For the past few years, Lynn Barnes has been a vocal activist against what he has called rampant and unguided development at Smith Mountain Lake.

Now the 16-year lake resident and supporter of managed growth will be working more closely with Bedford County officials as a member of the county's planning commission.

"He has been an outspoken advocate for lake issues, and he's raised some good points," Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said.

The county board of supervisors appointed Barnes last week to fill the commission's Moneta District seat being vacated by Gurnie Feazell.

Feazell is resigning because he's moving out of the district.

Barnes will assume the seat Aug. 1 and plans to seek reappointment in January. That's when Feazell's term was to expire.

Barnes, 62, is a retired human resources manager who worked at General Electric in a number of states, ending with Ericsson GE in Lynchburg. He's interested in managing growth throughout the county, not just the "explosive pace" of growth at the lake.

"I think this is an opportune time for Bedford County to really bring together ... good land use planning," he said.

Two years ago, Barnes led the Concerned Citizens for Craddock Creek in a dispute with the county over development at Mariners Landing Golf & Lake Community. The grass-roots organization opposed developer John White's plans to build a series of six-story time share condominiums and hundreds of accompanying boat slips in the lake's Craddock Creek section.

At the time, the planning commission approved the project because it met the county's current zoning regulations. The board of supervisors, however, seemed caught off guard in October 2003 when Barnes and dozens of Concerned Citizen members complained that the project's size was out of proportion with the majority of single-family homes in the neighborhood.

In subsequent editorials and letters to the editor in local newspapers, Barnes and other lake residents spotlighted a growing controversy between residents and developers over where and how the lake community should grow.

One of the six-story buildings at Mariners Landing has been built. It contains a restaurant and conference center. In a compromise with residents, White has scaled back three other buildings to four stories.

To prevent future high-rise projects from being built unless a special use permit is approved, the supervisors added a 45-foot height restriction to the county's zoning ordinances.

"I think it became obvious that a height ordinance was needed," Barnes said.

White is applying for approval to build the boat slips for his development through Appalachian Power Co. under its Shoreline Management Plan. The controversial plan, approved last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, allows the power company to regulate all on-water construction.

Elected officials from the three counties that surround the lake are concerned the plan could take away some of their governing power over lake development. Barnes, however, has said he approves of the plan because the counties have failed to regulate growth themselves.

Moneta District supervisor Chuck Neudorfer made the motion to appoint Barnes. Neudorfer said Barnes is qualified because he has attended the county's Citizen Planning Academy, regularly attended supervisors meetings, and, as a representative of the Smith Mountain Lake Association, has worked to educate lake residents on growth issues.

"I have a lot of respect for his intelligence and abilities," Neudorfer said.