They also continually diverged into concerns about county road conditions. Bob Hein, chair of the Marion County Board of Commissioners, had to remind the gathering of fewer than 50 persons in the Marion High School commons that the hearing was called to discuss planning and zoning rules, and not roads.

Some discussion of roads may have been tolerated because speakers linked road upkeep to economic well-being that is affected by planning and zoning rules.

The tone of the public statements seemed to be aimed only at further relaxation of restrictions. Only one speaker addressed the changes in planning and zoning rules made last year that are supposed to allow more rural housing while protecting agriculture.

Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission reminded participants that those rules are available to read in booklets at the county courthouse and health department.

Dan Levering, Marion, said current zoning acreage restrictions and rural housing restrictions are "running people out of here who want to build...not letting them come in."

At the same time, he said farms are covering "many, many acres," but the farmers "are getting taxed pretty hard."

Levering said "our roads aren't the best," but he encouraged county commissioners to work with what they have. He called on them to consider buying used road equipment when possible instead of spending more money for new equipment.

Levering said Coffey County, where he used to live, is an example of a county that experienced development most people didn't favor-the Wolf Creek Power Plant-but it has benefitted that county with upgraded roads.

He said Marion County restrictions and attitudes should be relaxed to allow more development.

Marion Toland, who lives at Marion County Lake, said he was thrown into a confusing situation with county zoning rules last fall when he and his wife looked at buying a property south of Florence with a second home on the property.

He said he was told by Zoning Director David Brazil that the home could be developed into a guest house, but not as a permanent second residence. Now, he said, since he no longer is involved in buying the property, the owners there have been told they are allowed to have a hired hand move into the same house.

Toland asked whether the rules are too arbitrary and unclear. He said they seem designed to restrict people instead of allowing them to fulfill what they want to do within guidelines.

Clifford Hett, who lives south of Marion, said his area has "big cross-country power lines" where wind turbine electrical generation companies would like to locate wind farms, but the county zoning rules are saying to these companies, "Stay out of Marion County.

"We haven't even asked these wind farm companies what they want," Hett said. "We make all these regulations, but we don't have the expertise for them, and the companies do. We're going at it the wrong way."

Hett said the county needs development, but writes too many regulations that restrict it. He said persons who protest the wind turbines because of sky clutter don't seem to stop to think that they have power lines and other developments within their line of sight across the sky now.

"They learn to look past it," he said.

Jim Schmidt, from near Goessel, said many people want to locate on small rural acreages in his part of the county because they can commute with ease to industrial jobs in places like Newton. He said he had a quarter-mile-long, six-acre strip that he could sell off into smaller plots if the county would allow it.

Schmidt said county regulations not allowing mobile homes on rural acreages are too restrictive.

"Many people in my age group who put a trailer in on a small acreage eventually built a house instead as they became better off," he said.

Schmidt contended that mobile homes could be a step along the road toward higher valuation.

Richard Meisinger from northwest of Marion said he wasn't sure "what the purpose of this meeting is," since the regulations the county just put in place last year "were a big step in allowing more development" but haven't been given a chance to work yet.

"I don't think we should just abandon the policies we have since the county went to a lot of time and expense with highly paid professionals to get them," he said.

Meisinger countered claims that allowing unrestricted placement of mobile homes would help valuation. He said low-value homes "don't pay their way."

He said mobile homes wouldn't be paying taxes for under $20,000 value, which means farm land owners with a 35 percent of valuation tax rate would be subsidizing mobile home owners on everything from roads to schools.

Meisinger said he recently traveled through an area north of Emporia and got an idea what unrestricted growth in Marion County could look like: continuous development of mobile homes and unfinished homes intermingled with higher-value homes.

He also doubted that the boom in rural housing will continue in the same way it has because, as fuel prices continue to go up, "people who have wanted to live in the country will find it more desirable to live in the country and will begin to want to live closer to where their jobs are. They won't want to continue to fight the wind, the snow and the roads."

Meisinger said the new zoning regulations already allow more development in the southwestern part of the county, where there is a proximity to more jobs.

"We need to stay the course with the current policy with only fine tuning," he said. "We don't want to pursue something just because it sounds good today only to have problems in the future. Our plan was well written by people who have seen problems develop before, and who know how to deal with them."

Harry Bennett, from southwest of Marion, commended the commissioners for having the meeting, and suggested that more regular public commentary sessions would be good for everybody.

Bennett said Marion County residents are faced with being a minority rural culture in the midst of a country with more economic resources and abilities to affect them.

He said the residents are faced with decisions regarding people "who want what we have," and how we will live within the culture. He suggested the commissioners need to error on the side of caution in determining what to allow.

Bennett said the main question seems to be, "Do we want more people to come here to live, and what do we want to do to let it happen? I enjoy living here. We've found it a marvelous place to live. How can we preserve it as good, and still bring others here to share it with us?

Bennett said the county wants to continue to have services like hospitals, but without at least some further development, it may find that it is too small to continue them.

Charles Kannady, real estate agent from Marion, called for allowing more one- and two-acre housing tracts in rural areas because he said that's what people want. He said that from an economic point of view, requiring a 40-acre plot is "obsolete."

He said people who really want larger acreages buy more than 40 acres.

Kannady said it will be younger people the county really needs who buy the smallest acreages. People in their 50s or older, he said, usually want to build in town where they are closer to care facilities.

He said small-acreage housing will pay more taxes than big tracts of agricultural land.

Bill Holderman, Marion, said the county needs more housing and development for a bigger tax base.

"This county has had its head in the sand for 60 years, and it doesn't seem to want any growth," he said.

Jim Davis, Marion, said Marion County children are educated at an expense to everyone, and then grow up to leave the county because there are insufficient jobs here. He said development is needed to create more opportunity for young people.

Bob Maxwell, a Planning and Zoning Commission member from rural Marion, said he was happy to see a group turn out for discussion. He said the Planning and Zoning Commission meets monthly, and would welcome anyone in for more discussion.

"Don't sit out there, and be grumbling in your beer, wondering what's going on," Maxwell said. "Come see us."