WATCH the video.

Please attend a Jan. 31 Board of Commissioners public hearing at 6 p.m. regarding the Port Tobacco Environmental Restoration and Recovery Area (ERRA) — and ask the commissioners to reject this flawed zoning amendment.

LISTEN to our interview with Michael Paone, Senior Planner with the Maryland Department of Planning.

Environmental Restoration and Recovery Area?

This misnamed zone (an amendment to the 2006 comprehensive plan) will not fix our river. Instead, it could allow for up to nine times the density of what is currently legal in the county’s rural and agricultural zones.

To be clear, we want the issue of failing septic systems – and other environmental problems – to be addressed and corrected, but we do not believe this is the right way to affect change and solve this problem. We ask that county leaders explore a range of alternatives, funding and approaches to remedy the issue of bacteria leaching into the Port Tobacco River and not use this public-health problem as a reason to: 1. Prop up a questionable process and outcome; 2. Benefit a sole developer; and 3. Usher in unfettered growth in our watershed and forever change Port Tobacco’s unique and historic value.

If we don’t stop the ERRA, the historic, rural and natural characteristics of Port Tobacco may be ruined forever! Before it’s too late, WE MUST remind our county government that sprawl development in Port Tobacco will lead to: increases in runoff and pollution, more sedimentation from construction and development; and the potential destruction of our river, birds, fish, streams, forests, farmland, and open spaces.

THIS IS OUR WATERSHED MOMENT … SAVE OUR RIVER

ASK THE COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE NO ON THE PORT TOBACCO ERRA ZONE!

Video and audio pieces for We Make It News are produced by Tobin Communications.