WV MetroNews
By Hoppy Kercheval on the Talkline Podcast
“The folks from Hardy County […] are concerned about a particular piece of legislation, Senate Bill 171. I’ve read the bill, and I’ve read with both sides have said about this bill, and I understand that this is important.”
[Melissa Scott, Hardy County Planner being interviewed], “This bill is marketed as a bill that will protect agriculture from zoning. There is already a bill that was passed in 2022, Senate Bill 242, which did the exact same thing. This bill is actually proposing to change the code, Chapter 7, which is the general powers of county commission. The way we read this bill is that it will protect agriculture from ordinances that the county may pass, and it will void ordinances currently in existence, but one of the keys to this bill is the definition of agricultural operations is bleeding into agricultural land — so this could mean, for Hardy County, that all of the land in Hardy County could be exempt from regulations outlined in Chapter 7. […] This would affect equitable access to county resources.”
Discussion of West Virginia Senate Bill 171 begins at 53:56.