SALISBURY — The Rowan County Planning Board honored four retiring members and welcomed three new ones during Monday night’s meeting.

Pete Bogle and Brad Godwin received special recognition for their time on the board. Two other retiring members, Jack Fisher and John Leatherman, were also set to be recognized, but they were not in attendance at the meeting.

Shane Stewart, Rowan County’s assistant planning director, presented Bogle and Godwin with plaques and thanked them for their time spent on the planning board.

Bogle first started serving in 2015, becoming the board’s chairman in 2017, 2020 and 2021. He was vice-chairman in 2019. Godwin started serving on the board in 2017.

“On behalf of Rowan County, I would like to thank you for your service,” Stewart said as he shook their hands.

After the recognition, the three new members — Corrie Connolly, Jerry Davis and William Yost — were welcomed to the board. 

Michael Harrill was also reappointed to his seat for a second term. Terms on the board last for two years.

The four members came to the front of the meeting hall to take their oath of office, which was administered by Rowan County planning technician Pam Ealey.

There are currently eight seats occupied on the nine-seat board. Since there are so many new members on the board, the rest of the meeting was spent doing a training session. Stewart said the next couple of meetings will be spent doing the same so the entire board can get up to speed.

One big item the board will work on in the future is updates to the county’s land use plans.

There are plans for three locations currently: the areas west of I-85, the areas east of I-85 and Old Beatty Ford Road/I-85 South Rowan.

Those plans were adopted in 2009, 2012 and 2017. There is also a land use plan that concerns recommendations for solar energy systems, which was adopted in 2021.

“It will be an update to those plans,” Stewart said. There is currently no timeline on when the board will start on those updates.