Moorefield Examiner: Guest Editorial
By Neil Gillies, Barry Conaty, and Toni Harvey.
Crossposted on Medium.
Last year, hundreds of Hardy County residents turned out to oppose the permitting and installation of an industrial log fumigation facility on property zoned agricultural, adjacent to homes and sensitive ecosystems. If certain West Virginia legislators have their way, however, they will silence our community from having ANY voice in such important local matters in the future. Some background:
For over a century, local control over land use planning and zoning has been an essential “home rule” function of local government. County and municipal planning and zoning programs prevent incompatible land uses (like factories being constructed in residential areas), protect property values, protect open spaces, and protect family farms and neighborhoods. Authorized by legislatures throughout the United States, including West Virginia, such programs allow residents, through their elected local officials, to determine how best to distribute, balance, and protect residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, recreational, educational, public, historic, conservation, and transportation and infrastructure land uses throughout the community.
