With several loggers in attendance at last Tuesday's meeting, the Franklin County Commission tabled a proposed Hauling and Access Notification form until its February business meeting.
Franklin County probate judge Barry Moore encouraged citizens to review the proposed form and share their opinions with commissioners before the next commission meeting.
Discussion about a proposed logging ordinance began last May after a logging operation near Cedar Ridge Road resulted in severe damage to the recently repaired road. With ruts as deep as 24 inches, Cedar Ridge was declared a “total loss” by Franklin County engineer David Palmer. Palmer said the county had invested more than $100,000 to chip seal the road just weeks before the logging operation began.
Resident complaints to the Franklin County Commission led to commissioners asking Palmer to look into a possible logging ordinance or regulations that would require advance notice of proposed timber harvesting.
The goal is to avoid the cost of having to repair roads twice. In other words, if notice of a hauling project is provided to Palmer's office and road repairs are scheduled in that area, the road improvements can be delayed until the completion of the timber harvesting.
“We need to go ahead and let this notification get out there, and for people to review it and [give us] input so we can revisit it next month,” Moore said.
Representatives from the Alabama Forestry Association were present at last Tuesday's meeting. Joel Moon, AFA executive eirector, said the proposed notification form was met with no objection from Franklin County loggers.
“We circulated it among members of the association, and we didn't get one negative feedback,” Moon said.
One issue of contention, though, relates to how many days in advance the Hauling and Access Notification must be submitted to Palmer. County Attorney Roger Bedford, Jr. suggested a 14-day notice in advance of any harvesting, but Moon said that length of time would be burdensome to loggers. Moon was asked what a reasonable number of days would be.
“If it's a new entrance, four days, and if it's an old entrance, two days is a standard time,” Moon said.
“Is two or four days enough?” Bedford asked. “The goal is for David to know far enough in advance to schedule his crews. We should have a minimum notice date so it's fair to people who have to look at this form.”
Palmer pointed out that conflicts with loggers are rare, and the form is designed to avoid problems and maintain the positive working relationship between county officials and Franklin County loggers.
“I've been doing this 25 years, and we've had very few issues with loggers," Palmer said. "We had some lately, and that brought public attention into a place where county commissioners had to look at this from a different viewpoint.
"Eighty percent of our roads are not affected with travel by loaded 18-wheelers. But the smaller roads take a beating. And if a project is set on one of those roads, we'd rather wait until y'all are done with it, then come back and do what we need to do to fix it."
Citizens are encouraged to review the Hauling and Access Notification form, which is printed in this week's issue of the Free Press, and contact Moore or any commissioner with their input.
In other action, the commission accepted the resignations of Levi Swinney and Patrick Nagle from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department and agreed to advertise two vacant Corrections/Dispatch positions.
