Analyzing the Zoning Discussion

I was curious if there was any pattern to who spoke out for and against zoning or the zoning process at the June commissioner's meeting and the recent planning board meeting. Here is what I found:

Of about 49 total speakers - 

• 15 spoke in favor of zoning
• 32 spoke against zoning or the current zoning process.

Of those 15 speaking in favor of zoning - 

• 13 are registered Democrats, and
• 2 do not seem to be registered to vote in Chatham county. 

No registered Republicans or unaffiliated voters spoke in favor of zoning.

Of those 32 speaking against zoning or the current zoning process - 

• 4 are registered Republicans,
• 10 are registered Democrats,
• 10 are registered Unaffiliated, and
• 8 do not seem to be registered to vote in Chatham county. 

Also interesting is the make up of the Planning Board, and of the County's planning staff.

The Planning Board consists of 5 registered Democrats, 1 registered Republican, and 4 registered Unaffiliated.  

The County planning staff has 2 registered Democrats, 2 registered Unaffiliated, 1 registered Libertarian, and 2 that I could not find in the voter registration file. There are no registered Republicans on the County planning staff.

Overall party affiliation is about what I expected. Since the County has more registered Democrats than Republicans, it is not a big surprise that more Democrats expressed an opinion than Republicans. Neither is it surprising (at least, to me) that Democrats are much more in favor of zoning than are  Republicans. It is disappointing that there are no Republicans on the county planning staff. But more zoning regulations means more workload for county staff which means more government staffing which means - well, you can take it from there.

What IS MORE disappointing are the number of people who do not seem to be registered to vote. How else can you make your opinions heard in the election process? If you haven't registered to vote, please go to http://www.chathamnc.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=27281 RIGHT NOW and get it done.   

Then in November look at which candidates best support what you believe, regardless of your past party affiliation, and cast your vote accordingly.  

Note: want to look up party registration? Go to https://vt.ncsbe.gov/voter_search_public/.