Why, after so many decades of keeping out factory farming of chickens, would a pristine county like Northampton even begin to consider letting this “farming” method in?

Why when Maryland is doing everything it can to roll back its laws that let commercial chicken farms operate freely, would Northampton County take a step towards allowing this to happen here?

Why when Accomack County is reconsidering its own setbacks for commercial chicken farms, would we open ours up?

Why when our motto is “You’ll Love Our Nature” would we allow something as unnatural as factory farming?

Why, when we have falling property values, would we let in an industry that will cause them to fall further?

Why would a county that allows the Nature Conservancy to own 29% of its property then open doors to an industry so contrary to the mission to conserve land and water?

Why would we allow an industry in that exploits farm owners and exploits natural resources, all for their own huge profits?

Why when we don’t have VDOT resources to care for our roads now, would we allow large numbers of 18 wheelers on our small farm roads to service these factory farms? Who will pay for this maintenance?

And I could go on and on, but I think this brings up enough issues. It doesn’t make sense. Everyone who lives in Northampton County needs to consider what it will look like to see these chicken houses begin to show up on our horizons. Everyone needs to consider what having one of these farms next to them will mean for their personal future. Everyone needs to ask, why isn’t this going to vote? Why is it being forced through by the BOS?

The Board has been clear; nothing will stop them from passing the rezoning. It’s happening. I just wish I knew why. It’s like they’ve forgotten the reasons the restrictions were put in place to begin with. Some Board before them saved all of us from having to deal with commercial chicken houses. And I thank those folks for putting in place the current zoning setbacks.

I’m deeply disturbed by the current Board’s decision to remove the only protection we have.

There is no doubt the Board will enable this abominable legislation, disregarding the citizen input and lacking any documentation or studies to support it. The Board, with he exception of Granville Hogg, is even ignoring the Economic Study they authorized at considerable expense, that does NOT SUPPORT what they are doing.

I urge everyone to read the flier at the top of this page and let your Supervisor know that their vision for the County is JUST PLAIN WRONG! Supervisor Hubbard is running for reelection. He has supported this potential destruction of Northampton County from the beginning. I hope you answer him at the ballot box in November with a resounding vote for his opponent. He does not deserve the confidence of his constituents!

The reality is that the Board has not changed its schedule to ram their unilateral and apparently personal agenda down the taxpayers’ throat (and into our wallets). They are still planning on sending the absurd rezoning document out to public hearing (at a taxpayer cost of $12,000) on June 29, 2015, and have announced they will vote to commercialize and industrialize the lower Shore on or before October. They have not changed that schedule, and many of us who have lived, eaten, and slept on this issue feel the plan will be passed in August or September, allowing the poultry and incineration companies waiting in the wings to submit project plans to the Board before new Supervisors take office in January. Note that once these applications for permits have been submitted, they cannot be undone even by changing the zoning back to a reasonable reflection of our current Comprehensive Plan envisions.

This Houdini-like move is a classic textbook example a campaign aimed at pulling the pins out from under citizen opposition to a proposed assault. Chairman Hubbard and his band of merry men seemed to tell us all we could take the rest of the summer off. Yes, the pressure is off — go fishing, boating, or whatever — the Board is bending to the pressure.

As stated, that is not what is happening here, and we trust the Wave will correct this impression and keep us all firmly on the front lines. Thanks again to your superb, biting, and comprehensive reporting. This one was easy to get wrong — as that was seemingly the goal of the Board’s actions.