IN AN effort to get “local, grass roots participation”

IN AN effort to get “local, grass roots participation” in its deliberations and decisions, the board of Planning District 9 (Rappahannock-Rapidan) will hold a series of meetings in the various towns and counties which make up the district.

Beginning in July, the Board will start rotating its meeting places; up until now, all sessions have been held in Culpeper, which is approximately the center of the district, and the location of staff offices.

Members of planning District 9 are the counties of Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Madison, and Orange, and the town of Warrenton.

The suggestion for rotating meeting places, at least for one time in each location, was made by Chairman Pete Luke of Rappahannock County. He noted that there are a lot of citizen groups throughout the district that have been active in various matters which concern the planning district, and he thought it might be a good idea to try and tap this experience.

“I’ve noticed that when some of these little groups show up at hearings and meetings, it is evident that they’ve done their homework, and we ought to try to realize some benefit from their work,” said Luke,

HE MENTIONED the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Upper Fauquier Association as examples of what he had in mind. “We should try to get them to come to us and tell us what they’re thinking about,” said Pete Luke. “If this regional thing is going to work, we’ve got to work together. If we’re just individual counties, acting alone, then we aren’t going to be able to do a thing in Richmond. Stevenson Mcllvaine of Fauquier County thought it “amazing” that no representative of the PEC had ever attended a planning district meeting. Richard McNear of Fauquier supported Luke’s suggestion for a series of meetings in each of the various member jurisdictions, extending over a six month period.