July 31, 2010
620 Acres in Hillville to be Zoned Industrial and the County Commissioners Did Not Hold Public Hearings for Folks that will be affected.
Now last night I attended a Public Forum at the Chesapeake Building with the County Commissioners. The Hot Topic was the "Under the Radar" vote to rezone 620 acres in Hillville from Rural Preservation District to Industrial use. Only Commissioner Larry Jarboe voted against it. There were no Public Forums for the folks that live around there to hear their voice. The owner of the property is a Paul Facchina. Do a quick google and connect the dots. I was told there was a secret meeting in La Plata on this property deal. Oh yea, Facchina Construction has their Headquarters there, and Paul Facchina is the owner. Google some more and you find out Paul Facchina is considered the Construction Tycoon of Southern MD (Washington Post, Dec 30, 2007). He has been giving property to the state of MD for Conservation and is the most prolific donor. While this is good, this does not pass the smell test. The 620 acres to be re-zoned is near Macintosh Run where MD DNR wants to protect some endangered species, and has water sources that flow to Breton Bay. So if this Paul Facchina is indeed a Conservation kind of guy, why would he desire to make this site for Industrial use that will impact the environment. And the fact that the County Commissioners all voted (Except Larry Jarboe) to do this re-zone, without a Public Forum is just dishonest. With all that said, we need to ask the question?
Why did they vote for it?
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Another "STINKY DEAL", worse then the Hayden Deal..Cannot wait to vote these Good Old Boys out..
There is an excellent connect the dots article on the ST. MARYS TODAY website. Former U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Riley lives directly across from the MacIntosh site. At the public forum last night, he said it was 10 times worse than the Hayden Farm Deal. He is quite right. By my conservative estimate, there will be over a 50 million dollar improved property value for the developer(s).
So far, Tommy McKay's newspaper has totally missed reporting on the largest zoning upgrade in the history of St. Mary's County that is happening under his nose in Hollywood. Include the unwillingness of the rest of our Board to hold public hearings, the very environmentally sensitive nature of the site, unanimous opposition by the Planning Commission and our staff, with the last minute injection of support by a Planning Commissioner related to one of the reported owners and you have a story worthy of a Hollywood movie.
The reporter who gets to the bottom of this super stinky deal deserves an award for investigative journalism.
The Town Hall Alliance wil present the plaque.
Larry Jarboe
Yes, asking the question "Why did they voet for it" is important.
But more important is having them answer.
Better yet, ask all the Commissioners the following question:
During the past six months have you or your staff been contacted in any manner by the developer, his employees, agents, counsel, partners, or any family members operating in any capacity, or acquantices to discuss to any degree a change of zoning for this 600+ acre parcel?
A simple yes, no or plead the fifty amendment would be sufficient.
I think if this question is honestly answered the people would realize that developers and their minyons have direct access to our Commissioners and we can't even get a hearing on something as important in protecting the quality of life in our county.
By now the Commissioners should be aware that most of the citizen taxpayers of St. Mary's County are used to your double talk. It's that bla, bla, bla we get from you when you don't want to answer the questions or simply know you are expected to respond in some way but don't have anything of real value to say.
Juse when you think the commissioners have gone too far, they manage to out do them selves. Too bad we have to wait untill November to fire them.
Actually we have to wait until 14 September in the Primary to get a Chance of getting rid of the "Good Old Boys". And there is an early vote this year for the Primary and General Election.
And if you vote for the Town Hall Alliance Candidates, you must be a registered Republican in order to vote.
I am ready to vote, are you?
I saw that the County Times had an article on this deal yesterday. I guess Tommy McKay had control as to what was reported for it really lacked any investigative work on what dirty deal went down. I looks like McKay just responded to Commissioner Jarboe comment that his paper had not reported on this Stinky Deal and it was right in his backyard. I know McKay is probably going to run for some office, so he does not want to upset the Big Money that will throw money at his Campaign.
Dirty Deal=Big Money=Good Old Boys =County People Suffer
Welcome to St. Mary's County
Actually, the headline (editor's responsibility) stated that development was to be limited at the site while tha article by Guy Leonard did show the site had been opened up to rezone to Industrial which is a zoning upgrade.
One would think that Tommy would be flying this stinky deal flag high as the Democrats nailed him with the Hackerman Deal four years ago. The low profile approach, like calling the MacIntosh Watershed Property the old munitions site, might make one believe there is a connection to the deal in the McKay camp that goes straight to the editor.
The stench has permeated throughout the Democratic Party. Are there some Republicans who reek as well?
Larry Jarboe
It seems like every time the Commissioner Gang of Four, that is Russell, Mattingly, Raley and Dement vote some kind of give away. How many properties have this Gang voted to buy that was a giveaway of some vested interest of tax payers. Hayden Farm, certainly didn't benefit the tax payers. But with a little thought and digging one could see it benefited a small group of individuals. Yeah, one could probably include the Gang of Four in that number. Sooner or later the truth will out... Other property they have purchased? I know they are others... think about it. Gang of Four forces the buy of property the county really doesn't need and we loose twice. We own crap property, taken off the tax roles, and in the long term tax payer money will be used to clean up, shore up, fix up ..... crap property. Wonder how they are going to go about cleaning up the old burial ground on the Hayden property? The Gang of Four will not have to deal with the aftermat of their mis management as they are now all Lame Ducks but they just don't know it.
Now take the rezoning? What a crock of ....well, you know. Same kind of performance for developers, only this is more out in the open. Russell, you said to the newspaper "I'm certainly going to make sure it's well vetted." Please tell us how you are going to do that. You have already said there will be no public hearings, so how do you plan the "vet it"? Another Christmas Eve like meeting? November can't come soon enough!!!
Gang of Four = Lame Ducks, all in a row...
The most comprehensive review of this sneaky, snakey, stinky rezoning decision can be found in the issue of ST. MARYS TODAY that just hit the street on Jan. 30.
The St. Mary's co-owner was named. However, the long term type of industrial use planned has yet to be revealed.
Obviously, the developers have an idea what they want. They knew enough to slip it thru past the public comment portion of the Comp Plan.
This deal really reeks!
Larry Jarboe
Do the County Commissioners think the Public is stupid? This is blantly "Good Old Boy" network at its worst. Wonder what they got out of the deal? Bag of money? Realestate sold to them greatly under the appraised value? Your imagination is your only limit...
I bet McKay is in on this re-zoning deal considering the Poor Article his paper put out. Actions say alot.
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