The timing of a vote on a development plan for unincorporated areas reopened old wounds during a Hamilton County Commission meeting after a push to change the date failed.
Plan Hamilton, the county’s road map for development in some of its more rural areas, will come to a final vote June 17. It passed through an initial vote a year ago to send it to the regional planning board for approval. The board passed the plan and then sent it to the state.
Now, the state has sent it back to the Hamilton County Commission for one final vote to make it an official rule book for commissioners when approving zoning changes and other related development choices in unincorporated areas.
The plan has been divisive for commissioners, often passing procedural votes by a slim margin.
In August, the most recent Plan Hamilton vote involving a slate of changes developed with local home builders passed 6-5. Some people said during the August meeting the changes favored developers over people and guidelines were not stringent enough to protect residents. At the time, home builders said they had compromised with residents when they proposed amendments to the plan.