My Opinion: Our New Zoning Ordinance Must Be Followed

>Wearing a suit to teach in our working-class New Jersey grammar school, my civics teacher stood out. His matter-of-fact discussions about how each one of us was important enough to participate in government resonated with me and he quickly became my favorite teacher. When he decided to run for mayor of a nearby township, I volunteered to work on his campaign with another student named Jose. We went door-to-door after school, handing out pamphlets whenever possible. At his victory party, I fell in love with politics. I believed in his candidacy and our democracy. But in the long run, my civics teacher would test my confidence in both.

After our teacher was sworn in, he brought Jose and I to see his office. Town Hall was perched above the mouth of Lincoln Tunnel. His seat of power had a breathtaking view of Manhattan across the Hudson River. With big plans for the town, he could barely contain his pride and excitement. He wanted his students to share this enthusiasm for government.

Not too long after taking office, he came to school in a bad mood. He stared at his shoes and barely spoke. The class shared quizzical looks and shrugs. At the tail-end of the day, he sat at his desk and quietly told us that he thought he had made the right decision for the people of his township — but that he had gone about it inappropriately. He had done something wrong.

All I could think about was how strange it was that he was telling a bunch of 14-year-olds.

Publicly there was no indication that he had made a mistake. At my father’s invitation, he even stopped by my sixteenth birthday party a couple of years later to wish me well. I was thrilled that he would make that effort and show how much he cared. It was the last time I would ever see him.

He was soon brought up on charges for attempting to extort $600,000. The indictment involved a chicken factory and a senior center. Later, when I was in college, my grandmother sent me the newspaper article describing his trial and sentencing.

For some people, politicians taking bribes might be a rare occurrence. Where I come from, it was standard. The entire mayor and council of my hometown were arrested a couple of times. They would walk them down a steep city hall staircase in handcuffs. One council member, a Boy Scout treasurer, was elected then arrested too. We were able to speak with him before he went to jail. He insisted that we would never be able to believe the pressure politicians in town were under to accept kickbacks.

In order to function as a citizen, I’ve convinced myself that it was just a bad time and place.

Living here in Rockville, I cringed every time our city council suddenly imposed six-month development moratoriums on properties so that the zoning could be changed because it set a bad precedent. Let me emphasize that I don’t think anyone has done anything illegal in Rockville. However, if we allow the process to be manipulated, we could be inviting dishonesty. I don’t want to ever see that occur. I’m thankful that we live in a City far from corruption and the shocking headlines of today.

After 30 years, we are about to fully revise Rockville’s zoning ordinance. The final draft has been posted and the final approval is expected at the Mayor and Council meeting on December 15, 2008. The ordinance will regulate development on all properties in Rockville. It’s our game plan. It will determine “building height, setbacks and accessory structures on residential property, permitted land uses, and the size and scale of new development.” The City’s vision is to enhance livability.

My hope is that we will all abide by this ordinance. It’s not fair to say you personally don’t want a development when it is permissible under the ordinance. There may need to be some small tweaking for improvement to site plans, but on the whole, this is the way we’ve agreed things should be in accordance with the City’s Master Plan and individual neighborhood plans. If all the standards and requirements are followed, I expect the process to result in approval for a development. Anything else is just not evenhanded.

Share and enjoy:

Hide Sites