As I reported earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors of Prince Edward County lost its appeal before the Circuit Court requesting that it override the Board of Zoning Appeals and ban the sixty-foot flagpole flying the Confederate Battle Flag just outside Farmville, Virginia.
The Virginia Flaggers sponsored the flag, which had been properly permitted and complied with the relevant county zoning ordinance (see the earlier post for more information.)
After the flag was up and flying, however, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors decided that it had to go. The county passed a new ordinance that retroactively made the flag non-compliant, and then waited until after the statutory sixty-day waiting period before ordering it to be taken down. The property owners appealed the order to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which ruled in their favor. The county escalated it to the next level, but was rebuffed by the Circuit Court as well.
After ruminating on the matter for a couple of weeks, The Farmville Herald has finally reported on this latest setback to the woke agenda in Farmville (my italics):
Prince Edward judge rules against county in flagpole appeal
by Rachel Austin
February 16, 2023FARMVILLE — The 60-foot flagpole at the intersection of East 3rd Street and U.S. 460 has been a topic of conversation in Prince Edward County for nearly a year. Even though the large Confederate flag that flies from it has caused some controversy, the main discussion is focused on the size of the pole. After months of discussion, a Prince Edward Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of keeping the flagpole standing.
At the hearing on Monday, Feb. 6, the Prince Edward County Circuit Court rejected the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors appeal to remove the flagpole that stands 35 feet above the maximum height for its zoning area. According to court records, the ruling has not yet been officially filed, but the judge ruled that the defendant could keep the flagpole standing.
“While we are certainly disappointed in the outcome of the appeal, we appreciate the consideration of the appeal,” said Prince Edward County Administrator Doug Stanley.
Identifying the size of the flagpole as the issue is disingenuous. The Herald, the Board of Supervisors, and local residents know very well that the real issue is the fact that the pole is flying a (shudder) Confederate flag. If the pole had been displaying a Pride flag, or a Black Lives Matter flag, or a Ukrainian flag, there would have been no issue. But everybody knows about that annoying First Amendment, so they had to find a supposedly neutral pretext to force the takedown of the flag.
If I had lots of money and lived in Prince Edward County, I’d put up a sixty-foot flagpole and fly a Black Lives Matter Flag, and then wait to see what happened. The gutmenschen would be in a quandary at that point — they could either let the flag fly without hindrance and thereby reveal their hypocrisy, or they could order it taken down and anger the usual suspects, thereby risking mostly peaceful protests on behalf of high-melanin citizens, the participants in which would have to bused in from major urban areas, since there is no significant Antifa presence in Farmville.
This hearing came after the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors voted at its July 2022 meeting to appeal the decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals to reverse the Notice of Violation issued for the erection of the flagpole located at the intersection of East 3rd Street and U.S. 460. According to Stanley, the Board unanimously believed that the case should be reviewed by the courts.
“The flagpole, in the assessment of County staff and County legal counsel, violates the County Zoning Ordinance, as it was erected without the prerequisite zoning permit,” said Stanley. “This issue has caused considerable consternation in the community and the Board felt pursuing the enforcement of the County Code was in the overall best interests of the community.”
In light of this ruling, the Board will spend time in the coming month to discuss if they should request that the Virginia Court of Appeals consider the matter further.
Well, it looks like the Board will probably appeal their case to the next level, as expected, using unlimited funds supplied by the taxpayers of Prince Edward County. The Virginia Flaggers — who have not yet recouped their legal costs for previous appeals — will once again have to pay lawyers to fight their case in the higher courts.
I’ll donate some more money to the defense fund at the next meeting of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. There are enough Confederate sympathizers in Central and Southside Virginia to be able to meet the costs. But if I were a Prince Edward County resident, it would irk me no end to have to pay for one side via my taxes, and then reach into my pocket voluntarily to pay for the other side.
I don’t know Prince Edward County politics very well, but it doesn’t seem likely that there is much in the way of voter support for the supervisors in their quest to make their county Confederate-free. Local sentiment, at least among white people, must be running strongly against them. But maybe they don’t care. Maybe virtue-signaling is more important then anything else, including being re-elected.
For those who are interested, the rest of the article is below the jump:
Background
This discussion started on April 11, 2022, when the zoning administrator’s notice of violation was submitted regarding the flagpole. This flagpole is 60 feet tall in a zoning area that has a maximum height of 25 feet. The county has attempted to remove the flagpole but property owners Carolyn and Corbette Bowman filed an appeal halting the process.
The day after the violation notice was the April 2022 Board of Supervisors meeting. At this meeting, the board held a closed session to discuss the flagpole. Once back in open session, the board voted to adopt an emergency ordinance that capped the maximum size in certain zoning districts to prevent a similar event from occurring again.
In June 2022, the Board of Zoning Appeals held a public hearing to discuss the flagpole’s removal. Here, the Bowmans’ attorney, Herschell Keller, argued that they obtained the required approvals to get the flagpole approved. The appeal also referenced Senate Bill 1079 that says if more than 60 days pass since the building permit then the decision may not be changed unless it was obtained through malfeasance or fraud. The appeal also argues that the removal infringes on their First Amendment rights due to the current flag flown.
The attorney representing the county, Andrew McRoberts, opposed this argument by stating that in Prince Edward County only the zoning administrator, also serving as county administrator, and the assistant zoning administrator are authorized to issue permits. He cited two clerical errors during the issuing of the permit, including the inclusion and omission of certain language used on the form. However, these errors should have been caught in the 60 days.
An opposing appeal was submitted by Robert Love, the county’s director of planning and community development, along with McRoberts. This appeal argues that the flagpole does not comply with the zoning requirements and that the site is zoned for general use where an accessory use like a flagpole is not permitted.
The Board of Zoning Appeals ultimately decided, with a vote of two obtaining and three affirming the Bowman’s appeal, to leave the flagpole up. It was after this decision that the board of supervisors met and voted to take this matter to court.