Andy Teeling Rallies School Supporters; Supervisors Approve Eyre Baldwin’s Plans for Oyster

By WAYNE CREED
Cape Charles Wave

May 18, 2015

The May 12 regular meeting of the Northampton Board of Supervisors once again hosted a standing room only crowd, and once more, it was education that dominated the discussion.

Andy Teeling addressed the board with his vision of a “small, rural, waterfront county” that, at all levels, is a community fully invested in revitalizing our schools and getting personally connected with the students. With this came a resolution calling for a renewed partnership between the Board of Supervisors, the School Board, and the community to use education as driver for future economic development.

“The path to economic recovery, the path is simple,” said Teeling. “We must improve our schools. We each have to ask, ‘what can we do for our schools?’ By helping each student reach their potential . . . we will reap dividends for our economy.”

The core of Teeling’s vision included a county that takes the initiative to promote education to drive the economy, that launches a mentorship program that involves retirees with trade and business backgrounds, that sees a surge of parental involvement, and finally, that brings new business to the Shore that are attracted by the education initiatives.

Supervisor Granville Hogg said, “We have just given back $20,000 that was a grant for industry-specific technical training, for workplace skills for entry level jobs — industrial technology. Though I’m fully in support of the resolution, we have let another opportunity slip through our fingers, only because there were not enough enrollments in the course. That, ladies and gentleman, falls on you all. We need to bring students in, to interest them, to provide them with a job and a way to make a living.”

A resolution that echoed Teeling’s call for a renewed partnership passed unanimously. Although several commentators piled on the Teeling presentation with heartstring, backslapping appeals, others, feeling the full weight of the reality on the ground, and a sense of just how daunting the task really is, also addressed the board.

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Bobby Richardson of Seaview admonished the Supervisors, “Things can’t get better until we stop the decline. People are leaving the county because they can’t find gainful employment. We need to get jobs here. Good jobs, good clean work.”

Russell Travis desperately echoed a similar sentiment. “I support everything people have said. I was a product of the public schools too. The children, they are the future, but we are in the present. We do not have jobs, or industry — how can things get better, some children don’t have food, because their parents don’t have jobs, and they cannot support their children. We need industry in Northampton, but instead, we are losing it every day. Give the people of today, give them jobs.”

Despite all the rhetoric about fixing the schools, for others, (wary of group agendas even if they marginally agree with the cause), the feeling is that the academic condition of county schools may not be as dire as many perceive it to be, and there is still a nagging feeling that there is a severe disconnect and misconception about what is really going on in Northampton County — even as almost everyone would applaud this genre of remedies, the idea of old timers mentoring the hip hop culture of our youths seems morbidly quaint.

The answers do not appear to be addressing the fundamental questions, and are tiptoeing around the core problems of race, class, and culture that lie simmering in the belly of this county. From a frontline, cultural perspective, there was no mention of how to address the bullying epidemic at Northampton High, no talk of programs for the victims or the bully. No mention of the enormous void of mental health services on the Shore (there is literally only one child psychiatrist, and the availability is only a few days a week).

How many cases of mental illness go undiagnosed or untreated (from depression to ADHD to oppositional defiant disorder), and how do these underlying factors affect the day to day operations of the classroom?

There was no mention of true support or training for teacher’s aids (who are sometimes required take on some of the most challenging students in the classroom).

Relative to fixing things, is there any dialog about fixing the rampant nepotism that always seems to take precedent over the true well-being of the children? And, as Richardson and Travis warned, unless there is something that can break the cycle of poverty, the seas along this waterfront county may remain choppy for some time.

The drumbeat against the proposed zoning ordinance changes continued, as several citizens made public comments hoping to slow or end the revisions. Martina Coker spoke against the changes: “This will lead to a degradation of property values, water quality, and the environment, and there is no guarantee it will create jobs — it is not supported by the data. You need to work with the citizens of the county, to make changes that are supported by the data.”

Bob Meyers followed: “It has been made clear that your proposals are inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan and contrary to what was expressed to you in written reports from citizen stakeholder meetings. The problem has been enumerated to you clearly, and it is beyond my comprehension why you are continuing to move forward. It is apparent that four of you are micromanaging the process without any idea that zoning is based on Commonwealth code.”

“What is the plan?” asked David Kabler. “What are you going to do? I have a little advice please. You can bring the community together; you are aware of the hundreds, or maybe thousands of citizens against the proposal. Now you have this plan to focus on education, I’d like to know how you are going to uncross your eyes on education when right now the community is divided. The one action you can take is to withdraw that ordinance and put it in the trash can — because that is where it belongs.”

Also on the agenda were two joint public hearings with the Planning Commission to review Special Use Permit requests by Cherrystone, LLC, to operate guide/outfitter services, waterfront service with accessory goods/services (kayaks, ecotourism), as well as a one room inn on Sunnyside Road in Oyster.

The applicant, Eyre Baldwin, previously addressed the board during the citizen information period, specifically taking aim at the current zoning, and how it affects his work in Oyster. “I have spent my whole life going out of Oyster, and now, there are three different zonings we have to deal with to do anything there. Under the current zoning, you can’t retail oysters, can’t wholesale oysters, or process oysters in Oyster. Under the current zoning, it is illegal to do anything (beside shuck them) with oysters. Isn’t that crazy? What are we supposed to do with oysters in Oyster?”

Supervisor Granville Hogg voiced his concerns in regards to verbiage in the request that says occupants of the inn will only be involved in “short term stays,” and just what that means. Hogg also asked the applicant how the one room inn would play into the county transient occupancy tax.

Baldwin responded that the main use of the inn would be for people involved in aquaculture, or endeavors related to it — “99% of the people staying overnight in that room will have an educated understanding about aquaculture, and just what is happening in Cherrystone Creek. Whether it’s Cherrystone Aqua Farms or the Sturgis’ across the creek, what is going on there now is phenomenal.”

Hogg also noted that he wanted to see Baldwin’s plan regarding what he would do about the Health Department report. Baldwin responded that the report was a moot point unless the Supervisors approved the request, since the Health Department would not get involved until there was an approval.

The permits were approved 4-1, with Hogg voting against.