DOES THE AG. DISTRICT DOWNZONING MAKE SENSE TO YOU?

Anyone who heard the environmental lobby perform at the public hearing this week on the proposed bill to prohibit “cluster subdivisions in Wicomico County surely cringed in fear of unbridled development and the end of farming in the County before someone has succeeded Barack Obama as the President. I sure did while listening to alarmists like King Burnett and John Grout, and that condition continued until I heard the historical data that the Planning Office recently presented to the County Council after the hearing about the total amount of these subdivisions and other residential development in the rural areas.

During the 11 years since cluster subdivisions were authorized (to limit the extent of development) there have been a grand total of 12 such subdivisions approved in rural areas that contain 263 lots on 972 acres, and most of that acreage is permanently preserved open space that is not part of the lots. That rate -- on average of about 1 subdivision and 24 new lots each year – will not come close to depleting farm land in Wicomico County, and actually preserves most of the subdivided land, separate from the homes and lots, for agricultural usage together with any areas that are significant in terms of the environment.

In fact the Planning Office’s data shows that more land has been subdivided for the conventional “large lot” subdivisions, such as “The Plantations” -- the one with the long white fence on the south side of Route 50 near Hebron – which has 42 lots on 641 acres. The same number of lots could have been developed on about one-quarter of that acreage if it were platted as a cluster subdivision, and at least half of that lesser acreage would be preserved open space for farming separate from the lots. Altogether, during the 11-year period, the conventional subdivisions such as The Plantations have consumed 1053 acres in rural areas to create just 75 lots – about 14 acres per lot as compared to 3.7 acres (including the preserved open space) in the cluster subdivisions, in which the average developed area is less than 2 acres per lot.

So, why would we want to do away with cluster subdivisions to preserve land for farming and open space??? Maybe the four members of the County Council who are sponsoring the legislation will explain why that makes sense before they vote next week. Those Council members are: John Cannon, Wm. McCain, Sheree Sample-Hughes and David MacLeod, and their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses are listed at: http://www.wicomicocounty.org/council/council.html