Referring to the $6,750 independent report on how to make “Northampton County More Competitive (or business friendly): The report by the paid consultants on how to make Northampton County attractive to new business prospects also gave this county very high marks on its “core industries,” and urged the Board to support, foster, and fuel these economic engines. The cornerstones of sustainable growth in this county, the authors concluded, are agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, and small businesses. Indeed, small business employs 25% of those working in the county, and that percentile is steadily growing. The report also recommended that the Board not pursue more industrial parks like the stagnant STIP in Cape Charles. More interesting, the report did not mention zoning once as a roadblock to attracting new business investment in Northampton County.

Now, after spending that money on this report, you would think that some of the recommendations that were offered by the consultants would at least be given the raise of an administrative eyebrow from those who set this wheel in motion. No such chance. The proposed county-wide zoning targets our core industries by, among other things: rezoning nearly 3,000 acres of agricultural land to residential allowing multiple houses on 1, 3, and 5 acres (along with guest houses now without a glance towards the neighbors; slicing the current 250-foot width of shoreline lots in Oyster and Willis Wharf to less than 60 feet (due to Peter Stith’s magical way to measure this line) with resultant multiple septic systems and docks accompanying each lot (impact to aquaculture); allowing houses to be built on 1/2 acre lots on the waterfront parcels in Oyster and Willis Wharf and other seaside towns; encouraging uses on agricultural land such as prisons, waste incinerators (waste-related) biofuels refineries, large scale chicken houses (up to 20,000 birds), race tracks, migrant labor camps, wastewater treatment plants, manure storage, and other uses, many without requiring notice to neighbors; and encouraging paving and strip malls along Route 13, the only area where our sole source aquifer can get recharged from rainwater. Note also Chairman LeMond has announced that the Board will eliminate Agricultural and Forestal Districts when they come up for renewal, forcing many farmland owners to pay up to 5 times the real estate taxes they pay now. While this may benefit real estate entrepreneurs like Mr. Parr, it certainly is no way to support our main core industry.

One more thing, Mr. Creed: While you may paint those of us who wish to be more involved in a rezoning process as “privileged white gentry” (a broad-brush stroke that is not your norm), many of those on this side are very upset that the county is banning single-wide mobile homes from many zoning districts, and, while being a blatant violation of the Fair Housing Act, this rezoning will probably not affect the “privileged” but most definitely will affect many others not deserving of this denial of affordable housing options.

Again, the Board needs to withdraw this insane attack on this county’s environmental, social, and economic future which is apparently driven by special interests at the expense of PUBLIC interest, and sit down with those of us who pay their salaries to work out our differences. We are waiting at the table — we’ll even pull out a chair for you.
Ken Dufty

But before I start and beg your indulgence, let me make one reference modification, just for clarity. Rather than using the term “proponents” for those who want to change the current Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinance to more closely reflect the Ocean City model (as stated by County Administrator Nunez), hereafter I will refer to that group as “the government.” And, rather than calling those of us who prefer to move this county forward in the context of the realities of the lower Eastern Shore “opponents” or “privileged white gentry” as Mr. Creed labels them, in this response I’ll simply call them “the citizens.”

Mr. Creed obviously missed the report submitted to the Northampton County Board of Supervisors by Massachusetts-based Investment Consultant Associates, who were paid $6,750 from the citizens coffers to make recommendations as to how the county could become more competitive and attract new investment from prospective business ventures. The study was commissioned by Charles McSwain, the county’s Economic Development Director. The report laid out a comprehensive and well-detailed plan to reset the breaker on what is perceived as a stagnant business climate, and recommended steps for seeding and fertilizing Northampton County’s economic future. The report was couched in the terms of a “business site selector” and answered the question of why aren’t more businesses looking to move their operations and workforce to Northampton County.

The report concluded that a business, when considering a new site, has a list of “must haves” before they will choose a final site. They require good, highly accredited schools, as well as high quality and locally accessible health care and services. Business “101” demands reliable high speed Internet and dependable cell phone service. The study reported that most serious businesses require access to Interstate Highways (ideally within 5 miles), and basic and affordable infrastructure (including water supplies that are not limited).

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So, in light of that fallacious example, what are simpletons like me left to believe, or trust? If you want to focus on design or engineering flaws in the new proposal (or the current zoning ordinance and Comprehensive Plan for that matter), there’s certainly fertile ground there, but you have to do better than water quality phantasms and scallops. Another confusing aspect of this argument is just what new damages/dangers are the changes to the zoning ordinance going to cause, that the western watershed hasn’t already mastered (if you’ve ever sailed across the mouth of the Potomac, then you know what I mean). And, if you’re worried about what increased industrial agriculture will do, Bay Act or not, well that cow’s been out the barn for 150 years. On the flip side, there’s no indication or model that the new proposal will do anything to generate meaningful employment (economic development?) Meaningful employment requires a meaningful work force, and the current socio-economic reality does not support that at all. There’s a reason Apple computer is based in Cupertino. From a public relations standpoint, the BOS has to be able to demonstrate, in a concrete manner, how the zoning changes are going to benefit us.

As usual, each side is wrong, each after its own fashion, each using its vision of zoning nirvana as a hammer to beat the other down. The privileged white gentry are against the new zoning proposal, mainly to protect their pristine and elegant creekside views from invasion by the ordinary people. The privileged white developers are for it, mainly to fill their greasy tills, no matter what this means to, or how it devastates the fundamental rural character of the lower shore. All this meaningless chatter will ultimately end in the usual perverse stalemate — it will once again gloss over our horrible inability, or refusal, to accept the savage reality of many who live on the shore. Caught in the middle are the poor, underserved, and underprivileged. When it’s all said and done the working poor will have to pay the price with pills that kill; why not, when long-term plans seem so out of reach, so doomed, why go through the charade of playing the game any longer? Most of us listening to this inane babble can’t help but feel the weight of our non-importance, which is then generalized into personal symbolic significance. Northampton’s poverty is not a textbook villain. It insists on being dealt with on its own terms, and we, of course, refuse to meet, or even negotiate those terms, always for the most selfish reasons.

The Shore may be a good place to retire, but as the Sex Pistols said, there’s no future for anyone else. For kids, there’s only one way out — the county school system. Dudes, just get to college or technical school any way you can. Take a close look at this place — have you really listened to these people? The only savior you can rely on is yourself. Leave, cross the bridge, and never look back. Skip the CBES pig roast, become a vegan, stay thin, and go to the city, whence “heat and light radiates out into the darkness.” Then get a good bike, some Beats and play Sid Vicious’ “My Way” real loud. Do that, and good on ‘ya.