The nine-member Subdivision Review Board (SRB), representing fields of expertise ranging from highway access to septic suitability, was organized to satisfy a provision in the recently amended Moore County subdivision ordinance.
Members elected county Public Utilities Director Dennis Brobst as chairman and county Emergency Services Director Steadman Meares as vice chairman. Teresa Cummings, administrative assistant in the Moore County Planning Department, was named recording secretary.
Brobst has experience with a similar type of technical review procedure from his previous employment in Maryland. Meares nominated Brobst.
“We want to make it user friendly but make sure it complies with the subdivision ordinance,” said County Planning Director Richard B. Smith in introducing the board to its new duties.
Each member brings to the table expertise in a field that may be related to the development of new subdivisions.
James Shackleton, an environmental health specialist with the Health Department, will address health concerns, primarily those related to soil suitability for septic systems.
Joe Clendenin, district engineer, N.C. Department of Transportation, will represent that agency on the board but was unable to attend the Tuesday meeting.
Substituting for Clendenin were Marcus Jones, assistant district engineer, and Sarah G. Foster, county maintenance engineer. Jones said the DOT representative would check such things as highway access.
Tony Patnode, county director of community development, administers development of two water districts. He is also responsible for applications for such programs as Community Development Block Grants. His agency is now a part of the Planning Department, and Patnode is one of two board members representing that department.
“He’ll make sure we don’t get the cart before the horse,” Smith said in explaining Patnode’s responsibility.
Brobst, on the other hand, administers water and sewer services for the county. Once the water districts are in operation, they will become his responsibility.
John Hawthorne, director of planning and construction for the Moore County Schools, will study such aspects of subdivision plans as proximity to existing and future schools.
Meares will make sure that roads and driveways provide adequate access for emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, ambulances and police cars.
Fred Whitesell, licensed as both an engineer and a surveyor, is one of two appointees by the county commissioners. He is retired as DOT division engineer.
SRB rules and procedures call for the commissioners to make two appointments to the SRB, one of whom must be a licensed surveyor. They are also to appoint an alternate surveyor, who will serve as a substitute if the regular appointee cannot attend a meeting or has a conflict of interest.
At their Sept. 2 meeting, the commissioners appointed Whitesell as their surveyor member and named Aaron McNeill as the alternate surveyor. They deferred action on the other appointment.
Smith, as county planning director, will be responsible for administrative details and is to make sure the board is complying with provisions of the ordinance. He opened the meeting and presided until Brobst was elected chairman.
Board members briefly discussed their duties before adjourning. Because no subdivision plats have been received in time for the Sept. 23 meeting, the board will not convene again until Oct. 7.
Their schedule calls for meetings to be held every two weeks on a Tuesday at 3 p.m. in the planning department conference room in Carthage, unless other arrangements are needed.
In August, the Moore County Board of Commissioners adopted amendments to the subdivision and zoning ordinances. Among the changes is implementation of a review board to examine technical aspects of subdivision proposals before approving preliminary plats. In adopting the amended ordinances, the commissioners lifted a moratorium on new subdivisions that had been in place since February.
The amendments were ordered as a means of closing loopholes and bringing the county ordinances into compliance with state law.
