For the past 32 years, Lee Crook has made a living being a planner.
He has carved out a professional reputation for being meticulous about details and a master of thousands of pages of county ordinances, plans, maps and other records. So it might shock some to learn that someone so focused on plans and their details didn’t really have a plan for his future when he graduated from North Davidson High School in 1987.
That’s a fact that makes the now 56-year-old, who recently was appointed Davidson County planning and zoning director, smile.
“I had no clue what I wanted to do when I graduated,” he said. “I went to Western Carolina University and took an aptitude test. It told me what I would be good at doing. It showed I would be good at geography. I never thought that someone had to make all those maps. I liked maps, but I also knew I had to make a living.”
He decided to major in geography, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1992, it was in the planning classes that went along with a geography major that he found his calling.
“I had no direction when I started college,” he said. “The aptitude test took me down that track.”
Now looking back at 32 years of planning and zoning in Davidson County, Crook said, he has no regrets staying here for his entire career. First, he found a “work family” when he reported to work.
“Guy (Cornman), Scott (Leonard) and all the others were so supportive,” he said of the past two directors of the planning and zoning department. “I learned a lot.”
Support also came from all the former county managers and the members of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, as well as the county’s legal department, he added.
County Manager Casey Smith said Crook has earned that support.
“Mr. Crook has 30 plus years of experience with the county,” he said. “His knowledge, integrity and professionalism are invaluable, and the county is greatly appreciative to have him as the next planning and zoning director.”
While he has always enjoyed his work, he knows not everyone enjoys hearing a planning or zoning officer say they cannot do something on or with their property.
“You can hear from some irate people,” he said. “It’s all part of the job. We just remain professional.”
Working for Davidson County wasn’t his first job out of college, however. A tight job market in 1992 offered no jobs in planning.
“I went to work for Stanley Steamer after graduation,” he said. “I had a wife and a baby to support. I cleaned carpets.”
Next, he went to work for Penske, and a friend who worked for the N.C. Employment Security Commission kept an eye on a six-county region for job openings. When he called in 1993 to tell Crook about a zoning officer position available in Davidson County, Crook applied quickly. He recalls applying on a Wednesday, getting an interview on Thursday and having the job offered to him on Friday.
Crook said it was great to be able to launch his career in his home county and to feel supported and see those above him working to create opportunities for upward career movement. Planning and zoning is a small department. When he arrived there was basically Cornman in the director’s position and several zoning officers. He was thankful that Cornman went to bat for his employees and created promotion opportunities such as a zoning officer II position, a deputy zoning administrator position and eventually creating an assistant director of planning and zoning position that Crook held until being named the director.
When he’s not acting as the director of planning and zoning, Crook has two other passions where he loves to spend his time — with his family, wife Angie Shoaf Cook and their two sons, and delving into historical places, specifically military and local historical sites. He has served on the Yadkin River Park board and helped bring the plans for it to fruition. The park has significant ties to the American Revolution and, most notably, the Civil War. He is also a member of the Davidson County Civil War Roundtable. The members gather regularly to discuss the war, locals who were involved and where battles were fought.
Additionally, he serves on the Wachovia Historical Society board — which works to preserve and share the history of the Moravian Church and the development of North Carolina — and formerly served on the Davidson County Parks and Recreation Board and the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail Commission.
His interest in history began with his grandmother taking him to visit their ancestors’ graves. He remembers reading on the tombstone of his great-grandfather Daniel F. Kinney that he was a member of the 7th N.C. Company and a first lieutenant in the Civil War.
“That sparked the interest and stoked the flames that grew into a fire for me and history,” he said.
One of his historical items that he is most proud of is a survey map from the 1700s bearing the name of William Davidson, for whom Davidson County is named. Davidson was an Revolutionary War general who died in 1781 at the Battle of Cowan Ford. The map hangs on his office wall.
Crook said he believes that studying history, particularly the people and places of Davidson County, has helped him in his career.
“I feel validated in getting appointed to this opportunity,” he said, “and that the commissioners and management appreciate what I have done for the county. I look forward to continuing this and handing down my experience to the staff. We are working in a challenging world. I know I am in the twilight of my career. ... I look forward to the next chapter.”
