Government

    The National Park Service (NPS) will hold a public meeting to discuss a Special Resource Study/Environmental Assessment for the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford.
    The study, authorized by the United States Congress as part of Public Law 111-84, will help determine whether the National D-Day Memorial would meet criteria for congressional designation as a unit of the National Park System. The meeting is open to everyone and will take place Tuesday, Jan. 18, 7 p.m. at Bedford Elementary School, 806 Tiger Trail, Bedford,.

The new year means a change of direction on efforts to improve Bedford County’s zoning ordinance.

    Bedford County adopted its current zoning ordinance in 1998 and, for the past couple of years, the county’s planning department has been working on developing a new ordinance to replace it. Last year ended with a decision by the supervisors to drop that idea and, instead, modify the existing ordinance.

The city of Bedford has been in negotiations with Bedford County for two years on the possibility of having the city revert to town status. An agreement on that could be made public in the first quarter of this year with a target date for reversion of July 2012, according to Bedford Mayor Skip Tharp.

    Tharp, who was unanimously re-elected by council to serve another term as mayor during a reorganizational meeting Monday, said reversion will be a “win-win” for both the city and county.

Bedford County’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) said “goodbye” to Becky Wuergler with a reception Tuesday night. Wuergler, along with Mark Martin, were the two remaining charter members of the BZA from its formation in 1989. Members of the BZA are appointed by the circuit court and Wuergler has announced that she won’t seek reappointment.