News | Tyrone

Tyrone commission works on comp plan

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 3:12pm
By: Ben Nelms

Tyrone Planning Commission several months ago began the arduous task of going through the town’s previously approved Comprehensive Plan page by page to determine what changes might be needed. Those efforts continued at the Aug. 14 work session. Making their way through little more than a dozen pages of the voluminous document, commissioners’ only differences of opinion came on topics such as density and sewer.

Though many of the issues under consideration amounted to housekeeping duties, others translated into variables involving residential development, especially in the downtown area. Among the things that could influence future density were issues such as lot sizes and sewer. Those conversations on several occasions had commissioners David Nebergall and Hugh O’Neil on opposite sides of the fence.

An example of that difference of opinion came with the discussion on a portion of the Comprehensive Plan involving Tyrone having adequate sewer capacity needed for growth. As currently written in that section, the plan states that the town will provide sewer service to the Main Street District.

Nebergall noted that a wealth of comments in recent months from residents and council members opposed to the now-defunct downtown development master plan also negated the prospect of acquiring additional sewer capacity. As previously envisioned in the plan, the downtown district would have become the setting for higher density residential and retail/office development, a form of development that would likely require sewer. Those plans began to change with the change of administrations after the November 2007 election.

“We may need sewer in the Main Street District,” Nebergall said. “Otherwise it will eventually dry up and die. I’m not saying to go get sewer, I’m just saying to leave the option open.”

In his response, O’Neil was emphatic that the Comp Plan section on additional sewer should be omitted.

“The citizens didn’t want the development,” he said. “We already covered this before.”

Town Manager Chris Venice suggested a compromise that settled the wording of the Comprehensive Plan item. Commissioners agreed to change “provide sewer to the Main Street District” to “Consider sewer to the Main Street District.”

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Tyrone's working on their Comp Plan?
Submitted by TyroneConfidential on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 9:11pm.

That’s the downtown redevelopment plan supported by Barry Amos, Michael Smola, Paul Letourneau, Sheryl Lee & David Nebergall. That’s the plan all these people passed ordinance 454 for. That’s the plan where honest people use legal condemnation procedures under the power of eminent domain to condemn property for “public use” and pay the property owners just compensation required under the 5th amendment. But Tyrone decided to use ordinance 454 to put property owners out of business. In fact Amos’ downtown overlay regulations cites as purpose #5 for downtown redevelopment, “the elimination of incompatible uses and structures”. In other words, redevelopment by the taking of private property WITHOUT just compensation. It’s called unconstitutional inverse condemnation; that’s what the lawsuit is all about! Although, neither of them understand the law, that’s the essence of the argument between Planners, David Nebergall and Hugh O’Neil. Nebergall who is the lone hold-over who voted for ordinance 454 wants redevelopment with high density and sewers, O’Neil doesn’t. Without ordinance 454, the comprehensive plan cannot be realized as Nebergall and the old council envisioned. The plan was to run businesses out of town with ordinance 454, then get developers to buy up the vacant unrented buildings for the promise of sewer and high density. They succeeded on Palmetto Road by getting Olde Town LLC to buy Harlie Deyton’s buildings, but ran into the sewer problem. Now the sewer argument is back again with Nebergall wanting sewer and not wanting to change the zoning ordinance. Nebergall must be dismissed. In the lawsuit, the town’s lawyers main defense is that the property owner didn’t go through just compensation proceedings under eminent domain. That argument is a big loser because Tyrone didn’t use the legal condemnation procedure, they used an unconstitutional method of passing ordinance 454 to take private property. The great new town manager Chris Venice is keeping sewer alive by her compromise of continuing to “consider sewer” in the comp plan. That means this current council or some future council will vote for sewer. Amos and Smola live on in the presence of Venice & Nebergall. And when it happens, the sheeple won’t know who hit them.

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