The winds of change continue to blow in Goochland with the latest development being letters from the board of supervisors to the county’s 10 planning commission members asking for their resignations, delivered Monday.

Fresh off last week’s session, where the commissioners balked at approving several multi-family ordinance amendments, opting for deferral to a work session to study the matter further, the letters might seem like a new development but according to Goochland Board of Supervisors Chairman Ned Creasey, the decision to ask for the commissioners’ resignations has been under consideration for some time.

The Goochland Planning Commission consists of 10 members, two from each of the five magisterial districts, unlike most counties, where one member suffices to represent each district.

It makes for lively sessions at each meeting but is perhaps not the most efficient way to conduct business. There was some discussion among the last board of halving the number of commissioners but no action was taken.

But aside from reducing the number to a leaner, more efficient body, one wonders if the new BOS, particularly the four members serving for the first time, just want the privilege of appointing their own representatives to the commission.

After all, the current chair of the planning commission, Courtney Hyers (District 5), who enjoyed the support of outgoing supervisor, James W. Eads, ran against the district’s current supervisor, Ken Peterson, for the Republican nomination. One might wonder just how well former political rivals might work together.

The other consideration is the perceived urgency that many feel in the county for development in the critical eastern end of the county, where Districts 4 and 5 groan under the heavy burden of the ad valorem tax on the Tuckahoe Creek Service District.

Many have spoken the words “we can’t tax our way out of this,” referring to the series of increases built into projections to pay off the bonds that created the district but action to create the conditions that would draw development into the district has been slow to occur.

Perhaps the new BOS plans to speed things up and feels a smaller, more efficient planning commission picked by the current serving supervisors will facilitate that process.
At any rate, it seems in keeping with the sweeping change seen in the almost complete turnover at the top produced by the November election that the supervisors might make this move. Now it remains to be seen if the commissioners will comply. Appointed for four –year staggered terms, they do not have to resign and at least one member said Monday he would not resign without more information.

Look for updates on our Web site later this week as we follow this story.