To the Editor:
I’m a relatively new resident and I am really confused, I think.  I read  in a TDB article that the County Commissioners say there will be no zoning:
(TBD article from March 6, 2012, titled “Commissioner tells Sunny View residents zoning is ‘off the table’” says:  “…A couple of years ago (zoning) came up to a vote and it was a unanimous vote to not zone those areas,” McDermott said. “I can assure you it’s not going to happen in the foreseeable future. I think when it comes to that zoning issue, for as far as we can see, it is dead. It is not a question anymore.”)
And then the article goes on to describe all the rules the Commissioners are putting in an “Ordinance” about what people can and can’t do with the property they own.
When we bought our place here in 2006, I was told “…there is no zoning…,” but after I’d bought it, I found on the county website all kinds of rules about what I could and couldn’t do, some of which were really important to me, like how many acres I had to have for each horse.  These rules appeared to apply to the entire county, including me apparently.
Where we came from, those kinds of rules were called zoning rules. I don’t think calling the rules an ordinance changes the fact that their zoning type rules restricting what people can do with their property and people need to know about them before they buy. Saying there is no zoning is seriously misleading to people coming into the area, and doesn’t change the effect of the rules on the residents here.
Or maybe I’m just confused?    If there is no zoning, how come there are zoning rules just under some other name? Or are they just suggestions and not binding? Sincerely, or confusedly, not sure which one.
– Ellen Jefferies, Tryon