Video of the Chocowinity Town Board public hearing on the jail rezoning | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    The following video clips cover the entire Chocowinity Town Board public hearing and the subsequent board action on the proposed zoning ordinance change to allow a jail as a special use in the Chocowinity Industrial Park.

    The first clip is the beginning of the public comments on the jail:



    The next clip is simply a continuation of the first:



    The third clip contains the board's discussion, such as it was, and the unanimous vote approving the change in the ordinance.



    The fourth clip was taken just before the meeting was called to order. State law requires a governing body to make "reasonable accommodations" for overflow crowds. The controlling court case according to the UNC School of Government (Garlock v. Wake Bd. of Ed.) says that the board is not required to move the meeting to another building after they have announced the location in their public notice, but the issue becomes whether the board should have anticipated the need for a larger facility before it scheduled the public hearing. In this case the board could have obtain the use of various school facilities in the community which would have accommodated the entire crowd that showed up. Before the meeting was called to order, a citizens asked Mayor Mobley if they would move the meeting to the County Courthouse. Wiithout conferring with the board, the Mayor immediately said "no." When the citizen asked "why not?" Mr. Mobley's response was: "because I don't want to."



    Editors note: The chimes you keep hearing in these videos are the exterior doors being opened and closed.

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