Editor, The Smithfield Times:

After I moved here voters elected the most destructive crew for Isle of Wight County and Smithfield.

I read the sad news that the task force for the farmers market will be made up of sold-out county and town officials who have demonstrated their willingness to approve taxpayer dollars for any project suggested by outsiders with money.

The current Board of Supervisors has created partnerships with outside developers rather than with the county’s citizens. These carpetbaggers have freely raped and pillaged the land to overpopulate the county and fill the pockets of county government.

A few years ago county staff created an overpopulation plan they called Isle 2040. It was rejected by the citizens and voted down by a previous Board of Supervisors. The current BOS manipulated the review of the previous Comprehensive Plan to more closely match the 2040 plan. Subverting state laws concerning how the Comprehensive Plan should be administered, the BOS took it from the Planning Commission and assigned it to their employees who they could control.

Then the BOS allowed Smithfield to annex properties that would have been developed by the 2040 Plan. The Smithfield Town Council then ignored the wishes of the citizens and approved the construction of an 800-plus residence development on those annexed properties. The final result will mean larger police and fire forces, newer and fancier schools, and expensive expansions of water and sewer systems, all at the expense of the citizens. The county is currently avoiding expensive repairs to storm sewer systems by trying to transfer this expense to individual property owners even though we pay stormwater fees in our taxes.

My only hope is that I’m able to relocate before the county becomes a more expensive version of what we left.

 

Richard Gillerlain

Carrollton