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Residents press Person County on roadside trash and scrapped UDO; commissioners cite enforcement and planning follow-up
Summary
Speakers at the March 2 meeting urged more frequent roadside cleanup and enforcement of sign ordinances and warned that the county's Unified Development Ordinance work was discarded, leaving planning gaps; commissioners described steps to pursue signage enforcement and to continue consolidating planning ordinances.
At the March 2 Person County Board of Commissioners meeting, residents raised two separate local concerns: accumulating roadside trash and the apparent scrapping of the county's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).
Matt and Marne Schwarz presented photographs of litter along Chub Lake Road, Country Club Road and McGee Mill Road and asked what actions the county takes beyond the annual spring cleanup. "It looks like a lot of beer cans, a lot a lot of trash bags," Marne Schwarz said; the couple requested more frequent cleanups, better follow-up for "adopt-a-highway" participants and possible use of inmate work crews where appropriate.
County manager responded that a spring litter sweep is scheduled for April 18 in partnership with the city, encouraged residents to register for that effort and said the sheriff has pursued inmate clean-up programs but staffing limits affect availability.
Frank Stolman, who said he served on the 12-person UDO review committee, said the committee's work and consultant recommendations were "thrown in the trash can" by the planning board, leaving Person County without a consolidated UDO. He warned this creates risks for water quality and development oversight, citing recent mud issues on Woodsdale Road and concerns about new storage projects and data centers. "I strongly recommend that you as commissioners and county managers work to get a UDO," Stolman told the board.
Commissioners acknowledged the concerns. One commissioner said planning staff are working to consolidate standalone ordinances and enforce sign rules for roadside businesses; another asked residents with traffic concerns inside city limits to bring the matter to the city council. The county manager also noted a tornado drill and an upcoming RAVE emergency-notification test.
The meeting record shows the board heard the concerns and described administrative next steps; no new regulations or immediate funding allocations were made during the March 2 meeting.
