Staffing for Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning Commission Meetings

October 24th, 2024 Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting

One major aspect since starting my position as Planning & Zoning Clerk for Jefferson County, West Virginia is being in an administrative role for both monthly Planning Commission meetings and Board of Zoning Appeals meetings.

Click each of the images to see my work!

One notable meeting in my time at Jefferson County was the October 24th, 2024 meeting. One supervisor described this as my first “normal” meeting, where I was finally able to see the process of previous meeting minutes I wrote be written, reviewed, edited, and approved by the local Planning Commission. This was also the first meeting that was not impacted by major projects coming in and skewing the amount of public support, which allowed me to gain a new perspective on how people view Planning Departments on a day-to-day basis.

This meeting also allowed me to get a sense of the full scope of what it means to be a Planning & Zoning Clerk. By showing me what goes into constructing meeting packets for board members, my role in helping with Staff Reports, my role in running the meeting, and showing me how the Meeting Minutes between Planning Commissions and Board of Zoning Appeals differs, this meeting has shown me what this job and my future positions entails, something I welcome with open arms.

Click to watch the meeting recording!

November 12th, 2024 Planning Commission Meeting

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about public input in the Urban Planning process while working at Jefferson County, it’s that news will spread like wildfire, and that is when you can see a real sense of community. The establishment of the Mountain Pure Bottling Facility was the first site plan application that came in while working in West Virginia, so I was finally able to see the process from the very beginning.

Click the image above to see my work!

Part of the major site plan process is presenting a concept plan to the Planning Commission, and when word got out this concept plan was happening boy did we get public comments. After compiling all public comments and putting them into the meeting packet, which can be read below, we also had over 100 people show up for public comment. After careful deliberation, the Planning Commission voted to send back the concept plan and requested more information, with more details being available in the West Virginia Independent Observer and Spirit of Jefferson newspapers.

While as a government worker I am required by law to remain unbiased, I was absolutely anxious to see what happened next in the site plan stages and how my role would have been impacted by a major project going forward.

Click to watch the meeting recording!

March 11, 2025 Planning Commission Meeting

If I thought news spread like wildfire for the November 12, 2024 Planning Commission meeting, I was surely not prepared for how much public input the Planning Commission would receive when the controversial Concept Plan returned for the second public hearing.

Click the image above to see my work!

I will give credit where credit is due, when the people of Jefferson County have a cause they want to fight for, they’ll fight tooth and nail to get the outcome they want. In November of 2024, this project had received 171 pieces of public comment, leading the full physical version of the Packet to reach 604 pages, in March of 2025 however the final total ended up being 1048 pieces of public comments, leading the final page total of the Agenda Packet to 3,704 pages long.

I have elected to not post a 3,704 page document to this portfolio, that copy of the packet can be found on Jefferson County’s website.

Another notable record to come from this meeting was the length of time it took to finish the public comment portion of the meeting. Every planner I ask is always impressed that the day before I worked an 8 hour workday, prepped the auditorium of the local high school, then helped facilitate an 8 hour meeting for one single project, and I wear that like a badge of honor! In the end, the Planning Commission moved to deny the Concept Plan, which is now turning into legal trouble but that is outside the realm of a Planning & Zoning Clerk, but it is interesting to have this specific project on the horizon, but I have since left my position at Jefferson County, so I will only be able to witness the outcome as a bystander

Click to watch the meeting recording!

With these three notable Planning Commission & Board of Zoning Appeals Meetings completed, I was promoted to the role of County Planner in August of 2025, which meant I focused less on the Clerk functions and more on the day-to-day responsibilities of a Planner, as you will be able to see in the different posts on this portfolio.