March 7, 2011 6:27 PM
Loudoun: Beware CPBO land grab
Here in Loudoun County, we are engaged in a struggle between the eco-fascists - politicians wielding environmentalism to grab more political power and control - and everyday citizens trying to exercise their freedom to conduct business/make an honest living.
The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance (CBPO) has a lovely ring to it, but as is so often the case, puts the good of insects and other unproductive creatures ahead of the needs of the community. Loudoun somehow feels the need to appear as "sophisticated" as neighboring counties like Fairfax, though a large part of our populace is quite content being uniquely Loudoun.
I will confess that with my attention focused on national politics for the past several years, I have not thought much about these "smaller concerns." And yet, like many others, I am realizing that this leftist/fascist focus on complete control of individual lives starts at the local level as everyday people win elections and begin to think of themselves as larger-than-life, mini-Obama elitists who know what's best for you and for me.
Which leads me to implore my fellow citizens to think local-focal (I think I am coining that term) and hold your Board of Supervisors and School Board accountable for every political/environmental/fiscal decision they make.
Here is the latest Loudoun dust-up over the CBRO:
Bay ordinance protesters pack meeting
More than 100 people packed into the Loudoun County Government Center lobby on Feb. 28 to once again protest a proposed ordinance government leaders say will protect the county's waters from pollution.
Carrying signs with slogans such as "Who is the board listening to," "Hear us now or hear us in 2012" and "CBPO is for clean water or dirty politics," protesters chanted "Just say no, CBPO!" in unison before the board's 6 p.m. meeting began.
The board is scheduled to continue discussions on the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance today, but a vote is not expected.
During the protest, Roy Jacobsen, founder of the Loudoun Environmental Council, a group formed last year during heated discussions about the ordinance, told onlookers that the proposed legislation was nothing more than "a land grab."
"It's got nothing to do with science. It's got nothing to do with cleaning the bay. It's got nothing to do with drinking water. But the [county] staff has presented it this way," Jacobsen told the crowd.
Jacobsen claims that the science county staff used to justify the need for the ordinance was "biased, either through incompetence or fraud."
Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), an outspoken critic of the ordinance, joined the crowd in the lobby during their protests.
"I am not afraid to stand with you," Delgaudio told the crowd.
Read more at Loudoun Times
And here is something sent to MommyLife by Helen Syska:
Illusory, greedy, corrupt. Politician? Land developer? So they have been defined, but there is a new brand of charlatan that has made his way into our society. The greedy environmentalist.Perish the thought. How could anyone with the good intention of saving the woodland turtle, reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels, or wanting our streams to run clean and clear be so utterly demonized?
Because wolves come in sheep's clothing, that's why. The greedy environmentalist aims to use the green ideal to give the public a guilt trip about their lack of stewardship of the land. And while you sacrifice, they fill their own pockets. For example, citizens across the country have been intrigued by those huge sleek, contemporary wind mills which purportedly will cut back on our reliance of foreign oil. So far they have produced very little energy for the cost. Someone is using your tax dollars in the form of government grants to construct them and is paying themselves a hefty salary to do so. In the meantime those who welcomed these mesmerizing structures into their communities in the name of environmental correctness are suffering with the unending, deafening noise and vibrations they cause.
Reviewed by the Loudoun County Planning Commission this year and now before a committee of the Board of Supervisors, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance was voluntarily put on the table in Loudoun to improve the County's, and therefore, the Bay's water quality. Loudoun's politicians are these days carefully crafting ways to make the CBPO more palatable to the public.
Representing the Sterling District on the Planning Commission, I voted against recommending that the Board adopt the CBPO. Sterling District Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio continues to fight the CBPO vigorously at the board level. Why? Because boiler-plate legislation like the CBPO doesn't make sense for Loudoun. We the people of Loudoun are capable of pulling together a contingency of highly qualified people to address water quality without inviting the federal government in to tell us what we should do. And, there are too many other pressing needs in Loudoun that require attention.
Business and farmers in Loudoun are agitated and nervous about the CBPO. They cannot invest today into this endeavor when the economy is so fragile. They have told us that. Homeowners are unsettled when they hear that it will cost them an additional $6700 to add a pool or patio, garage or shed, playhouse or retaining wall as they would be required to hire professionals to map, at their own expense, the required resource protection areas of their property for land disturbing activities and submit the map to the government data base, with no guarantee of approval of the project.
Then there is the requirement for additional buffer plantings without the thought of the full cost to the property owner of maintaining such a buffer when it begins to mature. Have a thousand dollars lying around to chop down a single tree when the County comes out to tell you that the once needed tree meant to stabilize soil and hold back erosion is now becoming invasive?
So why is the Board so obsessed with pushing the CBPO? Why aren't less burdensome and costly alternatives being explored? Are they following the dictates of politicians from above and not the will of the people of Loudoun? Good intentioned, but very complicated and confusing, the CBPO is just more layers of government regulation, bureaucracy, intrusion.
Mind you, the County does not have to adopt the Chesapeake Bay Ordinance at all. This is all about voluntary compliance. What is truly pathetic and so disappointing is that the extensive work and expense farmers and developers have already put into making and keeping our waters clean through Best Management Practices (BMPs) over the past decades is unknown to the general public and being ignored or minimized by politicians and the media.
If the Board can find local, state or federal tax money to provide incentives to put the CBPO in place, then it can find the money now, today, to put more deputies on the streets to fight crime and protect us. The Board can bring in more zoning inspectors to address the backlog of zoning complaints and complaints of residents not having personal property car stickers, which provide the County with valued revenue. How in the world will the CBPO, if adopted, be enforced if citizens today are not getting the services they need? The water is supposed to get cleaner and our communities in the meantime turn into sewers? It doesn't make sense.
The dance with developers was a dismal affair. Engaging in environmental ego trips can be detrimental as well. Focusing on reducing the County's increasing crime, fixing roads, moving traffic, cleaning up, revitalizing and investing in our communities, making sure that every child is educated well, and welcoming business should take precedence.
Helena Syska
Sterling, VA
Posted in Eco-fascism, Loudoun County, Oppression | Permalink
Comments
I've been watching this as well. I would love to see this current bos voted out of office. A few weeks ago I was looking through Loudoun’s building code and was surprised and upset to find that HOA's had been written into the building code. Anyone building more than 10 (I believe it was 10 though I may be misremembering) homes in one location is required to have an HOA for these homes. I can think of no faster way to get the population to be forced to accept socialism than by forcing these types of policies on them. Most people can not afford custom made homes, that leaves them with either older homes which may have lead paint etc. or to buy a developers home which now thanks to our BOS must come with an HOA.
Posted by: Diane | March 8, 2011 2:14 PM
