Planning commission hears from the public
By Bob Adair
Approximately 150 people attended the public hearing on Thursday evening at the Stephen Decatur Middle School.  The purpose of the meeting was to receive comments from the public concerning the new draft Worcester County Comprehensive Plan (WCCP). Carolyn Cummins, chairwoman of the Worcester County Planning Commission, opened the meeting with a brief explanation about the mechanics of how the meeting would be conducted.

Ms. Cummins explained that law requires public hearings on the plan and that Worcester County is also required to provide copies of the plan to all neighboring counties in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Comments received from the public are reviewed and can be used to adjust the draft. She said, “At this point nothing is written in stone.” The Worcester County Commissioners will receive the final edition from the planning commission and can accept all, part or none of the recommendations.

She introduced Sandy Coyman, director of the Worcester County Comprehensive Planning Department who gave the audience a brief summary of the draft plan.

According to Mr. Coyman the first WCCP was completed in 1989 and updated in 1997.  The first WCCP identified West Ocean City and Ocean Pines as the growth areas in the county. The population growth did occur in the northern end of the county as predicted. The number of houses on the Ocean Pines area went from 4,250 dwellings in 1990 to 10,496 in 2000, an increase of 146 percent. Snow Hill grew at a rate of 8.6 percent and Pocomoke less than that during the same period.

Mr. Coyman went into detail about the criteria for selecting new growth areas in the county.  He pointed out that the county “Did not have to reinvent the wheel” when it comes to implementing the plan. Laws, regulations and ordinances used in other regions of the country can be adopted by Worcester County to implement this plan.

Ms. Cummins then opened the meeting for public comments.  She placed a time limit of three minutes on individuals who wished to comment on the plan and eight minutes for organizations or institutions represented by a spokesperson. A total of 45 attendees provided comments on the WCCP.  The ideas presented were in a positive vein, addressing areas in the draft that needed further explanation and those parts that should be changed.  It is impossible to provide a detailed account of each presentation in this article. A video of the meeting is available at www.WorcesterCounty.net/Courier.  Listed below is a topical list of the concerns presented by the speakers:

Green house standards should be adopted for new construction and developments.

Very little mention about protection of the natural coastline.

Construction sites are destroying the creeks and inlets of the bay area, allowing sediment to escape into the water.

The open area south of Public Landing should be considered as a potential growth area.

Eliminate any plan for growth in the area along Worcester County Road south of Berlin. Do not want houses that look like boxes.

Do not include the farms around Merry Sherwood Plantation in any growth area, which could cause taxes to go up because of land value.

Water quality must be protected.  It is worse today than it was ten years ago. Recommended solutions have not been implemented.  Fix this before approving any additional growth.

Implement the TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Limits) established for sewage discharge into the bays.  The EPA and the state of Maryland have little commitment to clean water.

Septic systems in Public Landing are in need of immediate repair.

Many people in the northern part of the county have no idea how important farming is to the county. The law that limits the number of houses per farm to five has helped keep many farms in tact.

Tourism is a key industry in the county and bird watching is a major part of that industry.  Maintenance of the green infrastructure is critical to the welfare of the flyways used by thousands of birds. This also protects the habitats of many animals.

The county has a good plan.  Do not let it get watered down.

New divisions (developments) never pay for themselves. The added tax revenue never covers the added cost of school, utility and transportation.  A better question to ask is how do we go about not growing?
Time is needed to absorb the growth that we have already received.

The premise of population growth that is the basis of the plan is not acceptable. Protect the rights of the people that already live here.

Snow Hill cannot absorb 2,700 new homes.  That is three times the number of homes in that locality.

The African-American culture of this region is being eliminated. The children have no way of learning first-hand about their culture. Taxes and land cost drive these lower income families out of the county.

Do not project the population growth. Analyze what growth is logically sustainable and work toward that.

Do not convert any area around Showell from industrial to residential.

The area needs jobs for the young people. Over 1,000 jobs have been lost in the county over the last two years.

Worcester County is about where a county in Florida was in 1977. It was the Gladiolus Capital of the U.S. with a population of about 4,000. Now it has 700,000 residents and not one gladiolus plant is grown.  The WCCP is an envy.  It will prevent what happened in Florida.

More concern for the total environment is needed. Water pollution, air quality, habitat preservation, etc are all in need of added support.

Affordable housing is critical.  People are working three jobs just to meet the bills and they are being forced out of the area. News flash, homes costing $150,000 to $200,000 are not low cost housing.

The word growth appears on almost every page of the plan, however, words like reduce and control are rarely found, and never in the same sentence with growth.

The planning commission can make all the recommendations they want. The crux is getting the county commissioners to carry out the plan as promised.

The DELMARVA region is in danger of losing the poultry industry, which would then close the feed farms in the region.  There should be a freeze placed on all development throughout the peninsula until a plan can be developed for the whole peninsula.

The big developers come into the area, build the houses, take the money and then leave.

It was obvious from the comments that a majority of the attendees are against the projected growth in the county. The question remains as to how much growth is acceptable. The goals of the WCCP are to maintain the rural and coastal character of this region, protect the natural resources and still accommodate planned growth.

Every local environmental agency and institution was represented at the meeting. All were effective in identifying a compelling reason for slowing the growth and solving the already existing environmental shortfalls. Noticeably absent from the platform were representatives from the building industry and the construction trades.

Many good ideas were presented and alternatives to the present plan were explained. The planning commission will now take the information and, through a series of workshops, adjust the current draft. By far the greater majority thought the board had done a good job developing this draft and many said so in their presentation.

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