Gunpowder Chronicle posted on July 16, 2007 3:20 AM | Rating:
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I think there are some important questions -- in light of the disaster the Guvnah has made of the state's purchase of farmland in Queen Anne's county -- that my friends in Wicomico should be asking.
1) Will this land perc? If the land won't perc, then any assessment should cut the price in half. If they can't build houses on it, who in the heck will buy it?
2) Why does all land that Wicomico County purchase have to be turned into a ball field? Baltimore County did something neat many years ago along Cromwell Bridge Road. It bought up several farms along Cromwell Bridge Road under the Open Space program and kept them operating -- at a diminished level, of course -- as farms. They serve as an agricultural education site. Kids can see how cows and goats are milked, how garden crops are planted, etc. Why couldn't the same be done here.
3) If the county upgrades the roads to support a new, large sports complex (and trust me-- those roads will require upgrading. I drive them every time I go to my Dad's, and then I visit Meineke.) what will that open up for developers to put in new McMansion Farms? Is this a veiled way to secure road money that knocks down that object to development? If you hear Gary Mackes say "it's important to do this for the kids!", the answer is "Yes". The last refuge of a scoundrel is "the children".
4) How much other land do the Davis' own in the area that would benefit from better roads and sports facilities when they want to sell?
5) Why do county governments always have to purchase the land for sports fields? Why can't the parents who want their kids to play on all these sports teams foot the bill? Is Wicomico County willing to buy up vast amounts of land for a new Boy Scout camp? Girl Scout Camp? Churches?
6) What does the addition of a large sports complex -- with say, 100 cars an evening -- do to the metric of law enforcement staff in this area of the county? What about EMS? Does anyone think about this BEFORE they build these things? (I can tell you that in Baltimore County, no one thinks about this!).