LETTER: Citizens Should Oppose Rezoning NOW

November 24, 2014

DEAR EDITOR,

Several of our key Northampton elected and salaried officials apparently have taken zoning matters into their own hands thus necessitating the Shore citizens groups’ volunteer forum November 6 to bring us up to speed — in a cordial, impressively professional manner — on the complexities of the disturbing scenario. We owe CBES [Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore] and Shorekeeper our gratitude and respect.

Four centuries ago the original Shore inhabitants were blindsided with the arrival of Europeans who in short order — a generation or so — transformed forever their heritage and way of life by relocating them (displacement) to a reservation, the 52 acre fragment of which remains today as Indiantown Park, Eastville seaside. No matter that the natives were friendly and peaceful, used coastal waterways as their highways, and were not prone to fouling their own nests as they moved back and forth seasonally from their small scattered settlements.

Equally soon by early spring of 1651-1652 the invasive settlers found cause to protest excessive taxation in the first such demonstration in American history. So, you see, dramatic earth shaking and shaping events can happen very quickly. We may be on a similar precipice.

Thus far our elected officials — save one — propose opening Pandora’s box for unbridled development on our rural lower peninsula, not only with the potential for a bar in Franktown as our hospital closes down, but also more seriously with unannounced nasty wastes and dangerous biomass uses. Their unleashed rezoning ignores state code requiring a (formerly carefully crafted) Comprehensive Plan as its foundation, the format of which was defined by Northampton citizen input over an extended period. Thankfully our Comp Plan, aka the backbone approved by state code, remains a flexible document in that it can be adjusted or amended when necessary. Critics of rezoning often have cited this key advantage. So if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

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Why why why the loss already to our community in time and precious taxpayers’ dollars when critical issues such as medical care, education and servicing a huge debt await? In view of our situation it’s not surprising that the Legatum Institute has revealed that U.S. citizens’ personal freedom ranking has fallen from 9th to 21st worldwide in four years.

We’ll wager that thrifty citizens, no matter how short or long time a resident of Northampton County, will continue to make it very clear to the Board of Supervisors how much they treasure the Shore’s attributes and their own rights, while acknowledging that there already exist proper channels through which to address zoning issues as they arise. The time to speak up is now. Before the holiday rush.

Please address your further concerns to [email protected] and the Board with a request that they be entered into the public record, while keeping a copy for yours. Simply stating that you wish the proposed rezoning to be withdrawn is sufficient.

WENDY MARTIN
Eastville

Letters to the Editor are welcome, and a diversity of opinions is encouraged. Send submissions to [email protected].

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One Response to “LETTER: Citizens Should Oppose Rezoning NOW”

  1. Leo and Sherry Borrorp on November 24th, 2014 10:26 pm

    We pay taxes so we should have a right to vote on this, and I say NO REZONING. If you own LAND here, YOU LIVE HERE. What goes on does include all those living and paying taxes — COME-HERES or NOT!