Rick McIntosh said the UDO is zoning and questioned the costs of enforcement. McIntosh said the county should change the name of the UDO to UDZ, “unified disguised zoning.”
Marvin Helton said he’s lived here 72 years and when he was young there were no regulations, period. He said the UDO is so many pages it should not be passed until it’s shortened and made simple.
Scott Woodworth said the group of people who’ve worked on the UDO had a goal but it wasn’t the goal of the majority of the citizens of Polk County.
“As it stands, the UDO is a mess,” Woodworth said. “It needs more work, it needs more changes, and in the end we don’t need it at all.”
Shane Bradley asked how far along Polk County would be in trying to find jobs for people with all the time that has been spent on the UDO. Bradley also asked if counties can vote on issues such as liquor sales by referendum why Polk County can’t bring the UDO to a vote.
Commissioner vice-chair Renée McDermott said a UDO is not one of the items about which the state allows a county to hold a referendum.
Shane Jackson said his family has been in Polk County since the Revolutionary War and “They fought and died for freedoms that you are trying to take away.”
Jackson, who was holding a Bible, said politicians and diplomats will have people believe that too much freedom is a crisis. He asked everyone who is opposed to the UDO to stand, and the majority of the audience stood.
“I ask you to do what’s right to serve your county,” Jackson said. “That’s what you were elected to do. God bless America.”
Adam Wood asked commissioners who owns the land in Polk County, the people who pay the taxes on the land or the people who collect the taxes.
“The UDO takes jurisdiction over White Oak and Coopers Gap,” Wood said. “The county will therefore zone White Oak and Coopers Gap by default.”
Wood also said no one in White Oak and Coopers Gap Townships wants to tell people in other parts of the county what to do with their land.
“We have a right to our life, we have a right to our property, we do not have a right to anyone else’s,” Wood said.