Downzoning fails by single vote

Downzoning fails by single vote
Pollitt to appoint commission to draft Wicomico farmland preservation system

Salisbury Daily Times
By Greg Latshaw • Staff Writer
May 6, 2009   

SALISBURY -- A hush fell over Council Chambers on Tuesday as John Cannon revealed the decisive vote on a bill that would tighten rural development rules.
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"If it's so divisive, is it a good bill?" the council president said following his vote against it, which broke a 3-3 tie and put changes that have been debated for the past two years on hold for the time being.

By Cannon's own admission, his nay vote elicited mixed reactions from the farming community, and it drew disappointment from environmental groups. Last week at a public hearing, more than 150 residents traded reasons why the bill would save or destroy the county.

The bill was designed to keep more farms in production by helping to insulate them from subdivisions that are creeping into their backyards. It would have deleted the zoning code's "cluster" rule, which authorizes putting one house on every 3 acres when half the land is kept as open space. With that rule eliminated, the bill would have allowed fewer homes: one per 10 or 15 acres, with a higher density being allowed on 1-acre lot sizes and the lower density on 2-acre lot sizes.

"A lot of people chose sides but didn't choose solutions. Hopefully, going forward, we will be able to do that," said Council Vice President Bill McCain.

Immediately after learning the bill had been defeated, Wicomico County Executive Richard M. Pollitt Jr. announced he'll soon appoint a commission to draft the "nuts and bolts" of a land preservation system.

Pollitt, who said he would have vetoed the bill, wants the county to have money available for farmers in the event they lose some development rights. Among the ways to generate new revenue, he said, is someday starting a transfer tax.

From the start, council members Gail Bartkovich, Joe Holloway and Stevie Prettyman said if landowners are told they can do less with their land, they must be given something in return.

It echoed a rallying cry of a group of farmers and Realtors who opposed the bill and gathered more than 170 signatures from landowners claiming they owned 31,500 acres.

It's also why the three -- joined by Councilwoman Sheree Sample Hughes -- voted against an amendment introduced by McCain on Tuesday, which he characterized as a more "flexible" compromise. The amendment would have allowed higher building densities and larger lot sizes -- one house per 6 acres -- if the project preserved three-fourths of the land as open space.

"I think it's only nice window dressing. To me, it has little or no value to landowners without compensation," Prettyman said about the amendment.

Council member David MacLeod and Hughes were ready Tuesday to approve the zoning first and worry about the preservation system later.

"If we waited for a perfect bill, there would be parts of the world frozen over now," MacLeod said.

While some farmers vocally opposed the legislation -- driving their tractors through downtown in an April rally, for example -- others supported it. They included Charles Wright IV of Mardela Springs, Lee Richardson of Willards and others who spoke at public hearings. In their view, stricter zoning is needed to protect agriculture and keep it as the county's top industry.

"There are many farmers who think this is a good bill and should be passed," Wright said Monday night in an e-mail message.

Tuesday's decision was a setback for environmental groups, which over the past several years had lobbied hard for the zoning changes.

Alan Girard, manager of the Salisbury office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, issued a statement after the decision saying the vote keeps the status quo and thus welcomes the ill effects of urban sprawl.

But the fight is far from over, he said following the meeting.

"Now the debate will continue," Girard said.

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