(Cleveland)- An overflow crowd of White County residents let their board of commissioners know they are against any regulations that govern the maintenance of their property. Those thoughts were made clear during the first public hearing on a proposed nuisance ordinance in the county Monday night in Cleveland.
The main purpose of the ordinance was to help clean up areas where trash and abandoned cars were left in public view and could pose a public health hazard.
Around 200 people attended the public hearing at the county administration building, and two-thirds of those indicated they are opposed to the proposed action. A total of 17 people let their feelings be known.
There were a few who were in favor, like Bonnie Abernathy of Cleveland, who shared with the commissioners her family’s investment of $100,000 in property to watch a junkyard develop next door to it.
After hearing from the citizens for about 45 minutes, commission chairman Travis Turner indicated that this issue might not develop any further, telling the crowd, “I’m not sure where this is going to be going now. There has to be changes — period — if it does move forward. There’s lots of questions that have been raised this evening that are very fair.”
Turner added, “Keep your ears open. This will be discussed at a later work session. If and any steps the board were to take at a later date, that will be advertised.”
In addition to the in-person comments expressed during yesterday’s public hearing, the commissioners indicated they had received numerous emails and calls related to the issue.
