August 2, 2005
Leesburg- A parking war in Lee County may end with all county employees losing their reserved spaces.
Commission Chairman Jackie Sizemore ordered public works crews to remove reserved employee parking signs in front of the tax commissioners office. Tuesday night, he asked for a policy that could eliminate reserved employee parking and open it up for citizens.
"I mean, they pay for these buildings," Sizemore said. "They ought to get the first dibs on parking to go conduct their businesses in a quick manner."
Tax commissioner Betty Johnson says Sizemore is mad because he didn't get his way in the tag office recently.
"Something against me and my staff because he did not have the proper paperwork when he came in to get his tag," Johnson said.
Sizemore only had signs removed from the tax office Monday morning. Now, he says other signs will be removed too.
In other business, Lee County leaders extended a building moratorium to try to get better control over rapid growth. The moratorium that prevents the approval of any new applications for major or minor subdivision development has been in place since May.
Commissioners are working on new zoning ordinances to make sure the county can handle new subdivisions, but they need more time for the new laws to go through the planning commission and then come to them for a vote.
"It may not get extended the full 90 days," said County Administrator Langford Holbrook. "We're trying hard as a staff to make sure it stays on track so we can get this thing resolved."
The moratorium was extended through mid-September. The commission will hold public hearings on new zoning ordinances in August.
They commission also allotted tax money to pay for improvements at Grand Island. Lee County will spend up to $50,000 of sales tax revenue to pay to build bathrooms for the tennis courts and perform what commissioners say is much-needed maintenance.
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