Town Amends Zoning Regulations

Paul Worley was reappointed this week to his second term on the Smithfield Board of Adjustments. To make sure the Board of Adjustments has a quorum at future meetings, the Smithfield Town Council amended a zoning regulation to allow four planning board members to serve as alternates on the Board of Adjustments, when primary members can not attend.

This week, the Smithfield Town Council agreed to amend zoning regulations to allow four members of the town’s planning board to serve as alternates on the Board of Adjustments. The planning board petitioned the council to make the change due to difficulty in recruiting qualified members to serve on the board of adjustment. Alternate members from the planning board will have voting privileges when primary members are unable to attend. Mayor Norman Johnson called the amending a “move in the right direction.” Councilman Andy Moore agreed, saying with the growth Smithfield is seeing, and with many developers coming from out of state to appear before the adjustment board, it was inconvenient when they arrived and the meeting couldn’t be held because of a lack of a quorum. “We certainly need this,” Moore added. The motion passed unanimously. In a related story, Paul Worley was reappointed to his second term on the Smithfield Board of Adjustments. Even with his reappointment, the adjustment board still has two vacancies. The planning board currently has three vacant spots, while the parks and recreation commission has 7 vacancies.