Letters to the Editor

Volume VII Number 30
July 29-August 4, 1999

Stop Sewer Creep

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

Sewer drives development, admits the man from Anne Arundel's Public Works Department. How true! And how necessary it is to keep sewer creep from overwhelming us with development.

But sewer plant capacity creep will speed up sharply if the Water/Sewer Master Plan Update Bill 57-99 is passed in August as it now stands.

People in the Great Central Block and in the Lake Shore Block should be especially alert. These are the only two large blocks of land in the county north of Route 50 that we are likely to save from intense development. They really should be downzoned to qualify for Ms. Owens' excellent agricultural preservation plan.

The Great Central Block consists of east Odenton, lower Millersville, southeast Gambrills, all of Crownsville, easternmost Crofton and westernmost Annapolis. The Great Central Block is threatened by a great pincer movement: The Update would increase the Patuxent (Crofton) plant by 50 percent, from six to nine MGD (million gallons per day) and would increase the Annapolis plant by 30 percent, from 10 to 13 MGD.

The Update would also divert some sewage from Cox Creek plant to Broadneck plant and build another plant farther up the Patapsco, thus allowing sewer lines to be built in from Lake Shore.

While the Small Area Plans are useful for the next decade, the long-term real engine of development is this nearly annual update of the Water/Sewer Plan. The developers know that boards and courts pay no mind to roads and schools, but they do require sewer to be available.

Write or phone your councilperson. Speak at the hearing on August 2. Insist the bill be postponed until fall. Argue a compromise, that water go forward while sewer is put on hold, at least until the small area plans in the plants' service areas are made law.

Let's stop sewer creep!

-James A. Hoage, Severna Park

North Beach Life Keeps Getting Better

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

My husband Larry and I would like to extend our most sincere thanks to Mr. Mayor and the town council for establishing the North Beach beach patrol. We've lived here long enough to see many many changes in our special town, and we truly appreciate the wonderful steps forward that we've witnessed, especially in the last few months. Some of these are:

• Cleaner streets, new sidewalks, better traffic control, demolition of unsafe buildings, more frequent trash pickup at the beach;
• Dedicated walkers from early morning to late night who always comment about how safe they feel "walking in North Beach";
• Cheerful happy children and respectful adults using the beach for proper reasons (this pleases all of us residents);
• Fewer unleashed pets and bicycles on the boardwalks;
• No charcoal fires, alcoholic beverages being consumed or loud radios on the beach areas;
• Pleasant attitudes toward our beach patrollers who've already endeared themselves to our many residents and visitors. (We suggest that they receive a special note of thanks from all of us here in North Beach. It's been a hot job, to say the least!)

Again, special thanks to Mayor Mark Frazer, Mike Bojoleles, Bob McMann, Craig Collins and everyone else for the outstandingly neat service the beach patrol has given.

-Jean Hatch, North Beach

Dept. of Correction

Thanks to all our correspondents for correcting the "glaring error" in last week's Reflection, "One More Lost Hero." The "F" between John and Kennedy stands, of course, for Fitzgerald. Forgetful, we stand shamed and corrected.

| Issue 30 |

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