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Yadkin residents regroup to fight Hoots jail site
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Published: October 9, 2008
YADKINVILLE
A group of Yadkin County residents who went to court this summer to block the county from building a $7 million jail on Hoots Road is fighting the planning board's decision to once again recommend rezoning the same site for the jail.
Fifteen residents filed an appeal Tuesday to the Yadkin County planning director, Kim Bates, saying that such things as the character of the neighborhood and safety have not been considered. The group is also complaining that no notice was given before the decision.
The planning board made the recommendation at its Sept. 8 meeting. The Yadkin County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing on the rezoning for 7 p.m. Oct. 20.
"The planning board, first of all, gave no notice whatsoever about the meeting. No signs, no agenda published. No letter to adjoining-property owners," said Ed Powell, an attorney in Winston-Salem hired to represent the residents. "The county ordinance does not require notice until the time of the county commissioners' hearing. However, you would think they would want to do since this is such a highly controversial issue."
Bates said that his office is still trying to determine how to respond. He also noted that there are no requirements for giving notice for a planning-board meeting.
"It's very confusing what was submitted to us," Bates said. "It really makes very little sense.… The planning board decision is just a recommendation. It's an advisory decision, and it's not binding in any way. It's advice to commissioners on certain conditions and location."
County commissioners approved the Hoots Road site last fall for the 150-bed jail. A few months later, a group of 13 residents, including Kevin Austin and his company, The Austin Co., which is across the street from the planned jail site, sued the county, saying that procedures to rezone the site were improper.
The group, which has a Web site, http://keepjaildowntown.com, says it fears that a jail on that site would hurt other businesses on Hoots Road and take a key government building out of Yadkinville, the county seat.
County commissioners continued to pursue the Hoots Road site, and, at one point, weighed it against a site in Yadkinville but found that it was more cost-effective to build on Hoots Road.
In July, Judge Richard Doughton of Yadkin Superior Court ruled in favor of the residents, saying that the rezoning of the Hoots Road property was improper and therefore invalid.
Residents called the ruling a victory.
But some commissioners said that it had come down to a procedural error and that they would again look at Hoots Road. On Aug. 4, the commissioners voted 4-1 to again designate the Hoots Road site for the new jail. Commissioner Brady Wooten voted no.
This time around, Austin said he is not involved in the fight to block the jail from the site. Austin, a Republican, is running for one of three seats on the board of commissioners. He was criticized this summer for being a plaintiff in the suit while running for commissioner at the same time.
"Although it's not illegal for me to be involved, it does create a little bit of an appearance of a conflict," he said.
■ Sherry Youngquist can be reached at 336-918-6119 or at syoungquist
@wsjournal.com
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