As to Bobby Robert’s theory that the “whole mess is starting to smell” like GENTRIFICATION, that has been my partial take on the situation since I sat down to read the entire draft zoning ordinance just hours before the March 11, 2014, Public Hearing at Northampton High School (shame on me for not being more involved in county issues before that 12th hour!). The elitists apparently working the strings of the Supervisors (‘cept’n Hogg, who refuses to have those knots tied) seem obsessed with transforming this county into a bustling upscale retirement destination, abandoning the assets which set us far above the cookie-cutter likeness of Virginia Beach and Ocean City.

As the recently-commissioned Competitive Assessment Study recommended, in order to REALLY become more business friendly, the Board should be encouraging and marketing our core industries, the engines driving our local economy. These include agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, small business, and tourism, many of which lead the state and nation in their ranking and growth. The report also directed the Board to cure the real ills stopping growth in the county, such as lack of high-speed Internet, reliable cell phone service, better quality schools, accessible and affordable health care, and the development of a trained and ready workforce.

Instead, the Board has set a course which can only be described as a campaign to gentrify the county, driving taxes higher and ensuring that those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder will have even a more difficult time remaining on the lower Shore. A few of the examples that support Mr. Robert’s gentrification theory are:

1) Proposed elimination of the Agricultural and Forestal Districts, a program which encourages landowners to keep their land in active farming by matching real estate assessments with the actual use of the land. The elimination of these districts will undoubtedly force those who rely on this state-sponsored program to consider selling their land, which will probably be snatched up by the real estate professionals riding high on the backs of the Board for pennies on the dollar.

2) Scheming to run unnecessary sewer lines from areas like Cheriton, while forcing mandatory hook-ups and billing to unwilling homeowners, many who could be on limited fixed-incomes (let’s drive out those poor people so the developers can accomplish their Ocean City dream!).

3) Pursuing developer-driven schemes that will only raise taxes for all of us in Northampton County, such as the pie-in-the-sky and simply ridiculous proposal to run that sewer line from the Food Lion Plaza area to Cape Charles, with plans to pass the cost of that project onto all of the taxpayers of Northampton County. Note that every time taxes are raised in this county, although perhaps causing our County Administrator to salivate, it makes it harder for those hanging on to the lower Shore with their economic fingernails to stay afloat. Accidental gentrification? I don’t think so.

4) Eliminating mobile home parks as a legal zoning district. This nearly insane and clearly transparent attempt to gentrify this county is not only a complete example of immorality and social irresponsibility (where is Mr. Bennett on this one?), it violates federal programs that are in place to ensure that such elitist attempts are thwarted, even at a judicial level.

The Board continues to cry poverty, and claims that we need more revenue in our coffers to keep this county solvent. But at the same time our County Administrator encourages this Board to spend money like crazed drunken sailors, and it is acting on this advice which drives us closer the edge of an economic crisis. But that is another letter to be written and considered by the Cape Charles Wave and others. Not enough room or energy for that now — but stay tuned. It is absolutely mind-boggling. In the meantime, thanks again to this publication and also to Mr. Toner who not only hit the nail squarely on the head with his “Virginia Beach” letter, but drove it firmly home. Happy Holidays to all — see you on the front lines — which will be VERY interesting in 2015!

The person that wrote that article was right 100%, it’s fear that you are all being expected to swallow. For the first time we have Supervisiors that have more guts than the previous ones that served on the Board.