EDITOR:

I can’t help but respond to an article written the other day by a member of the planning commission, Barry King. First, all or nearly all of this land is not sitting idle. Second, this whole issue is not about some farmer getting retirement. The farmers do not have a right to do anything they want with their land, just like anyone else. They have some special privileges already, but we are all bound by the laws of the land, local, state or federal. For a member of the planning commission to say the farmers should be able to do what they want is puzzling. Why just the farmers? Let everyone do what they want with their land and forget about any zoning regulations at all. Get rid of zoning and the commission because there wouldn’t be any need for them. You see how this sounds, even Barry has to realize the importance of zoning for protection of neighbors and so on.

Next, the few people mentioned, along with most of the planning commission (like yourself), are for the solar project. The much larger group at the meetings are opposed to the solar project. If you rid your partiality and listen to all the people you’re suppose to be representing, you would perhaps see it differently.

As far as the attacks and harassment you have to deal with monthly, I have not seen any of that, more so it seems the commission is dictating to the people what they want, which will have an affect on the whole township. The people are expressing themselves in a profound way as the project was almost quietly slid in without them even knowing about it, irregardless of how much notice the commission said they gave. If passed, it would have an irrevocable life long colossal impact, continually spreading engulfing the most beautiful parts of our township. I would not want this on my watch!

Like Barry, I urge more to attend the meetings and let the board know how they feel as it shouldn’t be decided by a handful of people, and don’t put farmers above the law, as we all should have to follow regulations set forth. By letting farmers do what they want doesn’t show respect for anyone else’s rights in our township.

Now, who is really “the handful of people”? One should question a zoning board member when he suggests that a particular group can “do what they deem best with their land.”

Tom Pietsch

Gladstone