Is zoning of unincorporated areas really in Cleburne County's future?

It might be if you believe a six — page letter, signed by a "representative to the Town of Edwardsville" and recently given to a local business located in the county.

However, having attended many of the council meetings in Heflin and Ranburne as well as Cleburne County Commission meetings, The Cleburne News has seen over the past six years little or no evidence of efforts to annex additional property by any of these towns and very little talk of home rule by commissioners.

"Zoning" is a "bad word" for most commissioners. While they realize zoning might help solve some of the county's problems they also realize that support of zoning in such a rural area would almost guarantee no return to office in the next election.

Commissioner Tracy Lambert just breached the idea of a little "home rule" in a commission work session several months ago when he suggested the county seek the ability to control used mobile homes being pulled into the county and rented.

The letter in question, signed by E.D. Phillips, is promoting a Special District being developed by Edwardsville. It claims, "within 1 year there will not be 1 square mile of the unincorporated county that is not under the control of a municipal planning commission that will be over all development, industry, construction, alteration and zoning of every single property. Nothing will be able to be done in any area of the county without first making application to one of the municipal planning commissions belonging to one of the municipalities in the county. The reality is that planning and zoning control over all territory in the unincorporated county will be split between three of the municipalities of Edwardsville, Ranburne and Heflin."

The letter further claims, "Since Edwardsville's annexed lands comprise 'islands' all over the middle and northern parts of the county, the town's planning commission's territory covers most areas from I — 20 and everything north that is not in the boundaries of another municipality."

Bill Curtis, East Alabama Regional Planning Commission Executive said he had never talked directly to Phillips but some of the EARPC staff members had.

Curtis said Phillips had asked EARPC to make a concurrence on a proposal which involved seeking a Federal Highway Administration grant.

"We researched it and concluded that the proposal did not apply to the federal program," Curtis said while adding that the EARPC staff were "sufficiently confused by it."

Curtis said that as best he could remember the proposal involved some annexation and special districts.

"We were not in a position to make a judgment. There was not enough information to make an intelligent decision and the proposals seemed to shift"

Curtis explained that the City of Heflin has a comprehensive zoning plan and the county can not zone because they have no authority, unless by a special legislative act, which they do not.

Cleburne County only has code enforcement authority and regulation of sub — divisions, Curtis added.

As for zoning, Curtis explained that it is a very formal process and must conform to a comprehensive plan developed by a city or town. He said reviews and hearings must be held by zoning commissions and city or town councils in a very formal way and there must be public hearings and proper legal advertisements placed in local newspapers.

He pointed out that cities can zone within incorporated areas and parcels can be zoned at the same time they are annexed.

The letter adds, "Heflin learned 2 weeks ago that Edwardsville's Special Districts were legal and that the county maps have now been re — drawn showing all those lands within the town's municipal limits. Heflin has made it clear to many people in its city and county government that they will do the same thing. Heflin will start creating Special Districts very, very soon and annex lands throughout the county by Special District." The letter goes on, "Heflin will create Special Districts and annex lands in any territory that our commission doesn't control and place boundaries for Heflin's Planning Commission covering 5 — miles from all those lands. . . This means that if you want to build, expand, pave, develop or any little thing that you can imagine you would want to do with your property, you will first have to submit plans to Heflin's Planning Commission to receive permission. What if you build without it? Commissions have the right to tear down anything that wasn't built with the proper permission, plus make you pay for the tear — down. . . Anna Berry in particular will be dictating what you can or can't do on your land."

In the past six years The Cleburne News has never heard any discussion of a Special District by Heflin council members except when private developer David Hewitt was putting together his project at the 205 interchange.

Regarding Phillips' comments, Heflin Mayor Anna Berry said, "for the record, neither the City of Heflin, its planning commission nor Anna Berry, in particular, has ever entertained annexing any property that is not adjacent to our city limits. Also, annexation requires public meetings and petitions from affected parties. Mr. Phillips' letter is being used to frighten business owners into thinking that the City of Heflin is trying to interfere with their property rights and this is totally untrue. To insure that this false information is not propagated, I expect the City of Edwardsville to issue a statement to anyone who has received this correspondence to set the record straight."

Phillips, in his letter, states, "Edwardsville's Commission (Planning) already covers an approximate 2/3rds of the county's unincorporated area" The letter also states that events are happening "at a very, very quick pace" in Cleburne County and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent the municipalities from annexing property.