Government

    A grant through the Department of Homeland Security has allowed the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office to purchase a new Lake patrol boat.

    And it’s up and running.
    The department officially launched the boat for Memorial Day weekend and patrols from the Sheriff’s Office will continue to man it on weekends through Labor Day. The patrols will be focused on crime prevention and safety.

    The Bedford County Planning Commission unanimously turned down, Monday night, a request from AT&T to build a 160-foot cell tower on a property on Perrowville Road.

    The proposed location is in a wooded area at the rear of a commercial site, but there is dense residential development nearby. The people living in these adjoining neighborhoods spoke out against the proposal at a public hearing.

There are cases in which Bedford County’s current zoning ordinance chases business out of the county, according to Lee and Stan Aylor. They presented that message to the Bedford County Board of Supervisors Monday night.
    The Aylor brothers have owned Aylor’s Farm and Garden in Forest, located on U. S. 221, for three decades. They bought the property and got their business going there before the county had any zoning at all. When the county adopted a traditional zoning ordinance in 1998, their property was zoned commercial.

Lynchburg College’s plan for camping facilities—dubbed an Eco Village—at Claytor Nature Study Center is on its way to the Bedford County Board of Supervisors with the County Planning Commission’s blessing. The commission voted, Monday night, to recommend it by a 6-1 vote. District 4 planning commissioner Frederic Fralick cast the lone dissenting vote.