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SONs remains focused on leadership and major planning issues – resists distractions (April 15, 2007)
SONs Volunteers have been very active since our last report to you. During February and March, there have been many public distractions from the major issues facing the County. We thank you for your support and encourage your involvement.

SONs representatives continue an effort toward consolidating political support behind a sound candidate to stand for the District 9 Supervisor election in November. Other efforts in other Districts, particularly District 8 (Hart) and District 5 (Duncan) are encouraging. Mr. Duncan is retiring from public service at the end of his term. Mr. Hart apparently will seek re-election but from a dramatically decreased base of support. Alternatives to the “career” supervisors have already emerged in key districts.

SONs stayed out of the re-zoning issue at Wachapreague although we were privy to all the details on both sides throughout. This unfortunate administrative proceeding pitted neighbors against each other when simple communication would have served everyone well. County Attorney Sharon Pandak confirmed at the Board meeting that the proposed rezoning DID represent spot zoning but opined that the greater good concept “probably made it defensible in court.” The re-zoning was approved, even though it was completely unnecessary for the purpose of moving the fire house. This could have been accomplished under the existing zoning by submitting a conditional zoning application. It would certainly have been approved. In an excellent example of what SONs means when it says that the county needs leadership, Donald Hart missed an opportunity to show leadership in this issue, taking a partisan stand when compromise could have benefited all parties.

The murky affair of the Onley planned unit development, PUD, remains a curiosity of timing since its implications have a direct bearing on the Comp Plan. Why consideration of this matter now, through a private and out of state developer, should occur is beyond our understanding unless there is another motive behind it. The motive, like so many in the County, is money. We agree with Ed Hopkins that PUDs are not appropriate at this time and that location. The notion of a jetport in Painter, complete with high rise housing, is an idea that hardly warrants serious consideration although we applaud the efforts of others in the community who have ideas about the future.

We wish the Planning Commission and the Supervisors would exercise discipline and stay focused on the task of writing the Comp Plan and ordinances before the time limit on the interim ordinance runs out and the chaos of unrestricted development envelops us again.

More distractions prevailed at the Supervisor’s meeting as noted by George Parker in his review of the 21 March meeting emphasizing the need to vote for significant change among our supervisors from the southern districts. This meeting contrasts with our call for real leadership in the latest of a continuing series of newspaper ads. Wes Edwards again called on the Board of Supervisors to show some leadership in minimizing our tax increases and rationalizing services as budget discussions occur at public meetings that have not been well-publicized.

Joan Paice continues the discussion of the impact of unplanned growth on EMS services, written from personal experience. JoAnn Davis and Tony Picardi explain why taxes will not only increase but accelerate in the county, for reasons contrary to what most people think. Darlene van Werkhoven thinks that, “Litter is a symptom of the larger problem of lack of responsible governance in Accomack County.” SONs has taken up the cause of extending the Chesapeake Bay Act to the sea side of the county as well as the adoption of the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Storm Water Runoff Ordinance as soon as possible. To this end, please visit the calendar and plan to participate. The wheels of justice grind slowly. SONs now has a court date of May 24th to hear it’s motion to strike. A successful Motion to Strike means that the response from the County was so ridiculous that the court should compel the County to answer and for the Court to hear our complaint.

Our new Web Page has met with enthusiastic support judging from our increased activity. We launched the new site in February at our membership meeting, after which our hits increased 112%. With the call to action via the telephone tree in March, as well as the launch of our "dictionary of responsible leadership" ad campaign our hits increased another 47%, to well over 2,100. We thank those of you who took our survey on responsible government and encourage you that have not to please stand up and be counted – this is one statistic that you DO want to be part of. Preliminary results show overwhelming recognition of the roll of resource limitations in planning for growth and a shared vision of our economic future.

Please join the discussion on any of these topics by clicking the link on the page or contact us with your suggestions.

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Finally, we note that our continuing efforts to inform and influence on your behalf means that we have advertising, legal, and web maintenance expenses and thus we need your support.

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The Executive Committee