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More people without roads & other services
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Joyce Dowling
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Jul 24, 2005 14:50 PDT
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Sorry I haven't been able to keep up my weekly
e-newsletter, but my only volunteer is away and
I'm up to my neck in community service work. I
thought you'd be interested in this, though.:
If you care about your safety and that of your
loved ones and neighbors, then this issue should
be a concern to you. Emergency vehicles are not
always able to respond in a timely manner and
with more development, more people moving in, and
no or little increase in police officers, fire,
other emergency services, and roads the situation
will get worse. IF YOU'VE ALREADY HAD PROBLEMS
WITH EMERGENCY RESPONSE - we especially need you!
There are 3 bills coming up in a hearing this
Tues. that will impact this problem. Randy
Pheobus & Kelly Canavan have compiled the
following talking points and bill information for
use in speaking at the hearing and letter-writing
to your local council representative. These are
county bills, so even if they don't effect your
area directly or immediately, they will effect
you by setting a precedent for future bills.
Randy and Kelly will be at the hearing for more
information, for samples letters, and if you're
not speaking but can attend the hearing, they'll
help you be recognized as a supporter of planned
development and against text amendment bills that
will usurp appropriate process to protect our
safety. Their contact information is below -
CONTACT THEM IMMEDIATELY IF YOU'VE ALREADY HAD
TROUBLE WITH EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
Randy Pheobus can be reached at 301-440-8915 or
by email at Clinto-@aol.com.
Kelly Canavan can be reached at 301-237-5040 and
301-283-2963 or by email at
planes-@hotmail.com.
YOUR PRESENCE IS CRUCIAL AT THE JULY 26 COUNTY COUNCIL HEARING
County Administration Building in Upper Marlboro at 9am
Protect our lives and rights (flier here:
<http://www.pgcares.com/july26hearing.doc>http://www.pgcares.com/july26hearing.doc
)
BE SURE TO SIGN UP TO SPEAK IN OPPOSITION
TO EACH OF THESE BILLS INDIVIDUALLY!
TALKING POINTS FOR CB-53-2005 AND CB-55-2005 & CB-56-2005
CB-53-2005
Text Amendment / Spot Zoning
Introduced by Marilynn Bland on June 7.
A Text Amendment, so the Council can approve the
project without letting the public participate in
the normal review and Special Exception process.
Whether or not you support the project itself, it
is wrong to exclude the public from participating
in the normal planning process.
CB-53 will
X increase Clinton's density by 800%
X deprive us of our right to participate in the normal approval process
X permanently rewrite zoning law for the sole
benefit of the developer planning to build 942
units adjacent to Mary Catherine Estates
X set a bad precedent of ignoring citizens (and
denying their rights) to deal directly with
developers; this could happen anywhere in the
county
X not let us appeal the project if the County Council approves it
CB-55-2005
Residential Surcharges
Introduced by Doug Peters in response to state legislation HB-1129.
This bill cannot take effect unless CB-56 also
passes. CB-56 is a dangerous bill which puts
developers' lust for more subdivisions ahead of
our safety. [Please see next page for more
details.]
Surcharges sound like free money, but the price
we'll have to pay for them (no guaranteed
fire/EMS protection) is too high to make them a
good idea.
Surcharges
X $2,000 per new residential unit in the developed tier
X $6,000 per new residential unit in the developing & rural tiers
X can be waived in the developed tier
X don't apply to residential construction if its
preliminary plan has been approved before July 1,
2005
X aren't retroactive; they won't be collected for
houses already approved, even if construction
hasn't started
X won't supply nearly enough money to solve
Prince George's County's monumental crime,
schools, and traffic problems
X won't provide money fast enough to improve
emergency services for current or future citizens
* surcharges will be collected and houses built
long before emergency facilities are finally
constructed
* the burden on emergency services will be
compounded immediately, but new facilities and
personnel won't materialize until years later
X DO NOT SAVE LIVES
CB-56-2005
Public Safety Considerations for New Development
Introduced by Doug Peters in response to state
legislation HB-1129. Would replace current law
CB-89-2004.
Existing law CB-89-2004 bars new subdivisions in
areas that don't meet required emergency response
times. CB-56 eliminates those response times,
allowing subdivisions to be built regardless of
safety considerations.
CB-89-2004 CB-56-2005
R Requires that developers meet fire / EMS
response times to build subdivisions X Only
requires new developments to be within 7 minutes
travel time from the first due fire station
* Ignores how long it takes engines & EMS
personnel to arrive on scene after a call is made
* Ignores what happens if engines at the first due station are out on call
R Developers who can't meet response time
requirements can't build subdivisions X
Developers who can't meet travel time requirement
could build anyway after the County approves
their Mitigation Plan
* Mitigation Plan guidelines won't be set until
July 30; they're being created without public
input
* There's no public appeals process once a Mitigation Plan has been accepted
R CB-89-2004 serves us by putting our safety
before developers' desire to build subdivisions.
X CB-56-2005 (In Section E) only addresses
physical proximity to fire stations. IT WIPES
OUT ALL SAFETY MEASURES DESIGNED TO PROTECT
CITIZENS UNDER CURRENT LAW, serving developers by
letting them build poorly protected subdivisions,
and knowingly endangering us.
Flier and word documents for printing and
distributing are available at this web address.:
http://www.pgcares.com/july26hearing.html
* For more information, copies of form letters,
or blank petitions to get signed, go to
http://geocities.com/sprawled_out_accokeek/
--
Sincerely,
Joyce Dowling
Developer, Prince Georgians Care
http://www.PGCares.com
Join our Message Board Forums to show the world we care.:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/pgcares/start
For weekly news, join PGCares-news
<mailto:PGCares-new-@topica.com>
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