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Long meeting in Spotsylvania leads to quick vote. Date published: 11/11/2002 By LARRY EVANS FIVE HOURS after arriving at Wednesday night's meeting of the Spotsylvania County Planning Commission and taking her usual seat in the second row, Agnes McGee, a retired farmer in her 80s, stood and slowly made her way toward the exit in the still-crowded room. A public hearing continued to crackle like a brush fire, so I figured Agnes was going home to feed her dogs. It was a half-hour before midnight. When Agnes got to the door she paused, looked up at the wall and carefully straightened the photograph of Supervisor T.C. Waddy. Apparently someone in the standing-room-only crowd had pushed up against it, causing it to tilt to the left. She then departed. That 8- by 10-inch picture wasn't all that was askew that night. From the outset, the situation was close to intolerable. The room was so warm, stuffy and crowded that I felt like I was on a convention-hall elevator with too many people, sitting at a basketball game in some cracker-box gymnasium in hoops-crazy Kentucky or riding in the back of a canvas-covered "deuce-and-a-half" with too many other soldiers. Claustrophobia sparked such metaphoric images in my numb little brain as I sat through the circus of a hearing held by the commission. At issue was the proposed Town of Chancellorsville, a 789-acre development so controversial that 300 people turned out and tried to squeeze into a room designed for a maximum of 195. People spilled out into the halls and adjacent rooms, where TV monitors showed the proceedings. The commission had known there would be a crowd, but chose not to meet in a school auditorium. That was the night's first act of inconsiderateness. I arrived at 6:30 p.m. so I would be sure to get a seat. The meeting began at 7:30. The public hearing started at 8:30. Proponents were allowed to speak for the ensuing two hours. Most then went home to sleep. Opponents--including Civil War battlefield preservationists and citizens worried about sprawl--complained that they had to go last. They asked the panel to stagger the speakers for and against the proposal; the commission opted to keep its pro/con policy intact.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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