THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504120161
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The protests against a cotton gin envisioned in the Holland area of Suffolk have much in common with the opposition to a proposed race track near the Suffolk/Chesapeake line.
Just as the race track ultimately comes down to neighbors fighting what they perceive as an unnecessary nuisance, the gin opponents don't want this business neighbor near their homes. Neither fight is against the proposal, per se, but its location.
As tiring as it gets to hear the not-in-my-backyard arguments, I find it refreshing that citizens have rallied to block developments that they see as problems instead of progress.
As I've written here before, I'm increasingly convinced that the people who put their hearts and hard work into their neighborhoods should have much more say about what's good for them than government officials who may never have visited those neighborhoods.
It's fine for the officials to talk in general terms about how the city needs business and industry. It does, and I have no doubt that it will come. But I'm more moved by the voices of people struggling to keep the city from pulling the rug from under them.
Holland neighbors of the proposed cotton gin, for instance, thought they were protected from such intrusion. The land is not zoned for business use; why even consider that someone might plop down a cotton gin?
Because zoning can be changed - particularly when city leaders see tax revenue far beyond the land-use taxes now enjoyed by the site.
With that money, the argument goes, perhaps the city could provide some of the municipal services Holland has lacked for so long. Maybe so, but at what cost?
In the case of the race track, agricultural zoning protected nearby residents from many uses. Whoever would have thought a noisy, noxious intruder would be enabled by the city?
I'll believe the race track when I see it; it just may be that the city has hooked its wagon to a falling star. As many lives as that track could impact, though, let's hope for some payoff.
Even that, however, wouldn't diminish the city council's ignoring many of its own citizens, along with scores of Chesapeake residents, for what it believed collectively to be ``our'' best interest.
Maybe the cotton gin is in our best interest, but not where it's proposed.
It's fine for Suffolk to have a cotton gin. With cotton acreage increasing phenomenally, gins are virtually guaranteed successes. That is good for everyone, including the city.
Some of the protesters would have us believe gins are as environmentally disastrous as they were decades ago. They're wrong. Strides have been made, but still not to the point that gins can be built in residential areas.
And maybe that race track will give Suffolk a place in the lucrative entertainment market, but no thanks if it has to be where it's proposed.
Put in a setting away from homes, the gin would be a welcome addition. If people then chose to move nearby, any problems they encountered would be theirs.
That's the big difference between what is and what's proposed. No one moved into neighborhoods like Western Branch anticipating that a racetrack would be coming, and no one bought a home site in Holland with the idea of living next door to a cotton gin.
The city council already overlooked that in approving the racetrack. It shouldn't do it when it considers the cotton gin Wednesday.
Suffolk has an industrial development director. Put him to work finding sites that match business needs without ignoring neighbors.
Comment? Call 446-2494. by CNB