THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130252
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
In my 54 years of living in Norfolk County and Chesapeake, I am continually amazed by the way newcomers want to stop growth. If we had stopped growth 54 years ago, most of these people would not live in Chesapeake now.
I searched my files recently and found a stack of past plans to stop growth, all well thought out, that never were put into action. Each flock of new politicians, replaced by an angry electorate, created their new plan at a cost of thousands of dollars and requiring thousands of man hours by staff members and out-of-town consultants.
A ``timing amendment,'' which would link growth to the availability of public facilities, is simply the latest plan. It would cost millions of dollars for an election, staff write up, out-of-town consultants and who knows how many thousands of hours of meetings.
You only need to look at the time spent in the last five years on the various plans now being implemented. The danger of this new plan is that a development could be denied on an objective opinion that a road was too busy, a stream too small or a school too crowded. It would create a situation where Chesapeake would end up in court, costing more of our hard-earned tax dollars. Worse than that is the possibility that, at some time in the future, the courts may rule that a city cannot interfere in any way with a property owner's right to develop his property as he/she sees fit.
This is a free country. People have the right to use their property as they wish and develop it, within some common-sense guidelines, as they wish. If we enact a ``timing amendment'' that takes this right away from our citizens, we have crossed the line and become a dictatorship.
We don't need to stop growth. We simply need to learn how to create the proper public facilities to handle this growth.
We are not building too many roads; we are building roads that are too expensive. We are not building too many libraries; we are building libraries that are too expensive. We are repairing bridges that are not needed. We are not building too many schools; we are building schools that are too expensive. We are not hiring too many people; we are paying them too much.
The outside world has stepped down from a Cadillac to a Taurus while our cities have stepped up to a Lexus.
We are a generation of spoiled kids who had everything handed to us on a silver platter. We were not told the cost and could've cared less.
It is time we learn that if we want something, we must pay for it. If we aren't willing to pay for it with higher taxes, we must not demand that it be built.
Citizens complain that the city's new libraries cost too much. Do we really need 10 books for every citizen to borrow at no cost? Or should we charge this citizen a direct fee to use the library to cover the cost of maintaining these 10 books? Or should we tell the citizen to go to the bookstore and purchase the book for himself?
I enjoy sailing. Should Chesapeake maintain 10 sailboats, so I can go sailing when I want to sail?
The School Board will tell you that they will not build a school until the students are waiting to enter the school. How can this work with a ``timing amendment?'' Should we build roads that may never be used so we will never have a traffic tie-up? Or should we simply enlarge roads as traffic demands?
If we could take the millions of dollars Chesapeake has spent in the last 10 years on plans to stop growth and apply that amount to real public facilities, we would have a great city.
Demand that your council build your city, not plan it. This is a free country; keep it that way.
Wilson Garland
Harding Drive by CNB