Editor:

On April 13, residents of Planning District 14 face a critical vote that will, in a major way, determine the future growth and development of the Fish River community east and southeast of Fairhope. The issue is “zoning.” It has major implications not just for this important district but for all of Baldwin County.

Will Fish River and its tributaries become the next D’Olive Creek? Will the environmentally-sensitive Week’s Bay become yet another muddy mess like D-Olive Bay? Will the beautiful countryside east and south of Fairhope become one major suburban sprawl — a ”Fairhope East” similar to what is happening east of Daphne. And what will happen to the four-lane Highway 181 south of Walmart? Will it become yet another out-of-control commercial and business sprawl like Highways 98 and 59?

When we cut through all the rhetoric, the rumors, and the misinformation, the issue comes down to one of “control and stewardship.” Will the citizens control the location and direction of tomorrow’s developments or will the developers? The bottom line with the present “no-zoning” situation is that control is presently in the hands and whims of developers. The projects might be desirable or they might be horrible, but without zoning we have no voice in this future. And the long term effects on Fish River, its tributaries, Week’s Bay and our community could be devastating.

Individual landowners and residents, whether in existing subdivisions, single resident parcels, or farmland can wake up one morning to a nightmare when the bulldozer engines crank up and yet another 400+ unit subdivision, the next 100+ unit mobile home park, the next dirt pit, the next asphalt plant or cardboard processing operation, the next self-storage warehouse, and yes even the next sewage treatment plant or, God forbid, the next adult video store gets located next to some poor homeowner who never saw it coming.

I didn’t! Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a developer wanting to turn 200 areas of overgrown pecan orchard across from our Christmas tree farm into a 400+ affordable housing subdivision, even complete with a 200+ unit apartment complex right on steeply sloping ground down to the environmentally sensitive Polecat Creek. All our neighbors joined us in saying, “Huh? Surely not this far out in the country? Apartments out here on Woodhaven Dairy Road East? Have they lost their minds?”

We voiced our feelings, yet it got approved. It got approved by the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Board because the developer’s plan met the subdivision regulations, and all they could tell the residents of the community was “We’re sorry, but your district doesn’t have zoning and there is nothing we can do.”

I deem this type of future for our community “developmental anarchy” where anything goes. It is a future that long- time residents have seen over and over again throughout the county from our beaches and riversides to our forests and farmland. Right now we citizens have zero control over this growth in unzoned areas. Even homeowners in subdivisions are not protected since property adjoining a subdivision can be turned into anything virtually overnight.

I firmly believe the Good Lord has blessed this land. But he also instructed us to exercise “good stewardship” over it, whether it is the individual parcels we own or the land that makes up our community. Along with the wonderful blessing of being Americans with private property rights comes the responsibility to protect the land, our environment and our community.

Summerdale