Building Thunderstorm

 I closed the library 5 minutes early tonight.  Usually I wouldn't think of such a thing but tonight I'd only had one family come in around 5:30 and no one since then.  Wanted to get to the town hall for the 7 p.m. monthly meeting of the town board.   I sat next to the town's rep on the Library Board so I immediately fessed up to what I'd done.  Usually no one attends monthly town meetings except for the 3 board members, the treasurer, and the clerk.  Tonight there were nine of us in the audience.  That means there was an issue.  It wasn't the renaming of a road.  It wasn't the renewal of  the liquor license for the town's one restaurant.  It wasn't my request for a fireworks permit.  It was the question of taking the town out from under the county's zoning laws.  It won't save us any money and in fact will undoubtedly cost us money not currently in the budget.  When the floor was open to the public to speak, I said remaining under county zoning would make it easier for us and that if the town wanted more stringent rules on say future RV parks or hog operations we could enact our own ordinances.  It was clear the rest of the group did not agree.   Some gave anecdotal stories of when county zoning had done them wrong.  More than one said we were all people who knew what was the right thing to do and that we didn't need those people at the county telling us what to do here. That argument puzzled me.   While we may all know our neighbors right now, things change.  New people could get on our board and make changes for their own purposes.  Also, 'those county people'  live less than ten miles away and we have a rep on the county board.  The chairman called for an advisory show of hands and everyone voted to get off county zoning (except for me).  After the meeting I was asked if I would serve on the committee to change our town's comprehensive plan (zoning section) if it turns out we do so.    I said I would.  I think leaving county zoning is a terrible idea but if the majority of the town votes to do it, I'd like to help us do it correctly.