By Ron Fitzwater

The Ashe County Planning Board met in regular session Thursday, March 5, with a modest but important agenda of items for consideration.

Due to the rare absence of Board Chairman Rick Surber, Vice-Chair Darrel Hamilton presided over the meeting.

First before the board was a special presentation from Kelly J. Drey-Houck, a graduate student with Appalachian State University's Sustainable Development Program, who spoke to the board about the local food economy.

"We are organizing the first ever High Country Local Food Summit. It will be held Thursday, March 26, at the Apple Barn in Valle Crucis.

"What we want to do is bring people together to talk about work that has been ongoing for quite some time in this area around local food," she said.

According to Drey-Houck, some work has already begun in the High Country between growers and organizations that see a need for cooperation.

"It seems like a lot of small farmers and organizations like the New River Organic Food Growers Co-op along with other non-profit organizations are really getting organized and getting behind the local food idea."

Drey-Houck said that the main idea with getting growers together was the exchange of ideas and to introduce new avenues that could lead to new markets for local produce. Drey-Houck invited all available board members to attend the summit to contribute in the exchange.

Some last minute old business came before the board in the form of final plat approval for The Cutter Development. The board approved the plat unanimously.

The board then began initial work on clarifying the ordinances that pertain to the disposal of abandoned or unserviceable mobile homes. Additionally, the board is attempting to clear up language in multiple county ordinances that pertains to mobile homes, manufactured homes, manufactured housing and so on.

County Planning Director Zach Edwardson presented the board with several ordinances from various North Carolina counties as examples of "how other counties deal with the problem," Edwardson said.

The problem Edwardson was referring to is the number and locations of abandoned mobile homes across the county and what to do with the units that need to be disposed of.

Along with restrictions, definitions and disposal of unusable units, the board is also looking at possible future needs for mobile home parks that can be properly regulated.

"You have older sub-divisions in Ashe County that do not have any restrictive covenants.

Somebody could buy 10 lots [10 acres] and place 20 mobile homes on that without it being regulated as a mobile home park because each lot only has two of the three mobile homes permitted, that occurs several places in Ashe County," Edwardson said.

Board members agreed that the task of clarifying the issues would best be served by putting all mobile/manufactured home/housing regulations into one ordinance that would be the guide for the future, and directed Edwardson to put together a draft ordinance for the board to consider and amend as they see fit.

The Ashe County Planning Board meets at 5:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month in the third-floor courtroom of the Ashe County Courthouse.

For more information on the board or to read county land usage ordinances, click to www.ashecountygov.com/Planning/index.htm.