Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry says that he will not be attending a meeting organized by several concerned citizens about the land use ordinance that he hastily adopted earlier this year.

The commissioner told the local newspaper that Governor Brian Kemp is scheduled to be in Summerville on September 13th, the day of the planned meeting, and he has prior commitments.  The commissioner said that the public is welcome to come to the next public meeting of the planning committee which is scheduled for October 13th at 6 PM.

The group of concerned citizens told WZQZ News that they were calling the meeting because they felt there were many areas of the new ordinance that needed to be addressed.  One of their biggest grievousness is the lack of a clear appeals process in the ordinance.  Also, they are concerned about how the ordinance would affect the division of family farms left to heirs.

The commissioner contends that the ordinance was passed to regulate large subdivisions in the county, but admits that the ordinance was adopted hastily.  The commissioner says that he has already sent an amendment to the county attorney regarding division of family property among heirs.