Its Time for Change: The Need for "Vision 2025"

I had, as I am sure you did, high hopes when we brought a new team onto our Council 19 months ago. We still have no public discussion about Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances or serious growth management ordinances, and we are undergoing increasing development pressures at a time when our existing infrastructure is not able to cope.

Talbot is special. We’ve all chosen to be here because of its unique quality of life and rural character. We need to work together to balance the rural aspects of Talbot with changes that are both needed and inevitable. The high cost of living in Talbot County is another issue. It’s going to be one of our toughest problems to solve, Talbot has “city prices” without offering “city wages.”

Managing growth: As a "banner statement" for what residents refer to as the “growth issue”, managing growth captures the essence of accountability, responsibility, governance, and transparency.

I hear very little about taxes, other than how county tax dollars are spent, though there seems to be consensus this is an issue. Maryland is only one of two States in the US that permits its counties to exercise "personal income" taxation as a source of county revenue. The question in my mind is "what" is the tax issue - explicitly(?), can we articulate this issue? One example might be tax incentives within the county to attract new, environmentally sound, businesses into the county. In any case, taxation is a discussion and policy formulation issue needing pro-active leadership from Council members as well as informed citizens such that future requirements for revenues, which match our future vision and comprehensive planning, are understood and agree to by the majority of our citizens.

Services: to me this is almost on par with "managing growth". Talbot county’s population is aging, very few young people schooled here, with family here, stay here for a varity reasons. Those with the view we can simply call on western shore resources to meet our "service" needs are very short sighted in my view. Travel, specifically vehicle fuel costs, will become exorbitant over the coming years - we need basic human services in-county or within the surrounding, Mid-shore counties to ensure the needs of our population can be met within reason. Ready access to "senior citizen" services will become paramount in my view in the not to distant future. There are no real geriatric services in Talbot at this time and planning/funding for these is way behind our growing requirement.

Environment: is perhaps one of the deepest concerns I have spoken about with many people. There are numerous pro's and con's to current environmental policies, especially those centered within our current "Comprehensive Plan". Active farmers have strongly held points of view, true environmentalists have an almost fanatic point of view, many folks seem to be ambivalent and seem to believe the environment will take care of itself if "no growth" is adhered to as a governing policy, and so forth. In other words, folks seem to be all over the map when it comes to environmental matters. I think this issue must be tied to managing growth as well as to environmentally-sound policies, reflective of the unique character of Talbot, its world-class shore line, its pristine beauty, and its status as a major supplier of Bay seafood and agribusiness products.

The Eastern Shore has one of the nation's most unique and irreplaceable environments, with its coastal bays, Atlantic shores, tributaries, extensive wetlands (occupying 16% of its land area), forests, open space, and wildlife habitats. Citizens and environmentalists alike are concerned that poorly planned development will cause loss of open space, forestland, and wildlife habitats, in addition to the degradation of the Shore's sources of drinking water (supplied by aquifers). The U.S. Geological Survey has identified the Delmarva Peninsula as an area at risk for groundwater contamination due to high nutrient loading on land. The health of the Chesapeake Bay and its 53 Eastern Shore tributaries (25 of which are currently on the State's Impaired Waters list) is also of grave concern. Poorly planned development increases runoff and strains the region's water/sewer infrastructure, which in turn contributes to Bay pollution. It was recently announced that Maryland will fail to meet the 2010 Chesapeake Bay restoration goals established in a multi-state agreement with the federal government. One positive development is the establishment of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund (a.k.a., the "flush tax"), which will provide funding to upgrade most sewage treatment plants to the level of nutrient reduction required by the Bay restoration plan, as well as to further reduce nutrient loadings by requiring septic systems to be upgraded and cover crops to be planted.

“VISION 2025”, Planning for Our Future: All these points underscore the real and compelling need for a county-wide, publicly-agreed 10 to 20 year vision and strategic plan with accompanying funding estimates and required actions to support this vision. We must ensure recommended policies in our Comprehensive Plan are implemented in agreement with our long-term vision Likewise, we will need the metrics and tools to measure our progress toward our vision so we know if we are veering off course or need to change direction due to unforeseen circumstances.

As neighbors, we should be focused on ways to work and live together – It is self-defeating to resort to divisive partisan politics. We teach our children not to call each other names, but we often resort to finger pointing and labeling others, rather than doing the hard work required to collaborate and get things done for the good of the community – today and for the future.

Our farmers and our farms are a major component of Talbot’s future economic well-being. We need to work with our farmers to find ways to enhance our rural way of life, while protecting the environment and contributing to the local and national economy.

It is paramount to manage reasonable growth – growth that supports our vision for the next 10 to 20 years and possibly beyond. We will not accept being like the Western shore. We can say NO to developers who want to acquire our land, over-build and leave. No amount of money is worth paving over Talbot. However, we need specific, well-managed growth to survive and thrive, including:

• affordable housing,
• expanded infrastructure (roads, sewer, and water),
• high speed information infrastructure, e.g. internet, cable, cell phones,
• top notch health care,
• 21st century education,
• incentives for new businesses who provide competitive paying jobs

These are growth initiatives needed to keep Talbot competitive economically, while preserving our way of life. Our county relies on all its residents for progress while maintaining our rural character and quality of life; when we help one, we help all. That’s why education is so important. We want our children to be the best educated in the country, not just in our State. We want them to be able to go anywhere, but we should also create opportunities for them to choose to stay here. That’s why we have to have jobs for them to stay for and homes they can afford.

Finally, we need to remember that when we do the right thing for our farmers to preserve their lands and create new incentives for them to keep farming, we are doing the right thing for all Talbot working folks, retired residents, and our children. The same goes for creating incentives for business to come to Talbot. A community is like a quilt. The whole is more beautiful and useful when integrated seamlessly, than any of the pieces by themselves.

Working together we must define a long-term vision for the future of Talbot County

• We are definitely experiencing similar types of real estate development pressures as those on the Western Shore.
• We must have a clear vision of what we want Talbot County to be like in 10 to 20 years.
• Such a long-term vision must be for the welfare of all Talbot residents.
• We have exceptional people resources having a wide range of skill sets.
• Partisan politics should not play a role in this endeavor.

A long-term vision need not be a vision of special interests. I believe it must involve our farmers, business owners, working families, parents, and working teens. We are not talking about growth at all costs versus no growth. Neither is an option. Before we are overwhelmed by out-of-control development pressures we need to define what we want for Talbot – what is our collective VISION for the County. Our County's Comprehensive Plan is a good planning and policy document. However, it continues as primarily a land-use document focusing on priorities for such use without stated metrics and measurement tools to evaluate if we are headed in the right direction across many functional areas in our society, i.e. education, job and new business creation, long-term preservation of open space, environmental protection, health care for all our residents especially for our fixed income population, commercial and residential development, to name but a few.

Talbot County is at a critical point in time. The next 4 years will determine what this County will be like for the next 20 years. Development of a long-term vision and strategic plan that builds on the excellent work in our Comprehensive Plan while providing metrics and measurement tools as well as the means to stay or change course should be the principle objective of such a vision planning process. This process must involve all residents of Talbot and I will commit to making every effort to ensure this is a reality before such a vision and plan is ever produced. Without this future view for Talbot, budgeting and managing growth, allocating capital outlays of our tax dollars for infrastructure, School Board funding, and a number of other functional activities requiring allocation of revenues will make no long-term sense.

Its been said many times: The best way to predict the future is to create it.