Robin Bledsoe (Jamestown) and Christopher Basic (Berkeley) will be chairwoman and vice chairman of the James City County Planning Commission beginning April 1.
Bledsoe and Basic were voted to their new positions at a Monday commission meeting on 6-0 votes. Commissioner John Wright III (At-Large) was not in attendance at the meeting. Bledsoe was previously the vice chair and replaces Richard Krapf (Powhatan) in the driver’s seat.
The commission is responsible for analyzing land-use proposals brought before the county, such as changes to zonings and construction projects requiring special permission. After analyzing each case, it issues a recommendation as to whether the county’s board of supervisors should OK the proposal.
Bledsoe has been on the commission since 2012. She runs a consulting firm called B and D Capacity Builders. She was also a candidate for the vacant Jamestown seat on the board of supervisors in 2012, but the supervisors were unable to reach a consensus and a panel of circuit court judges appointed Wilford Kale. Bledsoe was reappointed to the commission last year for a term that expires Jan. 31, 2018.
Basic was first appointed to the commission in 2011 to fill a seat vacated by Reese Peck. He was reappointed for a four-year term in January 2013. He is the president of Greensprings Landscape Architecture, a local business that specializes in landscaping. His term expires Jan. 31, 2017.
The commission unanimously voted in its new chair and vice chair. They are set to assume their new roles at an April 1 meeting, at which point committee assignments will be announced.
The commission features two committees. The Development Review Committee, made up of five members, analyzes certain building projects and the four member policy committee, which considers infrastructure spending plans and changes to the county’s zoning ordinance.
