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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission has rescinded the county's ordinance dealing with limited video lottery and will follow state guidelines.
The commission voted unanimously to repeal the ordinance which has been in place since 2004.
"We have only turned down two in the 14-15 years I have been on the commission," Commission President Blair Couch said. "It is a lot of work for the compliance officer and the county administrator and many times people come in here and the commission approves the variance anyway."
The ordinance has spelled out where such places can be established, including 1,000 feet from homes, churches, school property, playgrounds and more.
Officials said the original intent was to protect the citizens of the county as there were concerns these businesses would attract an unsavory clientele and be set up in gaudy buildings which could affect the property values of surrounding properties.
As it was originally drawn up, the ordinance had people going to the Wood County Planning Commission for a variance, but somewhere along the line it became the discretion of the county commission.
Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure said he and Wood County Administrator Marty Seufer met with the Wood County Planning Commission this week.
"The overall consensus from the planning commission was they felt the ordinance just needed to be repealed and done away with," Lefebure said.
He said the county could repeal it and do away with it and the county would follow the state guidelines. Officials have said the state's regulations were not as strict as the county's and would allow for a distance of around 300 feet from the affected properties.
The other options was to completely rework the ordinance.
"It would take some time to do, but it could be done," Lefebure said.
He said other counties have done or reworked ordinance and others have not, choosing to follow the state guidelines.
Kanawha, Putnam and Raleigh counties have done it while Cabell, Monongalia and Harrison counties have decided just to leave it to the state.
"There is not a majority one way or the other that I have seen," Lefebure said of counties of similar size.
Many of the counties with the ordinance also have zoning in place, he said. Wood County does not have zoning out in the county.
Couch said the county is not involved in doing the leg work for someone to legally open a bar, that is handled through the state.
Williamstown, Parkersburg and Vienna have ordinance on video lottery because they have zoning, officials said.
Seufer said people looking to establish video lottery establishments would still have to notify the county, through a single form stating the county had no zoning in place, but most of the work would be done through the state.
"I still believe the state does a good job," Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said.
Elizabeth Fordyce, with the Committee of Concerned Citizens for Williamstown, spoke about the differences in opinions of the commission with Couch against expanding video lottery and Colombo and Commissioner Robert Tebay wanting to let free enterprise play out in guiding business.
She said such establishments have preyed on people locally to the point people are addicted to gambling, regularly spending a lot of money for little or no payoff.
"People don't choose to become addicted to gambling," Fordyce said in response to the argument that people make the decision to play these machines. "Let's take care of people."
Lefebure said the county can always revisit the matter at a future date if it is determined an ordinance is necessary. Couch suggested looking into whether the county can put a cap on the number of machines allowed in the county as something to consider if the ordinance is brought back.
"We can always bring it back," Lefebure said.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com