Residents press board on responsiveness, water access and transparency during public comment

During the public-comment period at the Sept. 8 meeting, several residents raised concerns about responsiveness, transparency and the cumulative impact of large projects on particular districts.

Betty Myers, who gave her address as 577 Deep Run Road, told the board residents feel unheard after previous hearings on solar farms and a landfill and asked why Districts 1 and 2 are repeatedly chosen for large projects. "Your actions, in my opinion, are speaking much, much louder than your words," Myers said. Kate (Katie) Hoffman urged supervisors to respond more promptly to constituent emails and praised the one planning-commission member who voted no on the gas plant application as demonstrating attention to community concerns. April Morris described community safety and outreach events, including a smoke-detector initiative with Red Cross and a Sept. 26 fall festival.

Speakers repeatedly asked the board to ensure key documents (citations, memoranda of understanding and environmental details) are easy to find on the county website and to pause major decisions until technical questions — such as where a developer would source water — have been resolved.