CtPost tommorrows article on Canal issues

My google alert tossed up another news-wire article under keyword of Shelton.
http://www.connpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11031243

Tommorrow's CtPost has an article regarding the Canal Co battling with the City. Primarily the article covers the recent P&Z rezoning in the area that included land of the Canal Co, from R4 to R1. Given the owner of the Canal Co's comments in the past regarding his claims of favored treatment of one developer over another - you can guess what subject got drawn into the article. It's not surprising that when the 1st FBI indictment alleges that 4 of the PZC were given rewards for voting favorably to a developer, that the public is going to draw extra scrutiny to every item involving their decisions.

I had separately and coincidentally been emailing the CtPost reporter news regarding the recent FERC decision shared by Teresa via our google group, especially in light of the article a couple of Sundays back in which I appeared in a photo for and gave quotes to. Unfortunately, the updated FERC info was made known after this online article was created, but perhaps tommorrow's print version will have such extra updated content.

These online articles have a commentary / blogging type component, and one of them is at over 300 comments from readers. Naturally, as people can hide behind an alias or "handle", they are a little more blatant about what they say, thinking they have no worry of facing libel or slander. That's not my focus, rather that there is a sentiment voiced by more than one, which paraphrased is "throw all the bums out". They would seem to include any commission or board that has anything to do with land use decisions, and there have been mentioned in these commentaries 2 Open Space purchases.

This is unacceptable, to have our good-will capital with the public, which was built up over the years, swirl down the toilet bowl with the other crap that apparantly has gone on.

After a request from a reporter today, I was separately giving comments regarding the upcoming Public Hearing by the PZC to consider update to the OSPlan. The timing of this hearing could not be worse, or better, depending on your point of view. From my perspective, and what I communicated to the reporter: the OSPlan from 1993 has served the residents well. Modifications to it are in essence recognizing past accomplishments and building upon them. It has helped us garner grants and awards in the past from various agencies, and we hope similar recognitions will occur in the future. There is nothing being requested in the OSPlan update that is extraordinary, and on a whole serves to balance development in the community with Shelton's long held tradition of conservation related aspects - which thus contributes to a quality of life we all desire to enjoy.

It serves little purpose to look in the rearview mirror of what has happened among these PZC individuals. If you continue driving while looking over your shoulder, you will run into things, and there are a lot of important things on the road ahead: OSPlan adoption, RecPath completion, OS acquisitions, monitoring and assisting issues involving recreational use of the Canal area. Reading all this news is certainly a distracting parlor game, one I'm guilty of too. We should all recommit to focusing on our CC issues ahead and let the others reap what they sowed.

By nature of a special email address, this is appearing simultaneously in the CC google group, and on my Commissioner's Blog (which I refer the media to).