Franklin County Commissioners next week will hold a public hearing to decide whether to reduce the number of members on the County Planning and zoning board to insure that the board can reach a quorum for future meetings.
The current planning and zoning board has 9 members representing a variety of local industries, including seafood, forestry and real estate.
Not all of those seats are currently filled.
Even so it requires 5 members to hold a legal meeting and that has been hard to come by, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May, the commission suspended the P and Z and the board of adjustment and passed their work to the county planner, just to insure that the work got done.
By reducing the number of members on the planning and zoning board to 5, only three members would be needed to hold a meeting.
Under the proposed change, each county commissioner would name one member to the board, and there would be two alternates named by the full commission.
The reduction in members does require an amendment to the current zoning ordinance, so the commission will have to hold a public hearing before the change takes effect.
The board will hold a public hearing on the issue next Tuesday and if the change is approved the board will also name its members to the Planning and Zoning board it can meet in November.
Commissioner Smokey Parrish said that while the change will make it easier to get a quorum, it does run the risk of removing the variety of opinions that the current board enjoys.
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