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Begin to talk about things like
by-right residential in-fill development or low impact environmental designs and
most peoples’ eyes glaze over in bored bewilderment. Their cranial synapses
begin to snap and crackle as they initiate something like a computer search
for more amenable and understandable fare. Or, if you stood in the Norge
Farm Fresh parking lot and asked shoppers what they thought of Jack Fraley,
Shereen Hughes, George Billups or Anthony Obadal, I suspect you’d get blank
stares, questioning looks or a whack upside the head with a package of frozen
peas. Yet, we should know who these
people are and have at least a passing knowledge of what they’re talking
about. They all sit on the James City County Planning Commission and they,
with three other colleagues, are determining via their recommendations
relative to development the environment in which we all have to live. Unlike the county members of
the School Board, the planning commissioners are appointed – one for each
district and two at large – by the Board of Supervisors. While their terms
ostensibly run for four years, members can be reappointed indefinitely.
Stonehouse representative Don Hunt has been on the commission for 16
years. Given the crucial and
far-reaching decisions that are made by the Planning Commission in these
critical times of rampant development, it would seem reasonable to suggest
that, in order to avoid charges of cronyism and overly cuddly relationships
with the supervisors who appoint them, it’s time that members of the
commission be elected by and accountable to the people they serve. The views of commissioners
relative to development and land conservancy should be just as subject to
public debate and public scrutiny as the educational philosophy of potential
School Board members. Either that, or let supervisors and their prospective
appointees appear in a public forum to answer questions from the citizens in
their district before the appointments are solidified. In addition, large landowners,
Realtors and developers or their representatives should be barred from serving on the
commission. While their opinions might well be consulted, their vested
interests should in no way become a driving force behind developmental issues
that affect the majority of citizens who have no horse in these special
interest races. That said, the present
commission under the leadership of Jack Fraley is showing signs of a
responsible vibrancy that has been missing in the past. As part of his report
to the Board of Supervisors in July, 2005, Fraley noted that “The
Comprehensive Plan states that the To that end, studies dealing
with development in various parts of the county, including Toano, were
undertaken and growth principles proposed. As a result, the commission
recently took two bold steps in the right direction by imposing conditions on
the expansion of Prime Outlets into the Ewell shopping center and denying a rezoning request for
the Village at Toano on Butting heads with an operation
both large and economically advantageous to the county, the commission quite
rightly questioned the advisability of imposing Prime Outlet standards on a
small, local shopping center while disregarding its own need for additional
parking. In the case of the Village at
Toano, commissioners overwhelmingly rejected a plan that was in no way
commensurate with the Toano study plan and the character of Toano itself. What was especially encouraging
in the case of the Toano proposal was the willingness of the commission to
react favorably to the persistent voices of those citizens who would be most
affected by the project. Kudos go to Linda Rice, the good people of FORT and
over 400 petitioners for presenting their case against the Village at Toano
in clear, concise and well-reasoned fashion. As one commissioner put it,
“there comes a time when you just have to say no.” As noted in the Comp Plan,
“citizen commentary is the centerpiece of comprehensive planning, and
community planning begins with open communication and the exchange of
information and ideas between citizens and government.” Amen to that. Would
that the commissioners and the Board of Supervisors had listened to citizen
input relative to their disastrous approval of the ground guzzling grab for Whether the two more recent
cases represent an increasingly cautious approach to development in the
county is hard to say. It is nonetheless encouraging to hear that
commissioner Fraley and his cohorts are willing to strengthen county
ordinances that are too weak or are contradictory to the Comp Plan. Certainly the key here is the
issue of rezoning. The more zoning ordinances are strengthened and adhered to
the better off we’ll be. Too often has the Comp Plan and the zoning it
entails been violated to accede to the wishes of developers and landowners
looking for a quick and profitable sale. While the Planning Commission
makes recommendations, it is the Board of Supervisors with whom the final
decision on issues of development lies. In the cases of Prime Outlets and the
Village at Toano they should listen just as closely to citizen input as the
planners did. The decisions of the commission in both these cases deserve to
be upheld. Finally, if anyone finds out
what by-right residential in-fill development means, please let me know. |
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