It is not all that typical for a small town council to have a professional city planner as a member, but Chestertown somehow was lucky enough to have one. Jim Gatto, with his unique blend of Maryland and Oklahoma small town experiences, arrived on the Eastern Shore well before regional planning was a common term in 1972. An architect by training, Jim was in the vanguard of regional planning and zoning, and has seen both successes and failures with Eastern Shore towns preparing for their future. As a result of this experience, Gatto was motivated to serve first, as chair of the Chestertown Planning Commission, and more recently, by winning the 1st ward seat on the Chestertown Town Council.
The Gatto professional prescription is simple: invest in the future. Towns fail when they don’t spend money for infrastructure to grow successfully. In Chestertown’s case, the town needs to build roads to protect what we have, and continue to keep Chestertown a uniquely walkable community.
Chestertown Futures is a two-year project of the Chestertown Spy to provide a sustained community conversation on Chestertown’s future and aspirations through the unique voices of twenty-four members of the community representing all aspects of greater Chestertown. By design, these interviews are longer than most broadcast interviews to allow each participant ample time to express their views. It is therefore advisable to allow time for the YouTube video to load the interview fully before viewing, which may take up to three to five minutes.
Billie says
Is that oversized building that is STILL sitting empty where the Black-eyed Susan an example of Mr. Gatto’s work? How many years has it sat empty now? Hopefully Mr. Gatto will just take care of his ward while he sits on the Council.
Jason says
I don’t think Gatto can be blamed for influx of commercial foreclosures and failings that followed after the housing crash in 2009-10 across the country. Would you also like to blame him for Bramble’s Clothing, Bike shops, the Video Rental stores, the Rite Aid, the multiple car dealerships, nurseries, contractors, and more that have gone out of business over the past few years? From what I can recall, it was stated in the Kent Co. News that vendors had been found to fill the spots in the open center, but pulled out after the builder went bankrupt and was not able to guarantee the time of completion, or that all spots in the center would be filled, thus making it a competitive shopping destination.
Cynthia McGinnes says
Jim Gatto can definitely be blamed for casting the deciding vote in the plastic bag regulation ban…he knew better. Chestertown does not need any more regulations hanging like albatrosses around the necks of our business community. He should be ashamed of his vote…it will cost people their jobs..
Jeffrey Carroll says
yes i totally agree with cynthia on that one… how many of these people running our government have ever run a business? so when they make laws and spend taxpayer money do they even understand the effects it has on the average hard working person and the small business struggling to stay afloat?? don’t think so!!!! green awards don’t add up to jobs and economic growth!! incentives and tax breaks do!!
John Seidel says
Healthy towns require a lot of effort from people who are willing to devote huge amounts of time and energy, as well as their expertise, to the community – people like Jim Gatto, who has given countless hours for no personal gain. You don’t have to agree with him on every issue, but why don’t we keep the comments civil and factual? Sure, it’s great to have elected representatives who have run businesses. It’s also pretty useful to have professional planners working for us.
On the bag ordinance, Jim had the facts and he voted accordingly. Good for him – that certainly wasn’t the case with some of the other votes. The ordinance is not going to cost any jobs, any more than bag bans or taxes have cost jobs in any of the other places they’ve been enacted. Jim, thanks to you and every other member of Mayor and Council, as well as our local commissions, for the work you do – I may not always agree with you, but I certainly appreciate your efforts.
Keith Thompson says
Although I disagreed with him on the plastic bag ordinance, I see Jim Gatto as one of the visionary voices in the town government. Given his views on the town’s riverfront heritage when we’ve had him on the air, I definitely think he has the vision necessary to make the town’s proposed purchase of the marina an economic success. Thing is, in order for the town to make the riverfront an economic success, they will have to involve the business community,
Gibson says
Jeffery,
So, the Town shouldn’t buy the marina?
Ken says
Citizen comment:
Thank you Jim Gatto.
Gibson…No, I am not convinced that we should own a marina out right. I am still waiting to see the Powerpoint made by the neighbors of the marina itself. Contrary to comments above YOU do not just represent your own district in this. Owning that marina will do exactly what for me if I live in College Heights, or on CALVERT STREET? I see two very successful non-profits getting a virtual free ride for river access….hmmm, partial ownership perhaps. Have them charge the school districts for whom that they perform the state mandated environmental education and give it to a marina partnership. Don’t get me wrong, I think every kid should be bitten by a crab and stung by a jellyfish by age 2…I was. I just can’t see how the Town providing this unsurpassed environmental education should mandate the Town to provide all of the costs of water access. I also don’t think that the Town can manage the waterfront very well and I could expound on that, but we would get into the lack oa capital improvements program, and incomplete park, County slips that you can never get off a waiting list for, etc. We also have a college hesitating to go forward on a development plan on their hazardous waste site with very shallow water out front. Hmmm, gee, maybe deeper water would be better for them. Perhaps a site they don’t have to removed tens of thousands of cubic feet of topsoil from. It may be cheaper to buy into a marina than to: a. keep dredging the existing waterfront or b: complete a “Brownfields” development at Baltimore Harbor prices 13 miles from the Chesapeake Bay, next to channel about 75 yards wide.
Having said that, I have no doubts that this municipal ownership of all of the waterfront and the marina would greatly benefit residents of Water Street, Queen Street, lower High…. I think you get the point. Benefits from investments like this are inversely related to you distance from them. charging Annapolitan (like me) prices?
Plastic bags? Who is the public relations consultant for the Mayor and Council? Are we toopid? I submit that we work on a declaration to preserve human rights in Tibet first. Or at least let Takoma Park take this on first. That was lesson one in Mr. (now House Speaker) Mike Busch’s civics class.
Professional Comments:
Thank you Jim Gatto.
On the supposed ability of any town planner to predict the economic future: Don’t forget that planners are bound by the applicant’s rights under the U.S. Constitution. Namely the Fifth Amendment: “private property shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation.” The courts have interpreted this pretty broadly, to the point that planners are not in a position to make market choices for the applicant. Meaning, even if Jim had had a crystal ball and been able to stop construction of a now vacant office structure on Washington Avenue, he would likely have been violating that applicants Constitutional Rites. So if you may lean to Alaska for the next leader of the Western World, I civilly submit, don’t go criticizing a planning commissioner for not giving sage market advice. It is completely against you Constitutional Rights….that guy or gal is on YOUR team. God Bless America. (I am not qualified to provide legal assistance to the courts, but as a certified planner, I AM required to know the limits that the 5th amendment places on planners. For more information about your legal rights, be they Constitutional, or other in land use issues, contact you local attorney. For a dated, but really good book on these topics, seek out “The Zoning Game”, by Richard Babcock, University of Wisconsin Press, 1966. Nothing about plastic bags in there, though…)
But to the point, thank you Jim Gatto for your service inside and OUTSIDE of your district!
Kenneth Hepburn Noble, APA/AICP (American Planning Association/Am.Inst. of Certified Planners)
Principal
Noble Analytics
Annapolis/Chestertown
Gibson says
Hi Ken,
I was actually interested in Jeffery’s response, given that it affects his business (the Fish Whistle).
Did you say you hadn’t read the report? Would you like me to email you a copy?
Keith Thompson says
@Ken,
I’ve been a huge cheerleader for the marina purchase, however I’m not naive enough to see that this is not a risky thing for the town to take on. The end result of doing nothing or doing something that doesn’t work is the same; loss of public access to the waterfront which means the loss of the town’s ability to invest in its history and heritage. Because of this, I see this as a risk worth taking. What always gets overlooked in the conservation is that the status quo will change no matter what decision the town makes.
One thing that is clear to me is that the town absolutely should not run or manage the marina. It would own the property, but the management of it should be done by a professional. I would see town ownership of the marina as simply a part of a waterfront project that would serve as an economic draw which local businesses both downtown and along Washington Avenue should be able to feed off of. I’ve talked with Jim Gatto on the air about the marina/riverfront and I see that he understands the need of developing an economic plan around the purchase. I think if the town purchases the marina simply to keep the public access and doesn’t invest in the purchase to make it an economic asset, it will fail.
Catty One says
I’m a little late coming to the table here. Just now stumbled across this puff piece of how “lucky” Chestertown is to have a professional planner, and a swell guy here in Mr. Jim Gatto.
Thanks to Mr. Gatto’s leadership on the planning commision I had to go out and buy black-out drapes for my bedroom after he persuaded the rest of the planning commission in 2003 that 3-story new townhomes at Oak Hollow were compatible with the exisitng neighborhood. Yes, nicely compatible, Just like the planning commission is supposed to insure. Like hell. For maniy iyears, the existing neighborhood was a mix of one-story and two-story townhomes, none higher. Guess Mr. Gatto thinks the Comfort Suites is not a hotel after all but a single family R-4 or R-6 zoned private home. Oh.
Give the developer whatever he wants. Says nope, not interested in bulding 2-story townhomes. Needs density! Okay, says the planning (Jim Gatto) commision, if it’s density you want, you got it!
Of course, people like me and the others who now have these towering new dwellings and the inhabitants within peering directly down on us in our bedrooms nightly, can’t do anything to regain our privacy since, yup, the CHESTERTOWN FENCE ORDINANCE prohibits putting up anything high enough to do us any good.
But that’s okay. I guess if the h.s. students in PA who got free laptops to take home had to put up with a webcam in their bedrooms, well, so can I.
Thank you so very much, Mr. Gatto, for your unselfish and tireless public service you have given the citizens. Here on the north end of town we just gush about you and the decisions you rendered.
If you ever happen to be reading this – some of us would like to hear a response.