Hawthorn berries

I attended a County Zoning hearing today. As town clerk, I've posted notices for hearings but had never gone to one. This one was for my neighbor's gravel pit request. What better opportunity to check out the process? The hearing was just a part of a long afternoon zoning committee meeting and I was the only person outside of the committee who sat in on it. My neighbor, it seems, had followed all of their rules implicitly (they were impressed). He had filled out a permit, had a reclamation plan, and had the town minutes where the board had OK'ed a pit in the township. They asked me if I had any comments or questions. "No." I said. "My neighbor had already discussed it w/ me." Having no objections, they granted the request. Pretty quick (oh, except, they made a comment about how well the town minutes were written up!)