HOME OWNER COALITION NEWSLETTER
Serving Home Owners’ Associations in Jefferson County
March 2000

PO Box 170, Bakerton, WV 25410; 876-2227 or 876-9473;
listener-Owner@Egroups.com

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CANDIDATES’ FORUM

On May 9th Jefferson County will vote in primaries for State and Jefferson
County offices. At the same
time, two of the five candidates for Board of Education will be elected. Those
elected will have a major
impact on the quality of life in Jefferson County, as several issues that impact
all homeowners will be
addressed in the near future.

The Home Owners Coalition March meeting will be an open forum for candidates for
State Delegate,
County Commission and the Board of Education from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Monday,
March 20th at the
Charles Town Library, 200 E. Washington Street.

Candidates will have four minutes to respond to the following questions and
present any general
information:
Jefferson County grew eighteen percent in the past ten years. What growth do
you favor for the
next 10 years and how can we achieve it?
Jefferson County is nearly at the WV ceiling on Property Tax. How can we pay
for building and
operating new schools?
What is your position on a building code?
How can the Board of Education improve the quality of teaching?
How can the County Commission/House of Delegates improve infrastructure?

After each candidate has responded to these questions, additional questions will
be taken from the floor.

The forum is open to all. Please encourage your Association membership to
attend. Flyers are attached
to this newsletter to post or copy for your membership.



JANUARY HOC MEETING

At the January meeting of the Homeowners’ Coalition,
representatives from different associations shared ideas on
how they have used the WV Uniform Common Interest
Ownership Act to serve their members’ needs. Despite the
snowy weather a good turnout was present for the discussion.
Steve Groh, a local attorney, provided some good insights into
how the law differed from surrounding localities, and how it
has been interpreted in Jefferson County. The importance of
strong by-laws was one theme which continually surfaced in
discussions of how the law impacts association
responsibilities, assessments, developer control, and covenant
enforcement.
ROAD MAINTENANCE

The maintenance of association roads, whether paved or
gravel is a major concern to most of our members. The May
meeting of the Home Owners’ Coalition will focus on road
issues. It will be held May 22nd from 7-9pm at the Charles
Town Library. Plan now to attend.

NEW HOC COORDINATING COMMITTEE

We will select a new five member HOC Coordinating
Committee at our May meeting. Nominations can be
submitted by mail or will be taken from the floor.





HOC DESIGNATED TO PROVIDE COMMENT ON COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN & ORDINANCES

The Jefferson County Planning Commission is currently undertaking a thorough
review of the Comprehensive Plan and
ordinances. As these are revised, the decisions made will influence the
development of the county for the near future.
A series of meetings have been developed to obtain input from interested
citizens. These are scheduled as follows:

Wednesday, March 8th; 7-9pm, Blue Ridge Elementary Cafeteria
Thursday, March 23rd 7-9pm, Shepherdstown Jr. High Cafeteria
Saturday, April 8th 10 am-noon, Jefferson High Auditorium
Tuesday, April 18th 7-9pm, Harpers Ferry Jr. High Auditorium

You can also sign up at these meetings or at the Planning Commission office
for small round-table discussions, with 2-
way dialogue between Planning Commission members and neighborhood residents
(728-3228, Box 338, Charles Town
25414). For more detail on the review process, see
www.intrepid.net/county/compplan.htm.

The Home Owners’ Coalition has also been formally selected to provide comment.
Each member is asked to submit
their concerns or comments to the HOC Coordinating Committee at PO Box 170,
Bakerton, WV 25410 by April 20th.
You can find copies of the current plan at local libraries. The ordinances are
at www.egroups.com/group/listener at
2/7/00 (zoning) and 2/29/00 (subdivisions).

With over one hundred associations in the county, our voice will be heard on
issues relating to existing homeowners.
Please encourage your board and membership to take advantage of this opportunity
to participate in forming County
policy with this important planning tool.


COMMISSIONER AL HOOPER'S PROPOSAL APPROVED
HOC One of Two Citizen Groups Asked to Participate

The Home Owners’ Coalition has been asked to participate in an important county
information sharing committee
proposed by Commissioner Al Hooper and approved by the County Commission on
March 3rd. The group is intended to
facilitate improving communication and coordination between and among county
agencies. It will be an ad hoc
coordinational committee established to deal with those issues that cut across
jurisdictional boundaries. It includes the
following three groups:

Agencies whose actions can have an impact on physical, land use, financial,
quality of life & other aspects of the nature
of Jefferson County. These include 1) County Commission (Chair), 2) Planning
Commission, 3) County Public
Service District, 4) Municipalities, 5) Board of Education, 6) Development
Authority, 7) County Health Department,
8) Eastern Panhandle Soil Conservation District, 9) Historic Landmarks
Commission

Groups whose constituencies could be impacted by actions of the above agencies.
These include 1) Farm Bureau/Farm
Land Advisory Committee, 2) Tourism/Visitor's Bureau, 3) Business/Chamber, 4)
Developers/Builders/Real Estate,
5)Citizens Coalitions (League of Women Voters), 6)Quality of Life/Environmental
(Home Owners’ Coalition)

Back Up to serve as technical support and informational advisors to the
committee.. These include 1) Legislation,
2) Financial, 3) Legal, 4) Physical/Environmental, 5) Transportation, 6)
Emergency Services, 7) Law Enforcement,
8) Extension Service

The proposed ad hoc coordination committee would meet in public in accordance
with a schedule to be determined by
its members at its organizational meeting. Representation will consist of a
principal and an alternate from each entity
named above. Administrative support will be provided by the committee chair at
a cost not to exceed $2,500.00. This
ad hoc committee would be authorized initially for a period of one year, at
which time results will be evaluated. .
Please send nominations by March 20th for someone to be our representative to
this activity.

REMINDER: Please send
1) Nominations for the County information sharing committee by March 20th.
2) Comments on county planning, zoning, and subdivision rules by April 20th.
3) Nominations for the Home Owners’ Coalition coordinating Committee by May
22nd.