 a.m. and be out for up to two hours visiting LaVale, Corriganville and Ellerslie. County Administrator Vance Ishler, attorney Bill Rudd and David Eberly, community services director, also could participate.

Commissioner Jim Stakem said the tour is only one part of the educational process they figure to have. A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 15 at the county office building.

"I'm very in tune with the plan," Stakem said. "I've been educated on what's happening. I've been listening and watching and reading what's going on all along. We'll ... try to get an even better understanding of what this plan entails."

Stakem said he doesn't have a list of questions for Hager during the trip - he'll ask "whatever comes to my mind" - but he does want to get a feel for what Hager considers the more controversial parts of the plan "and why they are controversial."

"But overall the feedback I'm getting is that most people are satisfied with the plan," Stakem said. "But that's why we're having a hearing."

Both Stakem and Commissioner Bob Hutcheson noted it's unlikely the plan will make everyone happy.

"You're never going to satisfy everyone," Hutcheson said. "The Planning and Zoning (Commission) have done a fantastic job."

Stakem said it's "not remotely possible" to appease the different perspectives of stakeholders in the planning process.

"You can not make everybody happy," Stakem said. "You have people who want to overdevelop (and others) who don't want to develop at all. You have to try to find a happy medium. What you have to do is what's best for Allegany County. There's no way you're going to get 100 percent happiness on anything we do."

The Planning Commission initially approved the plan in October 2007 and forwarded the document to the county commissioners for their approval. After public outcry, however, Hager and the Planning Commission asked to reconsider the plan. Several meetings and four months later, the commission again approved the plan with a number of modifications.

The LaVale plan is the first of 12 regional plans the county intends to approve. The kickoff to the Braddock Headwaters plan, which includes Eckhart, Clarysville and Vale Summit, was two months ago. A second public meeting on that plan is scheduled for sometime in July.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.