February 19, 2025

9 thoughts on “Battle Lines drawn over 2015 Zoning Ordinance

  1. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. You people are in denial. The election was about the zoning. The election of Hogg over Randall 2 years ago was about the sewer line which was also about the zoning. All of you people are real estate or connected to real estate and you do not respect or represent the eastern shore people.

  2. Editor’s Note: For almost two years, the Wave and the Mirror have printed, over and over and over and over and over Mr. Kabler’s side of the story. And those same voices were mentioned here, although, since the mantra and the song has remained the same, we wonder why they just don’t record the content once and be done with it (then we can all just refer to the volume number). The lead here was the overwhelming majority of folks on ‘the other side’ that stepped forward, especially Patrick Coady. We are also very sick of people stupidly calling a story one-sided just because they disagree with the content. That was the lead attack against the Wave in Cape Charles. We won’t stand by and let that go.

    Another great example of one-sided reporting here! There are two sides to a coin, and the critics of the 2015 zoning repeal said plenty about their feelings but nothing of substance about exactly why that ordinance would have been so good for the county. Over nearly two years, the opponents of the rezoning carefully researched the present and proposed ordinances, and then backed up their statements with the facts about why the rezoning was ill-conceived and violated our Comprehensive Plan. About the election, in district 4, the turnout for the 2013 election was approx. 550 voters, in 2015 there were approx. 775, of which 62% voted for Spencer Murray. So, a 40% increase in turn-out and a landslide election of our new supervisor – yes, it was about the zoning! The people spoke!

  3. The Wave was a lot better than the Mirror. Too bad they quit.
    Wasn’t the county working for those folks for the past two years? I heard enough about what they think.

  4. Both were/are voices crying in the wilderness. Ask yourselves how much coverage (from either side) are you getting from either the Eastern Shore Post or Shore Daily News. My understanding of the situation for the Wave quitting was the editor(s) had had enough of small town divisiveness and decided to move on with their lives. It is commendable to Wayne Creed and his staff that this small voice of the fourth estate continues unabated on the lower Eastern Shore. Whether you agree or not with certain policies, it is far better that you see/read about the choices and their consequence, than to hear/read/see nothing at all and feel those consequences later.

  5. Lets do the math on Mr Kablers Assertion. A total of 480 people “Spoke” by voting for Mr. Murray. That is LESS THAN FOUR PERCENT of the total population of Northampton County. Those are NOT the numbers of any kind of mandate for zoning. It was a mandate to replace Supervisor Hubbard, and that is all. I am unaware of any campaign pledge made by Mr Murray to take this drastic action. Of those 480 voters, how may would actually support this action? It is unlikely that more than half would agree with it, it would be unrealistic to suggest otherwise, its simple human nature that a percentage of any given group will not agree with the others. There is no informed debate going on here. The negative consequences of this action are substantial, and very costly to the taxpayers.

    I am not crazy about the new ordinance, it has plenty of elements that should be changed. There are far too many districts, and far too much Ag land has been up-zoned to residential. These things can be fixed. Neither of these ordinances is ideal. But no other community in Virginia has 3 concurrent zoning ordinances, or the persistent poverty that comes along with it. The county needs to build its commercial tax base to take the burden off of the Agricultural and Residential taxpayers. And along with the new commercial tax base will come new employment opportunities. Our citizens deserve more employment opportunities. It will be impossible, just as it has been for the past 15 years, for anything to happen with these 3 old ordinances if they are put back in place.

    Whatever is wrong with the new ordinance can be fixed. There is no fixing the old ordinances.

    The idea that we should have 3 zoning ordinances dating back to the 1980’s, all running concurrently, is not only a crime against the economic development of our community, it is a crime against the basic property rights of every citizen. The county attorney spent a lot of time interpreting the old ordinances, and that is because it was too complex for the professional staff to make determinations without a legal opinion. The essence of property rights and reasonable regulation is that one should be able to understand the regulations without having to hire an attorney. And then one should be able to rely of the locality to be reasonable in making changes. The motion to make 23 pages of changes to the 3 old ordinances, without due process on those changes, is simply bad public policy. I doubt that Mr Duer has read the 3 old ordinances, or has a clear understanding of the consequences that the 23 pages of changes on the already complex nature of the 3 ordinances working concurrently will have. Few Harvard lawyers would understand it, much less a layman with no planning and zoning experience. It makes no sense.

    There in no reasonable defense for what is taking place. It is bad statesmanship, and bad public policy. One third of the children in Northampton County live in persistent poverty. We must do a better job of governing our community,and fix that problem. Its time for the board of supervisors to turn their attention to better governing our county, improving our schools, raising the standard of living for our working families, and eliminating the persistent poverty that has plagued this county for decades.

    1. Well said !!!

      As a come to “here” folks need to move forward to controled growth and ensure the growth of the county is moving forward.

      The future of the shore depends on our children and not the old farts stuck on the past.

      Growth is not a bad word …..wake up folks !!!!!!!

  6. Is this the Parr with the real estate development office next to Food Lion? He’s surrounded by empty fields already zoned commercial. Most of them have been For Sale for years. And all that commercial was under the old zoning. What’s he complaining about? Get that old zoning back in place and protect the people who live here now.

    1. What isn’t for sale in this county???

      Protect what???? No growth!!

      Let’s all ensure we are the poorest county in the state and our children have “Nothing” to look forward too.

      Change or growth are not bad words. As a parent I’m sickened by the thought of the lack forward thinking folks around these parts hang on to.

      Sorry I must be a come to here?

      It’s 2016 not 1970

      B O B

  7. I noticed during the zoning hearing last fall Bill Parr was all in favor of changing the zoning to give him more real estate to sell, but specifically asked to be given an exemption for his own land. He wants to make the rules beneficial to his business, but personally be given an exemption to them. What a hypocrite!

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