Local Planning Commissions Meet



The Woodbury Planning Commission met for their regular monthly meeting at City Hall in Woodbury. Chairman James Barrett along with Dottie Duggin, Sue Patrick, Joe Hawkins and Mayor Harold Patrick were all present for the meeting.

After approving of the June Agenda and the May 2011 Minutes, Mayor Harold Patrick brought up some of the buildings that are considered eyesores in Woodbury.

 Jim Porter's building, what was once the old city hall, had fire damage. After they went to repair it, they had to get on the Pittman property next door to finish some repairs. The Pittmans, owners of the J.P.'s Fine Swine BBQ building which burned down, reportedlt wouldn't allow them to finish what they needed to do, and the side of the building facing Hwy 70 hasn't been repaired either.

Terry Haynes Plumbing Shop has had an under construction sign up in their building for a year or two. There are a couple of businesses surrounding the shop that are fixing to open up operations and have been remodeled and restored even though the shop has not been cleaned up.

An old building near the square has been boarded up and windows have been broken out. Graffiti is visibly painted on the side of the building. Mayor Patrick called one of the banks responsible for the building and was told that since the building is in foreclosure there is nothing that can be done with it.

Mayor Patrick wants to be able to force the people in charge of these buildings to fix them up. After discussion, it was decided that the matter needed to be taken to the Board Of Aldermen as the Planning Commission deals mainly with zoning ordinances.

The issue will be put on the Agenda for the July 2011 meeting of the Woodbury Mayor and Board Of Aldermen

Mayor Patrick gave an update regarding the town's planning services. The Town of Woodbury has contracted with the Upper Cumberland Development District to provide planning services to Woodbury. At this time it is uncertain as to who the new planner will be. The services are expected to be provided by the new planner starting August 1st.

Planning services have been provided by the State but as a result of cuts made by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslem, the State Planning Offices will be closed after June 30th.  Mayor Patrick and the Planning Commission thanked State Planner Charles Brown for providing his services to the town of Woodbury. Mr. Brown had been the State Planner for Woodbury since January of 2004.

The Commission had a short review and discussion regarding the five year plan for Cannon County as presented by Neal Applebaum.  Cannon County recently received their status as a Three-Star program after putting together a five-year strategic plan and a website. Every year the County Commission has to reapprove a strategic plan that covers the next five years. Mayor Patrick made the motion that the city adopts what the county adopts so that everyone can be on the same page. The motion passed.

Mike Weedlemann was at the Planning Commission meeting last month in regards to drainage problems on East High Street.  There has been lot of progress made starting with cutting down a tree that was causing some of the problems. His neighbor Clifton Murphy has been helping to solve the problem. They are working on getting a civil engineer to guide them so the problem can eventually be solved.

• State Planner Charles Brown's last planning commission meeting for the County took place Tuesday night after the Woodbury Planning Commission meeting. The Cannon County Planning Commission, which usually meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month,  moved the meeting up a week to accomodate Brown's schedule.

This was the last meeting for State Planner Charles Brown as Governor Bill Haslem cut the state office starting July 1st.  The Town of Woodbury is contracting with the Upper Cumberland Development District to provide planning services, however it is not yet determined what steps the County will take if any in future planning services.

The Cannon County Planning Commission met at the County Courthouse.  Members Carey Hutchins, Jim Mingle, Joe Sanders, David George, Thad Rains and Chairman Boyd Barker were present for the meeting.

The Planning Commission meeting started off with the election of officers for the new fiscal year. Chairman remains Boyd Barker, Vice-Chairman is Thad Raines and the Secretary is still Carey Hutchins as no changes took place.

The County Planning Commission took a moment to thank State Planner Brown for all his hard work during his tenure as County Planner.

The only other item of business the Commission needed to look into was making a recommendation to the county commissioners to adopt the five-year plan presented by Neal Applebaum. Some of the highlights on this year's strategic plan included that all commissioners and county department heads be actively using email/internet for communication within government and with the public.

Another highlight included developing walking and hiking trails at the new Stones River hiking area which will be located in the Short Mountain area.  Commissioner Thad Raines made a motion to make the recommendation, Carey Hutchins seconded the motion and the motion was approved.