After listening to the Talbot County Council discuss the merits of a proposal to delay approval of the Lakeside community in Trappe and then defeat a process to protect the health of Trappe Creek, I think I would have preferred to watch a sausage made.
The process would have seemed more logical and driven by the customer’s taste buds, not by satisfying the developer’s investment in a proposed 2,500-unit community that will change the rural quality of Talbot County.
Councilpersons Chuck Callahan, Frank Divilio and Corey Pack voted to approve the connection of 120 homes to a faulty sewage treatment plan in a small town that will never be the same. The consequent development will make a blunt statement: Talbot County is favorable to a residential community that would loom incongruously large in northern Virginia, or even the mess that is Middletown, Del.
The votes by Councilpersons Pete Lesher and Laura Price were meaningless. They knew beforehand that the three Amigos were determined to delay the developer no more and honor his years-long investment. Their votes to move forward represented an alarming lack of concern about the future of a county known for its peaceful beauty.
In response to the council’s action a week ago, Dan Watson, the indefatigable leader of opposition to Lakeside, raised the specter of legal action. He also noted it should be a last resort, acknowledging the expense of litigation.
While I commend Watson’s observation about the steep cost of litigation, I believe that a lawsuit could focus on the council’s neglect of the Comprehensive Plan, its disempowerment of the Planning Commission and lack of concern over the polluted condition of Trappe Creek due to a sub-par sewage treatment.
Unfortunately, stupidity is legally permissible. This council, in its delay to approve the movement of the Talbot Boys Monument and now this fiasco, has shown an alarming lack of wise governing. County residents deserve far better.
In his Spy interview, Callahan repeatedly referred to “they”’(environmental opponents) and implied they were too late in objecting to the development. He further implied that the county council’s hands were tied. He was wrong. The council’s actions are legally assailable.
Lesher and Price were lone voices in the wilderness of pro-development forces in Talbot County. Lesher was relatively quiet; he cited constituents’ concerns. Price was not. She tried to push an amendment that called for a modular sewage treatment facility to augment the overloaded Trappe plant. Her three Republican colleagues were dead set on moving ahead with a residential development inappropriate for a county that for the most part has preserved its pristine nature.
Change is coming for the worse.
In politics, whether local, state or federal, forces typically hidden from ordinary citizens (like this writer and readers) influence our elected officials. They give money and advice. It is legal and commonplace. What the public does not know, unless immersed in a policy issue, is the motivations and agendas of these loyal supporters.
A pro-business county council is perfectly legitimate. Their supporters expect decisions favorable to their interests and opinions. Environmental sensitivity suffers. Dan Watson envisions through the formation of the Talbot Integrity Project an effort to elect people more attuned to the preservation of the county’s rivers and creeks and a superior quality of life.
Life would be easier for the Talbot County Council if Watson blithely enjoyed his retired years by reading books and traveling. Instead, he has become a thorn in the side of councilpersons who would prefer far more passive elective service. He typifies the concerned, engaged citizen.
Sausage-making a.k.a. policymaking by the county council has become distasteful and disappointing. Concern about the future is secondary to senseless governing.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
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