Thursday, 7:45 AM. 44 degrees, wind N, calm. The channel is glassy, the sky has a few puffy white clouds and the barometer predicts sunny skies. It is a repeat of the great morning of yesterday, complete with geese and woodpeckers.Andy and Judy came to dinner last night, but our mutual friends Paul and Joanne from Three Lakes bowed out. Judy went to the Town of Russell Board meeting Tuesday evening where the Compton Road development was on the agenda. There was a full house, with many very concerned property owners, who basically got nowhere, and the rezoning goes on to the County Board where it will probably be approved.
There are a number of reasons rampant development is often approved in small rural communities: the lack of experience by officials and citizens alike, the usual lack of legal counsel, the general attitude of farmers that “nobody’s going to tell us what we can do on our own land,” and sometimes more sinister reasons as well. Developers can usually push their way through the process, often with disastrous long term results, and specific development plans are often just a “straw man” for some other scheme. An argument in favor of development is a supposed increase in tax revenue and corresponding decrease in property taxes, but we have owned eleven homes in four states over forty years, and not once have our real estate taxes gone down for any reason, so I consider that a mute argument at best.
On a lighter note, the Bayfield Chamber has an annual Scarecrow Festival, and it is a hoot. Two years ago I made a little flower girl scarecrow, but it got wet and fell apart in a storm and being an old softy, I was greatly saddened by her untimely demise. Won’t do it again.
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