THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2003

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2003

Our View

Shaping our

future

Many of us bask in the glory of Rappahannock

County and frequently, if only to ourselves,

give thanks to those who had the foresight to enact a Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinances that have ensured that it will remain so.

There are some, in fact, who live far beyond our boundaries who have used Rappahannock County as an example to promote controlled growth in their home counties.

Evelyn Polesny of Woodland Valley in upstate New York recently wrote to her legislators and said of our plan, "... this was not particularly good for any one individual landowner, as it greatly reduced the value (subdivision potential) of his/her land. It was a brave step for the county to take, long before the strip malls began invading the county. If you go there now, you will see an incredibly pristine county that includes families at every economic bracket; it is full of working farms and working families' homes alongside of small weekend places and monied estates, unspoiled mountains and hills and rivers.

"The second you cross the border into any other neighboring county, you’ll see miles of subdivisions, malls, suburban sprawl. What a legacy those brave landowners and the brave county legislators left for the future of the community they loved."

But it is not the voices beyond our boundaries that determine our destiny — it is the voices of our own citizens that will drive Our future.

The Planning Commission is now conducting hearings in support of its review of our Comprehensive Plan. s

Whether we advocate rapid or controlled growth and development, the maintenance of our zoning ordinances or. a change, it is the citizens of Rappahannock County who have spoken to the Planning Commission, as they did in Amissville last week.

Future hearings will be held in Castleton, Flint Hill, Sperryville and Washington, and our voices must be heard.