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SONs to focus on major planning issues – resists distractions (April 8, 2007)
In the last month there have been many excuses for losing our focus on the issues of a responsible comprehensive plan and getting responsible county officials elected. We have resisted the urge to get embroiled in the spot zoning issue at Wachapreague, the murky affair of the Onley planned unit development, PUD, or the ludicrous notion of a jetport in Painter. We wish the Planning Commission and the Supervisors would exercise similar discipline and stay focused on the task of writing the Comp Plan and ordinances before the time limit on the interim 5-acre-density ordinance runs out and chaos envelops us again.

Frivolity reigned at the Supervisor’s meeting as noted by George Parker in his review of the 21 March meeting. 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. Joan Paice continues the discussion with an article on 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 who answered our survey think. 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 in this county. SONs now has a court date of May 24th to hear it’s motion to strike. This motion means that, in SONs opinion, the response from the county was so ridiculous that the court should proceed 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 in via telephone tree in March, 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 support for the roll of resource limits 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 continued support.

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Respectfully yours,
Tony Picardi
Belle Haven