The Gloucester Board of Supervisors, in the first six months with three new members who promised new economies, has left no doubt as to the conservative nature of its majority. The board is taking a hard look at how the county has been operating in recent years, and making some significant changes. Good or bad?

Even before budget negotiations started, board members said they would entertain no suggestion of a tax increase. They kept their word.

There’s a push to eliminate the highway corridor overlay district, with the perceived corollary, in some members’ opinions, that it’s bad for business.

We think trashing HCOD is a bad idea and that the zoning concept is a good thing for Gloucester as, going forward, it helps to ensure orderly development along Route 17. Before zoning came to the county in 1984, “orderly” was the last word that could be applied to Gloucester’s growth.

When the HCOD was enacted in 1998, a big recession and a small recession ...