Petition update

Pack Blue Ridge Community College (again) April 15th at 5:30 pm

Michelle Tennant
East Flat Rock, NC, United States
Apr 7, 2021

Let’s pack the house (again) on April 15!

Unless you’re socially distancing on a deserted island or an uninhabited mountain top (don’t I wish), you probably know by now that Jeff Shipman’s conditional re-zoning application to construct a new hot mix asphalt drum plant is back again and is on the agenda for Henderson County’s Planning Board Meeting on Thursday, April 15, 2021, at 5:30 pm, Blue Ridge Community College (Thomas Auditorium), 180 W. Campus Drive, Flat Rock, NC 28731. Parking lots F or G. I made a video for last week's Neighborhood Compatibility Meeting to clarify which parking lot is best. Watch video https://youtu.be/D4OZMBtVIQY and to learn more about the neighbors’ ongoing fight since June 2020, everyone's first stop is always www.FriendsOfEastFlatRock.org

The Planning Department says there are currently no plans to offer an option to connect by phone or Zoom, so public comments will have to be made IN PERSON. Masks will be required and social distancing will be enforced. The Technical Review was yesterday and the application IS moving forward to Planning Board now April 15th. As I reported yesterday, Friends of East Flat Rock fiscal fundraising partner, Mountaintrue, set up this page to make public comments to the Planning Board quickly. Please use is NOW if you have not already: https://mountaintrue.org/stand-up-against-the-asphalt-plant-proposed-for-east-flat-rock/

WE NEED YOU THERE TO SAY NO.

Even though we’re in the middle of a pandemic, we MUST make our voice heard.

Public comments will be limited to a 3 minute maximum per speaker. Speakers will be called in order of signup sheet (first come, first called). Signs and posters will be allowed.

The 9 appointed members of the Planning Board will hear and consider these comments before submitting a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners, who will have the final approval or denial authority at a later date (TBD).

What you can do to prepare:

·         Contact the Planning Department staff and let them know your concerns about holding a public meeting during the pandemic.

·         Prepare and submit your statement of opposition for the April 15th Planning Board Meeting (just in case something happens and you can’t be there in person).

·         Get your sign ready. Yes, signs are allowed. Bring one to show your opposition to this rezoning application.

·         Wash a grass green shirt and get it ready. Your shirt is a walking billboard to show your opposition.

·         Make coffee … LOTS and LOTS of coffee. Be prepared to dig in and stay for hours to wait your turn to comment. We expect many people to show up and we hope the planning board has to turn off the lights on us and ask us to come back another night to finish making all our comments.

What you can do right now:

 Get out and show your opposition! That may mean getting out in the world and showing your support publicly at Orr’s Family Restaurant every Thursday afternoon as some of our great friends, getting your letters out to the Planning Board members and the Board of Commissionerssponsoring a billboard, or wearing your grass green shirt while shopping for bananas in the local produce section or farmer’s market.

 Thank YOU for not only showing up on April 15, but for also personally writing press letters to the editor and sharing this news with other neighbors.

- Michelle Tennant
Co-founder, FriendsOfEastFlatRock.org
Contact me personally: FriendsOfEastFlatRock@gmail.com

 


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