Save Our Necks Home

Will the Tragedy of Commons Visit Accomack? (May 26, 2007)
The SON's hearing before Judge Tyler on the Motion to Strike the County's response to our lawsuit regarding arbitrary Planning Commission appointments has been continued (delayed) until May 31 at 11:00 am at the request of County Attorney Thomas Dix due to some personal conflict. The decision by the DEQ to deny the Captain’s Cove developer a permit to discharge almost a million gallons a day of treated sewage into Swan’s Gut Creek has been appealed by the developers. We join Kathy Phillips, Assateague Coastkeeper® in encouraging DEQ to stand firm on their original decision.

A few SONs members have reviewed the current re-draft of the Comprehensive Plan. What we have found is that it is sorely lacking in the creative content that will withstand the expected withering assault of greedy developers. Ed Hopkins reviewed the draft Comprehensive Plan and found it lacking in several areas. Now is the time to make our opinions known, if only to say that the revised Plan should take explicit account of how many people/residences can be supported by the limited groundwater resource we have available, while at the same time preserving enough water to continue the agricultural and tourism economic development that will ensure our rural character and yield decent jobs. Water is a major issue all over the United States, but is seldom mentioned because to do so immediately leads to the consideration of the sustainable capacity of the environment for development. And yet the capacity of our resources, like groundwater, needs to be a defining part of the growth plan, as discussed by Mike Dillenberg in the first of several articles on why we should save our necks. In his second article, Mike asks whether the Tragedy of the Commons will visit Accomack.

Phil McCaleb, from Craddockville, announced his candidacy for Board of Supervisors in District 9. Hopefully he will shine a bright light on the County’s resource management as well as fiscal issues.

Our recent ad took up the theme that developers are hoping to sidetrack the short-staffed planning department in the county by proposing development that should be considered only after the new Comprehensive Plan is in force. Tony Picardi delivered a presentation on what global warming means to the Eastern Shore in terms of inundations from rising sea levels and increasingly severe and more frequent tropical storm events. Although Picardi did not comment on what this means to the Comprehensive Plan for lack of time, it was clear that the near compete inundation of the necks and relative safety of the high ground spine argues for location of future growth along the route 13 corridor. Balancing this need with the need for aquifer recharge means that growth is limited and that this version of the Comprehensive Plan needs to include new and more complex tradeoffs than were ever considered before.

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The Executive Committee