 (presented orally to Albemarle Board of Supervisors unless otherwise noted; full statements are available from ASAP office) August 1, 2006: In Support of Phasing and Clustering …Responsible stewardship for our community and our environment requires that you, our leaders, think large… The proposals for phasing and clustering are a step toward thinking large, a step toward going beyond the timid measures to tinker with growth that we now pretend will protect us over the long haul… Give us phasing and clustering ordinances with teeth, so that we all have a better chance of passing on to future generations this marvelous place as we now know and love it. August 1, 2006: In Support of the The Mountain Overlay District (MOD) Committee’s Proposal for Protection of Albemarle County’s Mountain Resources On behalf of the ASAP Board and our 250 members, I urge you to support all three parts of the Mountain Overlay District (MOD) Committee’s thoughtful, well-researched, and quite moderate proposal for the protection of Albemarle County’s mountain resources. It’s significant that this is a consensus document which both property rights advocates and environmentalists on the Committee found acceptable... All but the most extreme voices will recognize that this document represents a satisfactory compromise that meets the community’s clear wish for you to act, and act now, to safeguard Albemarle County’s mountains from pressures to reduce their environmental benefits and scenic glory… May 10, 2006: Opposing the Rezoning Request for North Pointe … To you, our elected representatives, we’ve given the responsibility to ensure that planned change in the county enhances the long-term good of the whole community, rather than simply the short-term benefit of a few… We count on you to view with an intelligent skepticism the claims that every new development makes about how it will satisfy critical unmet market needs. We rely on you to have the wisdom to examine each proposed development…NOT just by itself, in isolation, but in the context of the dozens, hundreds, of other residential and commercial transformations in the county that you’ve already approved – and more that you’ll have to decide on in the coming months and years. We trust that you recognize that what might, arguably, have been good for Albemarle 25 years ago – or even five years ago – is NOT necessarily in our collective best interests today, and that the benefits of past growth will not necessarily visit us as a result of future growth… We depend on you, as you make those decisions, to appreciate that every additional development adds to the cumulative impact on our community. We trust you to look at the big picture over the long haul, but fear that you occasionally focus on individual components – like North Pointe – divorced from the context of the accumulation of other elements in the system… Jan. 11, 2006: Letter to supervisors opposing Albemarle County’s membership in TJPED. The arguments that ASAP advanced two and a half years ago – when Albemarle Supervisors last considered the possibility of joining TJPED – have changed little. For that reason I have attached the statement we presented to you on August 6, 2003… Albemarle County’s economic vitality is impressive; we’re the envy of localities all over the region, the state, and the country. We don’t need an organization to sell our county, and we can certainly find other less-biased venues when we need to hold discussions about regional planning and development… May, 2005: Letter to all supervisors urging the establishment of a Natural Heritage Committee …From the provision of ecosystem services that are necessary to our very survival, such as the purification of air and water, to activities that help define the quality of our lives, such as bird watching or fishing, the protection of our natural heritage is vital to restoring, maintaining and enhancing the quality of the human experience in our community. Preserving our biological resources and quality of human life are inseparable and complementary tasks, both physically and ethically… The timely creation of an effective Natural Heritage Committee will demonstrate, both practically and symbolically, that our Albemarle community is serious about establishing long-term positive relationships between people and their environment. February 9, 2005: Rural Area Section of the Comprehensive Plan ASAP members believe this version of the revised Rural Area section of the Comprehensive Plan defines the situation well, and proposes strategies that, if translated into regulations, will move our community in the right direction. We urge you to approve this section – but also immediately to take additional steps to reach the vision it describes… ASAP believes our population size need not be an accident of fate, nor dictated by a minority who profit from growth, any more than our school system and water supply and public safety are matters beyond our control. Controlling our county’s demographic fate, just as we manage these other elements of a community’s infrastructure, demands courage and imagination and hard work. We hope you will approve this draft of the Rural Areas section, and quickly move on to the next steps. Dec. 8, 2004: Proposed Groundwater Assessment Ordinance …Testing to ensure that there is adequate groundwater before a building permit is issued – or a big subdivision is approved – is an entirely reasonable and commonsense requirement to place on the developer, and an effective way to provide valuable community-wide data. Moreover, it’s a step toward acknowledging that development in our rural areas has to take into account the limits of our natural resources. There are, indeed, limits to growth. This ordinance recognizes one of the most obvious environmental constraints – the availability of enough water for each proposed new house… This ordinance – though it doesn’t deal with the big picture – is nevertheless a good first step, and we hope you’ll approve it. September 21, 2004: Our Community’s Future Water Supply: Staying within Our Watershed …ASAP supports the water supply options that obtain water from within our own watershed [such as expanding existing reservoirs, water conservation, and upstream sediment protection]. We do not support the option of seeking additional water supplies from the James River… Our own watershed will provide adequate water supplies for foreseeable growth until we reach the point where we can stabilize our local population in a “soft landing.”… ASAP advocates for a comprehensive planning process that will lay the foundation for an optimum sized community by considering a number of important values. We believe water quantity/quality is one of those values, and that obtaining our water from within our own watershed should be a principal strategic planning criterion… September 14, 2004: Is the Glass 2.6% Empty or 97.4% Full? A Comment on the Chamber Jobs Report Though the Chamber Jobs Report is factual and the author’s analysis is more or less straightforward, ASAP questions the conclusion the Chamber has drawn. Simply stated, the interpretation that we have a jobs problem is not supported by the data. In fact, the data shows the opposite… Attracting new residents is a losing financial proposition for existing residents. We should oppose overly aggressive business recruitment efforts if we care about our quality of life and our local tax burden. June 29, 2004: Rural Area Section of the Comprehensive Plan …a statement in the “Principles” section of the 1998 [Sustainability] report [states]: “In a sustainable community, the members understand that there are limits to growth.” While there is much to applaud in the current draft of the Rural Area section of the Comprehensive Plan, we are concerned that this section really does not reflect our understanding that there are, indeed, limits to growth… ASAP believes our population size need not be an accident of fate, nor dictated by a minority who profit from growth, any more than our water supply and public safety are matters beyond our control. As it stands now, the Rural Areas section of the Comprehensive Plan ducks this issue. It essentially accommodates growth, it doesn’t plan it. You’ve acknowledged the goal of striving for a sustainable community. This implies, as you know, that there are limits to growth. We urge you to establish a thoughtful, farsighted plan for a sustainable population for Albemarle County. April 7, 2004: The Proposed FY 2004/2005 Budget …In the budget we’re looking at this evening, there is one item that reflects an appropriate use of public resources to deal with growth, and another item where we in ASAP believe you are less than judicious about coping with population growth… The ACE program is one of only a very few mechanisms employed in Albemarle County to conserve rural areas and manage population growth… But another area of the budget reflects a less than far-sighted view of our growing county. The Crozet growth area is already beginning to expand at a rapid clip, and – as you are well aware – is projected to grow from the current population of 3,000 to 12,000. It is simply unacceptable to allow this growth – much less to encourage it – without funding the necessary infrastructure… March 23, 2004, to the Albemarle Planning Commission: Crozet Master Plan ASAP commends the Planning Commission for working with the people of Crozet to develop a long-term Master Plan. And we applaud the Plan’s recognition that a sustainable community is inextricably related to management of its population growth, and ultimately linked to the achievement of an optimal population size (though we feel the proposed growth of Crozet from 3,000 to 12,000 is a little excessive)… you now have two responsible alternatives: One, fully fund the infrastructure costs appropriate for the pace of growth agreed to in the Master Plan. Or two, significantly slow the proposed pace of growth so it does not outstrip the public facilities necessary to maintain the quality of life in Crozet. Dec. 10, 2003: Opposing Rezoning to Allow the Development of “North Pointe” ASAP encourages you to uphold the Planning Commission's decision to deny rezoning until the following issues raised by the Planning Department have been addressed. In particular (a) the percentage of "affordable housing" should be closer to…15%; (b) ...The banks of the North Fork of the Rivanna River and its tributary, Flat Branch Creek…should be protected from development; and (c) North Pointe should adhere more closely to the Neighborhood Model… ASAP also encourages the Board to start looking at the cumulative impact of development. Right now, the County suffers from what one author calls "the tyranny of small decisions." Albemarle's evaluating each proposed development in isolation is leading to a dangerous level of overbuilding, especially in regards to retail. Sept. 3, 2003: Should Albemarle County Join the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development? …All of the Partnership’s activities are intrinsically good. The problem is, while some are appropriate for our area, its core activity is not. Historically, the Partnership’s mission has been to promote the area to new businesses. Only recently has it expanded its mission to helping local businesses. The latter is appropriate for our area. The former is not. It increases our population without employing existing residents or providing a net economic benefit… March 12, 2003: Recommendation that the ACE program be fully funded There’s little debate about the merit of ACE; it’s supported by an impressively broad spectrum of Albemarle residents, and for a host of good reasons. I’m proud to be part of a community that has invested a million dollars in each of the past few years to purchase development rights. The question isn’t whether ACE is good; the question this year is how it can be funded… The ACE program eliminates some of the potential for growth in our Rural Areas and thus reduces the future need to provide services and infrastructure in those areas. It is a highly cost-effective program. And it needs to be funded – even if, paradoxically, in the short term we have to pay slightly higher taxes to do it. |
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Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population |