COMMENTARY:
Town Should Engage on County Development

By WAYNE CREED

December 17, 2013

As was reported in the Wave, the Cape Charles Planning Commission continues to mull ideas around Route 13 development. This is a critical role at a critical time, and could be argued is their most important task. There have been comments that Cape Charles is already “business ready” and that development should somehow only be directed towards the Town. I’m not convinced a waste water plant and six policemen constitute “business ready” — the reality is that the County will eventually develop outside of town; it has to. It is important that Cape Charles stays engaged so that we can have a voice in how this development takes place.

Unfortunately, the folks in Cape Charles running point on this issue have extremely limited and somewhat backwards notions of just what development means. As usual, they defer to antiquated, sprawl-promoting plans that include hotels and strip malls. In the end, these industries provide little economic boost, and destroy rural character in the process.

Sustainable rural development must become the fundamental principle which underpins our development goals — a multifaceted approach to managing our environmental, economic, and social resources for the long term. The hope is to reverse out-migration, combat poverty, stimulate employment and equality of opportunity, and ultimately improve rural well-being in not just Cape Charles but also the County.

The focus and framework should be around agriculture, medium-scale industries, rural services, and tourism. These policies should promote development which sustains the Eastern Shore’s rural landscapes by proactively protecting natural resources, biodiversity, and our cultural identity. In other words, meet the needs of the present without compromising the Shore’s future.

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What does all this really mean? Our heritage has been agriculture and the water. It is critical that future development opportunities embrace this heritage moving forward. Young farmers, as well as entrepreneurs in aquaculture and even freshwater fisheries, have the most direct contact with the natural environment in rural areas like ours. Establishing an economic base for farmers and other rural entrepreneurs is essential to maintaining a viable rural economy.

When we think of high-tech, we usually don’t think of farming, but we need to recognize that agriculture is a science that is continually innovating, searching for the best approach using better seeds, water efficient technologies, nutrients, pest and weed management, and soil conservation. The clean-tech space inside the agriculture sector offers several avenues for growth, and is an example of the kind of industries that could be exploited here on the Shore. Micro and drip irrigation technologies that reduce water usage, as well as work in natural pesticides, are some examples of fast-growing sectors in agricultural clean-tech.

Integrated within the agricultural space is the clean-tech water industry. Waste water use and general filtration are sectors that could be integrated into our existing economy. The world’s water consumption continues to grow and it is likely that there will be room for growth in this industry for many years to come.

Although animal farming is not conducive to Northampton, work in and around that sector still offers opportunity. Livestock Water Recycling has developed a patented system that combines chemical and mechanical treatments to process manure and discharged water from concentrated animal feeding operations. This work is critical, especially as towns and cities continue to encroach on farmland. This work could be done here, and used by poultry farmers all over the Delmarva.

Other sectors that could be a good fit for us are natural fertilizers, biological control of weeds, pests, and disease, precision irrigation and fertilization, land management, biotechnology, transport decay prevention, controlled environment agriculture (including hydroponics, aeroponics, vertical farming, and improved greenhouses).

Tourism and hospitality is also a major player in rural areas like ours, but the topic is too large and multi-faceted to go into here.

Development out in the County must occur, and should be a focus. To tell industries that they are only allowed to come to Northampton if they are willing to endure a town run like Cape Charles, is naive, not to mention ludicrous. It is very competitive out there, and getting industries to locate here is going to take more than the promise of six cops and a public works crew. The incentives have to be rich: infrastructure, acreage, and tax breaks.

Many will fight the effort, but our growth and viability as a community hinge on our ability to push the necessary infrastructure out in the County. Yet, if pipes are going to be run from the Cape Charles plant out to the highway, this endeavor needs to be a cooperative effort between the Town and the County, sharing cost, including future expansion and maintenance expenses. In that vein, it is critical that Cape Charles remains engaged with the PSA, as well as keeping, and trusting our Planning Commission to stay on point as initiatives in the County continue.

If we agree that we do need more development opportunities, then we as a community must also determine just what that means. Presently, the waste water plant is an albatross, but down the road it could give us the leverage we need to create a proper development narrative that takes into account the link between this land, our people, and technology. This narrative should be watched closely, and our elected officials and commission members should be robustly interrogated about where they stand on the issue of economic development in Northampton. As you know, May elections are just a few months away.

Submissions to COMMENTARY are welcome on any subject relevant to Cape Charles. Opinions expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily of this publication.