ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY (WSLS 10) -Â A group hoping to put up an 80 foot tall pole to display the Confederate Flag had its plan denied Wednesday by the Rockbridge County Tourism Corridor Overlay Review Board.
The Virginia Flaggers have been submitting requests for flagpoles all around the City of Lexington, and the hearing Wednesday highlighted how divided people are on the issue.
The review board said it had studied other flagpoles along the Route 60 corridor, and none of them were nearly as large as the one at the 60 West Pawn Shop.
That flag was four times taller than the store itself, and the county said it did not fit in with the area's image, but store owner Brian Rowsey said he feels like the city and county are not worried about the pole, but about the symbol it is flying.
"It was the flag issue, it wasn't a pole issue," said Rowsey.
Rowsey's flag pole now lies on the ground off Route 60.
He said it should be hoisting a Confederate Flag like several others throughout the county.
"None of the other poles has a building permit, none of them in the whole county, and they single me out saying that I needed the building permit, and that's not right," said Rowsey.
The denial in an open meeting of the Tourism Review Board Wednesday was the latest in a long fight with the county that began back on January12th.
Assistant Community Development Director Chris Slaydon said initially, the flag was too close to the road.
"We wrote the actual zoning violation letter that gave them 30 days to appeal the decision that this was considered a structure. That appeal was not made, and we gave them 45 days to remove the structure themselves. They did not remove the structure within 45 days," said Slaydon.
The organization sponsoring the flag, called the Virginia Flaggers, was fined $400 in court for the violation.
Rowsey took it down, but now said this new violation has no bearing.
"That is not in the code book, saying that a structure cannot be four times the size of the building," said Rowsey.
Still, several people got up to support the board's decision Wednesday.
"This group has already petitioned for two other flags in our area that are currently up, so it seems they have an aim to surround the City of Lexington with Confederate Flags, and that I don't think is in keeping with the spirit of the people in Lexington or Rockbridge County," said Pastor Lyndon Sayers, of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lexington.
Rowsey said, he understands that point of view, but does not believe those opinions should affect what he does with his private property.
"[The Review Board] won't give me permission to cut a tree, they tell me the color to paint my building, it's terrible," said Rowsey.
The Virginia Flaggers said they plan to appeal the board's decision to be heard by the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors.
That board meets next Monday.