Re: SG-W:/ Newmarket, again!

["Jeff Surfus" <jeffsurfus@email.msn.com>]

Christina's and Jeff's travails in Pittsfield Twp painfully serve to
highlight why we need to get good people to run for township boards in our
townships across the county, right now!  Until we can start setting the
agenda from the inside, the boards will continue to appoint pro-development
planning commissioners and we will continue to beat our heads against the
wall in this "us" versus "them" battle.

It's not too late to get YOUR name on the fall ballot in your township.  We
have the collective knowledge and resources to help folks make it happen, if
they are willing to take that first step.

Do we really want to be having these same conversations five years from now
in Lima Twp, Sharon Twp, Sylvan Twp, etc?

Jeff Surfus

----- Original Message -----
From: Christina Lirones <goldenspiderfarm@hotmail.com>
To: <smartgrowth-washtenaw@great-lakes.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2000 8:24 AM
Subject: SG-W:/ Newmarket, again!


> Jeff Marine adds some excellent points to my rant. If you wonder why this
is
> so upsetting, why we can't seem to stop yelling about this project, one of
> the primary factors has to be the behavior of our Planning Commission.
>
> It's inexplicable. They have never responded to one issue the residents
have
> brought. The meeting before last, they spent an enormous amount of time
> talking about how they could, to use their words, "bulletproof" the
> Newmarket proposal, so that when it goes to court, the residents can't
> possibly prevail. Our Planning Commission describes we, the residents as
> "they" and "them," and talk about when "they" take "us" to court. "us" is
> the Planning Commission and the developer, we residents are "them."
>
> First of all, the developer sues the township in these cases (that is,
when
> it goes to a referendum, if the Board approves it, or more directly,
they'll
> sue the township if the Board denies it.). The citizens don't sue the
> planning commission. So when they talk about we citizens suing them,the
> Planning Commission, they're wrong.
>
> The Planning Commission is a citizen advisory board. They look at a
> proposal, usually to how it relates to the master plan (Newmarket doesn't
> conform), they look at impacts (all negative in this case), they make a
> recommendation and pass it along. In no way are they supposed to
> "bulletproof" the plan so that citizens will have no right to question
their
> decision. Frankly, they shouldn't really care if the citizens question
their
> decision.
>
> So, my final point is, when our Planning Commissioners call themselves and
> the Developer "US," and base all their planning review on helping the
> developer bulletproof his proposal, and we residents are "THEM," who is
> representing the citizens of Pittsfield?
>
> Obviously, no one. We have no right to speak at our own meetings, except
for
> a few minutes at the beginning. Any facts and impact studies we bring in
are
> viewed with suspicion, while the developer can sashay in and say anything
> and be believed 100% (ie, "The schools were very active participants at
the
> charrette." Actually, the schools had 45 minutes, to share with utilities
at
> the charrette, and were basically ignored -Duany didn't really even figure
> out who thay were, according to the Saline Schools rep). We are presumed
to
> be lying (Marjorie Shelton always says we're there for "political
reasons,"
> so I assume she means we invented all the negative impacts because we so
> desperately want to hold local political office. She says we're "whipping
> people into a frenzy" and "scaring" them. We're not concerned about our
area
> - we're just trying to make Marjorie and the others look bad).
>
> I asked a question in the middle of a meeting last time - amazingly, they
> let me speak; this has never happened before, that we could ask a
question.
> So I asked if I would be required to pay a minimum of $80,000 to pave the
> road to serve Newmarket, since my farm fronts a gravel road (on two
sides -
> We'd pay another $80,000 on the other side) and Shelton literally screamed
> at me that this was not the time or the place, that they had important
work
> to do - and they went right back to talking about the shape of the
planters
> in the Newmarket "downtown."
>
> So, anyway, that's the big problem: The developer is representing the
> developer, the Planning Commission is representing the developer, and no
one
> is representing the citizens.  Tina
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