Peter Candland has now demonstrated his willingness to vote against measured development or whatever term he used while running for the seat that John Stirrup vacated. I can’t tell you for sure how John would have voted, but I imagine, given his land use record in the two terms he served, he probably would have voted against Oaks III in the Occoquan District.
Supervisor Mike May gave a multitude of credible reasons why this rezoning should not move forward. The Mayor of Occoquan, Ernie Porta, also eloquently wrote about why this rezoning was bad government planning, and yet, although it shocked no one, Corey, Wally, Maureen, John J, and Peter Candland voted in favor of the Developer.
I wonder what the reaction will be of the Supervisors, who continually vote for bad development, when the EPA starts breathing down thenecks of the BOCS about why this County is not compliant with the Chesapeake Bay clean up efforts.
More importantly though, this is a prime example of how citizens once again, are completely ignored, for the benefit of the developer and campaign coffers. The Major and the residents, many of whom fear their businesses will be adversely impacted, ALL expressed valid quality of life concerns relating to this rezoning, which include flooding and others on serious traffic impacts. The “locals” were ALL ignored and their concerns not addressed by the five Supervisors who voted for the Developer instead of the citizens who would be most impacted. Shame on the BOCS.
I hope citizens are paying attention because at some point we will have to pony up our tax dollars to pay the non compliance fines levied by the EPA. Maybe Corey figures by then he will have moved into the Governors mansion! As for Peter Candland, now he knows why he is NO Martha Hendley. I imagine he probably had little understanding of what was being discussed anyway.
Kudos to Mike May, Frank Principi, and Marty Nohe for making a stand against poor development practices. In the end though, the poor town of Occoquan will be the ones to directly “pay” for this debacle.
Newsletter sent by the Mayor Porta after the vote on the Oaks III
January 10, 2012
Oaks III Vote
Unfortunately, we lost the Board of County Supervisors vote on the Oaks III rezoning 5-3. I want to express my sincerest gratitude to all of you out there who supported the town. That includes the Town Council, staff, residents, business owners, visitors, friends, and members of the surrounding community. It was truly an impressive and gratifying sight to see the Board chambers filled to overflowing, with almost the same number of people inside as outside, watching on screens and sitting on folding chairs, virtually everyone there in opposition to the rezoning. Thank you as well to all of you who could not attend, but who sent emails to the Board, and posted comments online and elsewhere.
Occoquan Supervisor Mike May did an outstanding job from start to finish pleading our case, and your arguments and his persuaded Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi and Coles Supervisor Marty Nohe to vote with us. Please thank them for their support (their email addresses are below).
Unfortunately, Chairman Corey Stewart sided with the developer. The truth is that we thought the deck was stacked against us from the start–the most likely reason the developer never consulted the town in the first place was that between his long-standing friendships with two supervisors and the influence of developer campaign contributions on those seeking higher office, he knew he did not have to. We did, however, fight the good fight, and I could not be more proud of all the the support and participation from all of you. A special thanks as well to James Phelps for his efforts organizing much of the opposition to the rezoning. Over the coming weeks, we will, of course evaluate what, if anything, we can do about the situation. In the meantime, you all have my sincerest thanks.
Mike May — [email protected]
Martin E. Nohe — [email protected]
Frank Principi — [email protected]
The bay preservation is going to be important to everyone when the fish supply dries up. Blue crabs and oysters are already in fragile shape and they cost a fortune.
I hope Jackson Miller will continue his menhaden efforts. That is a real battle between locals who want to work at the menhaden factories near the mouth of the Bay and those who want to preserve the menhaden for the blue fish.
The entire economy of the region will be impacted if sports fishermen no longer have a reason to come to this part of the Atlantic.
(translation: It just ain’t about salmon)
agreed!
This is a bad time indeed, but it seems the citizens of PWC got what they voted for. They knew going in that most of the members of the BOCS have been bought and paid for by developers. Now the question is how to minimize the impact of Tall Oaks III. Perhaps some sort of integrated water management system can be installed to mitigate flooding while at the same time recharging aquifers. I think this is what they have done at the Dar Al Noor mosque on Hoadly Road. I mentioned this to Marty Nohe in a note and I hope he will follow up on it.
@george
except for us poor schmucks that tried our darndest to vote others in where we could!
Good idea George, I hope Marty follows up.
I am still curious why Caddigan, Jenkins, Stewart, Candland, and Covington totally sold May and Porta down the river. I recall how they used to all support each other even if it was wrong. Now I see wrong still coming out, even by itself.
Does Candland even know the area over there in Occaquan or did he just do as he was told? Obedience is a fine thing on the BOCS. No independent thinkers allowed.
Meanwhile, cheers for Nohe, Principi and May for responding to the residents’ concerns.
@Moon-howler
We’ll likely see Mike and Frank voting together often. They are the only two supervisors who signed the Rural Crescent pledge. Corey needed only five votes to pass this (and anything else that comes forward). Marty was allowed to dodge the bullett this time, probably because he was just elected vice-chair. Candland had to be among the five to take the hit this time, probably because he is so far west. Watch for numerous votes coming along where it’s Mike and Frank, plus one. The plus one will rotate among the developer stooges so they won’t all build up 100% negative voting records.
I am going to give Marty kudos for doing the right thing. I am not a Doubting Thomas.