I understand that Easton needs growth and economic development, but we must do so in a thoughtful manner respecting our environment and small-town atmosphere. I am opposed to the current Poplar Hill proposal that would put 456 new dwellings, new retail space, and a sports complex, with associated paved roads and parking on 115 acres, more than half of which is on Critical Area land. This kind of high density “suburban sprawl” is the exact opposite of the intended environmental protections established by the Critical Area Protection Program.
I moved here for the beauty of the environment and our small-town lifestyle. As a sailor, I appreciate clean water. I volunteer with local riverkeepers to track and improve water quality on the Eastern Shore. The poor water quality at Easton Point found by the 2018 NOAA survey and ten years of sampling by ShoreRivers is a serious problem.
Easton used up its Critical Area growth allocation long ago. Now the developer wants to intensively develop 66 more acres of Critical Area forcing the Tred Avon to digest even more nutrients and sediment, just above Easton Point. Nothing I know about environmental issues suggests that a river already impaired by its existing load of pollutants would do better with even more.
The vision statement in the Talbot County Comprehensive Plan states: “Our rivers, creeks, 600 miles of shoreline and fragile ecosystems are valued and protected with zeal and vigilance”. So now we must zealously protect our environment, our community, and our rural culture by denying the additional Critical Area allocation request and forcing the developer to significantly modify the current proposal.
David Perry
Easton
Rick Allison says
Hello, I agree with you 100%. Let’s not let this become a “NIMBY” cause. I would like assist in. Building an action group inviting environmental and community organizations as a concerted front for managing the Critical Area spaces as well as the over all watershed. Please let me know how I can help.
Bill Korab says
David Perry’s comment is obviously correct.
Wonder how people living along Oxford road will accommodate the major back up at the light.
Given the logic being applied overall in this situation, I suspect the proposal to be approved
would have a series of traffic lights along Oxford Road to disperse the cars before the one existing traffic light. Will want a couple of lights on Almshouse Road including a big one on Rt. 50. Might as well ruin the air while ruining the wetlands and introducing a “let’s break the rules” approach to local government.
Sewage also seems to be an issue in Talbot County. Maybe Easton can handle it properly. The
Here is a thought: play by the rules and turn the project down. Can Easton really handle the requirements of 456 new families ?
Might want to check that out.
susan e delean-botkin says
I am in complete agreement with Mr. Perry. This is not the time, nor the place for this development
Kathleen Carroll says
I agree with Mr. Perry. I moved to Easton to get away from the traffic and congestion of Montgomery County. I live south of Oxford Road and hate to think of what traffic could result from this development.
Steve Lingeman says
The Easton Club Golf Course (now defunct) must have emptied huge amounts of pesticides and fertilizer into the Tred Avon. The current owner has not fertilized for 7 years. Has anybody done a study to evaluate a before and after pollution level?
Rebecca Ellison says
Golf courses also irrigate extensively. This not only depletes our drinking water aquifers and increases the total volume of water runoff from the golf course, it creates a vicious cycle in which the freshwater added by irrigation carries off the applied chemicals, and thus ‘necessitates’ additional fertilizer and pesticide application … and, ultimately, causes a disproportionate runoff of chemicals into the adjacent lands and water bodies as well as creating measurable aquifer depletion. A water level monitoring station near Bailey’s Neck Rd. (off the Oxford Rd.) shows seasonal drops in the Aquia aquifer presumably from golf course pumping. A decade or so ago residential Aquia wells in that area have had to be drilled deeper, including my own.
That Aquia aquifer report was commissioned for the Talbot County area by the Talbot and Queen Anne’s County Councils.
“Hydrogeology of the coastal plain aquifer system in Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties, Maryland, with emphasis on water-supply potential and brackish-water intrusion in the Aquia aquifer” … link is https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9910310844702121 .
One doubts that the present council members or even the Planning Commission member have read it.
We should ALL read it. And we should all protest further depletion of our aquifer. And we should remember that aquifer depletion is a known cause of land subsidence … it’s not just that the sea level is rising … this area is also sinking.
NOTE – the Aquia aquifer is now so depleted by overuse that it is ‘recharging’ partly by drawing in water (‘brackish water intrusion’ mentioned in title) from a ‘hydrologic communication’ with the Chesapeake Bay water in the area of Kent Island.
We ignore and abuse (and allow our elected officials to ignore and abuse) our aquifers at our peril.
Rebecca Ellison says
Here is a link to the digital version of the 2001 Maryland Geological Survey of Queen Anne’s and Talbot aquifers referred to above …
http://www.mgs.md.gov/publications/report_pages/RI_72.html
Esp. check out Fig. 24 which shows a severe July to August drop in the Aquia aquifer (measured as feet below sea level) at the ‘Canterbury’ measuring station … presumably located off Bailey’s Neck Rd. and apparently at last partially reflecting the seasonal effects of the extreme irrigation of the nearby golf course.
Beverly Mayhew says
I agree with this.
Reggie Taylor says
I whole-heartedly agree with David’s sentiments.