Rural Nelson Report
for Annual Meeting, 2 March 2005
submitted by
Constantine Roussos, President
Building a community is a delicate balancing act. It is an extremely difficult task and there are only a few tools at our disposal to help in this endeavor. Nelson County is a rural area with a proud heritage. It is lauded as one of the most beautiful places in the eastern United States. We know that we want to preserve that beauty. Yet we need to simultaneously accommodate an increasing population and business expansion. Certainly we want to provide living space and employment opportunities for children and grandchildren. And we want them to continue to enjoy the beauty and character of the county into the future.
One thing is certain. Without goals, without a plan we will simply be the victims of circumstances, as have so many communities in Virginia and across America.
Our hopes for the future will only be realized through defining goals, intentional actions toward those goals, cooperation and compromise in the face of competing objectives.
This will come to be the ultimate challenge for America in the 21st century. In response to this challenge Rural Nelson has defined its goals through its mission statement.
The Mission
of Rural Nelson is to preserve and enhance the rural quality of life enjoyed by
Nelson County residents by developing broad-based support for informed growth
policies that:
We believe that change in all these areas, while
inevitable, can take place in a way consistent with the intrinsic value of
Nelson's rural character.
Highlighting Purchase of
Development Rights
Sometimes we just seem to be ahead of the times. At the December 2003 Rural Nelson meeting Jimmy Powell, President of the Albemarle County Farm Bureau, spoke to us about PDRs, the Purchase of Development Rights Program. Under this program farmers agree to prevent the conversion of their farmland to non-agricultural uses. In exchange they receive cash payments approximately equal to the difference of the developed value and the agricultural value of their land. Mr. Powell described how the program allowed him to retain his family’s farm and to continue farming rather than be forced to subdivide and sell the farm. Well, the February 2004 edition of the Virginia Farm Bureau News featured PDRs and Mr. Powell with his photo on the cover and a two-page article inside. The article indirectly referred to Rural Nelson as a “group down in Nelson County” to whom Mr. Powell spoke about implementing PDRs. The article went on to say that
· PDRs are gaining support everywhere for good reasons
· The counties of Albemarle, Clarke, Fauquier, James City and Loudon as well as the city of Virginia Beach all have PDR programs.
· The Federal Government supports PDRs financially and legislatively.
· PDRs are a "friend" to real farmers vs. farmer/developers.
· Everyone is a winner when PDRs are properly implemented.
· The greatest impediment to implementing PDR programs is lack of state funding
Incidentally, the current photo on our website, overlooking a Nelson Co. farm, won a third place prize in the Va. Farm Bureau’s most recent photo contest. Unfortunately, only first place photos were displayed in the Bureau’s magazine so you will have to go to the VABF website to see the second and third place finishers.
Programs for Rural Nelson Monthly Meetings:
Rural Nelson tries to address the breadth of rural living consistent with its mission statement. This is most evident in the topics covered in our monthly meetings.
Rural Nelson’s mission statement charges us to Preserve our historic heritage. I can think of no better way of doing so than supporting this effort. That is why Rural Nelson, at the request of the museum board, wrote a letter to the Board of Supervisors in support of the creation of the museum.
Ms. Sappington showed us how to make a real difference in our own backyards with projects that benefit both the homeowner and our environment. Talk about connections - Dr. Greenberg, who addressed us in February of 2004, has installed such a system at his home.
As articulated by Mr. Martin, this is clearly a model project. It provides important recreational opportunities, it brings money to the county and it enables citizens to work together for the common good. Be sure to attend or participate in the mini-triathlon held on the trail April 9th.
The Zoning Ordinance has been a point of controversy. Rural Nelson has worked diligently to shed light rather than generate heat. More on this later.
US 29 bisects the county. Major road construction initiatives impacting Rt. 29 are currently in progress and more are planned for the future. It is imperative that we understand the nature of these projects and how they will impact us.
This program is nationally unique and has been wildly successful here in Nelson County. Rural Nelson has been a catalyst in getting out information on programs like this that raise the quality of life in Nelson County.
Dr Brower presented a clear example of an ecological connection between locations thousands of miles apart. Without research like his how could we understand how important the preservation of mountain forests in Mexico is to insect population balance in the United States?
The use of biosolids is a hot topic nationally. There appear to be horror stories of its improper use and, in other cases, programs that are a model to be emulated. It also appears that current law cannot prevent the application of biosolids in the county. Information is the key to creating an ordinance that will protect us from potentially irresponsible practices and information is job #1 for Rural Nelson.
Tourism has become increasingly more important to the economy of the county. Protecting gateways into the county is crucial to keeping that resource growing.
These programs, conducted by experts in their fields, keep us informed about topics relevant to our life in the county and they help generate a consensus among county residents. Using information to achieve consensus is an honest endeavor and a powerful idea. It has been and will continue to be our trademark.
Rural Nelson engaged in numerous other activities to help disseminate information and educate ourselves and the rest of the public. These activities include the following.
Kim Cash, our field officer, spoke about Rural Nelson and growth issues at the Wintergreen Property Owners’ Town Meeting in May.
We provided a panel speaker on Land Conservation for the Wintergreen Nature Foundation Winter Lecture Series.
We provided a newsletter piece on Land Conservation for the Wintergreen Nature Foundation newsletter in June.
In June Kim provided a newsletter piece on Rural Nelson for The Link, the Wintergreen mountaintop newsletter.
In July we received a request from a Stoney Creek residents' group for permission to re-print the Rural Nelson piece in the Wintergreen Nature Foundation Newsletter. We gave them permission to reprint with Rural Nelson given credit for the piece.
Kim met with the new PEC (Piedmont Environmental Council) representative for the southern end of the region to coordinate efforts on transportation. She also met with representatives from regional groups working on Biosolids and Land Conservation.
We provided a synopsis of the proposed zoning ordinance for the Nelson County Times in September.
In October Rural Nelson volunteers set up and staffed a Rural Nelson display and information table at the ASAP Conference in Charlottesville.
Following the first public hearing on the zoning ordinance Kim and others answered hundreds of emails and telephone calls regarding specific questions on zoning.
We worked with college student Erin Hughey-Commers to develop an outline for an intern project to educate high school students on how county decisions are made, identify issues important to them and help them understand how they can be involved in the decision-making process. Erin hopes to involve students in the governmental process while they learn about that process.
In February Kim spoke to a group of Wintergreen residents about the importance of adopting a new zoning ordinance and the potential impacts of growth.
Rural Nelson’s website is continually updated and is noted as a source of complete and accurate information on county issues.
We are proud that Rural Nelson members were actively involved in the establishment of the two Ag/Forestal districts (including the new Findlay Mountain Ag/Forestal district established in 2004).
Rural Nelson continues to aid Friends of the Rockfish Watershed by using Rural Nelson’s 501(c)3 status to enable donations to FORWatershed to be tax-deductible.
Rural Nelson continues to maintain an office in the heart of Lovingston thanks to Mike Tapager, our Vice President. Although we only “own” a small office we hold our monthly meetings there and our sign in the window gives our organization visibility. I can’t recall how many times I have heard people refer to Mike’s building as the “Rural Nelson Building”.
Let me speak briefly about our most visible presence in the County, our reports on County meetings and Rural Nelson meetings. Rural Nelson strives to be as accurate as possible in its reporting. Nearly 600 individuals have requested our reports via email. Obviously, through objective reporting, we have earned the trust of the grand majority of those people. Anyone who wishes to be removed from the list need only reply to Kim with their request to be removed; yet the list continues to grow.
Rural Nelson representatives attended every Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, Zoning and Economic Development Authority meeting held in 2004 with full reports filed on each.
Producing these reports is a daunting task.
The following list covers calendar year 2004 alone.
Finally, Rural Nelson itself held 10 meetings – all open to the public.
This gives a total of 75 meetings in 2004.
Maintaining this level of accomplishment is not cheap. Generous donations from our numerous supporters help immensely but they do not entirely meet our financial needs. Thankfully, our supporters are willing to contribute something more valuable than money – their time.
In this address I have used the word “We” a lot when I should have been using the word “She”. The “She”, of course, is Kim Cash. I would guess that almost everyone here is aware of the incredible work that Kim does. For the most part “She” attends the meetings, “She” writes the reports, “She” organizes, schedules, consults, emails, phones, analyzes, speaks, cajoles, etc., etc. “She” deserves our recognition at this time.
Thank you Kim.
The rest of us do what we can when we can and, generally, try to lift some of the burden from Kim’s shoulders.
Mike Tapager, our Vice President, owns the “Rural Nelson Building” and works closely with Kim.
Joyce Burton, our Treasurer, gives us timely financial reports and continues to remind us that we need more money to survive.
Our generous supporters respond to her admonitions and have, thus far, kept Rural Nelson afloat. I have never belonged to an organization whose members have demonstrated a greater commitment.
Mary Buford Hitz, our Secretary, continues to tackle what has to be one of the most thankless jobs in any organization. She contributes to us far beyond her formal duties of taking minutes at our meetings.
The members of our Board of Directors are generous with their time, thoughtful advice and other resources and help set our direction.
Many others have volunteered
for our fund-raising projects, without which we would not be solvent.
Perhaps, just as important, are those who attend our meetings including this one, subscribe to our email reports and collect information from our website. Without them Rural Nelson would not exist.
I am not one to avoid controversial issues so allow me address two that I know of.
As indicated above there were at least 65 official county meetings open to the public in 2004. Additionally groups like Rural Nelson, The Nelson County Rural Museum, the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, Real Nelson and the Millennium Group (to name a few) held public meetings of interest to our community.
The Nelson County Times is part of a small, understaffed business located in Amherst County that produces newspapers for two counties. It is literally impossible for its reporters to cover even a small fraction of these meetings in addition to covering a multitude of other newsworthy items. As mentioned above Rural Nelson reports are a respected source of information. Occasionally, the Nelson County Times requests permission to reprint our reports. We are happy to accede to these requests in the interest of providing information to the citizens of the county; especially to those whom we cannot reach through email.
These same reports are available on our website to anyone in the world with a computer. All 75 of the 2004 meetings mentioned above are included. Furthermore, we have posted such reports extending back to March of 2001. We take pride in providing this service to our community.
I am a believer in mission statements for organizations. They define an organization’s reason for being and, if followed, keep it from straying into areas where it does not belong. Rural Nelson is governed legally by its by-laws but idealistically and spiritually by its mission statement.
Rural Nelson strongly supported and, in fact, was born of the inclusive process of public input that ultimately created Nelson County’s Comprehensive Plan. Early on it became crystal clear that the ideas espoused in our mission statement were entirely compatible with the opinions of the grand majority of Nelson citizens. The ideas supported by the citizens of the county were incorporated into the County’s Comprehensive Plan and Rural Nelson supports that plan insofar as it agrees with our mission, to preserve and enhance our rural quality of life. By extension we support any components of the Zoning Ordinance that implement the Comprehensive Plan. We are not Pollyannas or blind idealists and we certainly do not dictate points of view to our members and supporters. They speak on their own behalf; with reason and compassion in my observations.
Observers of political processes know that compromise is the
key to progress. The best way to
advance the quality of life here in Nelson County is through cooperation
between citizens and our elected officials.
When one looks beneath the surface it is clear that the citizens of this
county hold common ideals.
Unfortunately, good-meaning individuals sometimes engage in divisive, inflammatory, political rhetoric. This serves no constructive purpose. If we are unwary of this fact our collective
failure to reason and compromise will ultimately affect us individually by
allowing our beloved county to deteriorate through neglect and shortsighted
policies that fail to respond to a changing world.
In the end all we can really do is
stay true to our principles.
Rural Nelson will continue to be honest to its mission and with the general public. We continue to believe that reasonable people, when given the facts, will ultimately find common ground.
Rural Nelson is committed to the future of Nelson County.