Editor, Gazette-Journal:

First, most people don’t understand the RMA or the RPA, and the previous articles are very misleading. There are not 29 counties that are a total RMA, of some of the counties the writer listed, Middlesex and York are not total RMA, that’s just to name two. The total Resource Management Area for Gloucester is taking away your rights to use your land and put more government control over your land.

If the county is a total RMA, that means you won’t be able to have a garden, garage, porch or add on to your house without a permit and pay a $100 fee, plus post a bond once you use more than a 50’x50’ area. If the county decides not to be a total RMA, then you can use up to 10,000 square feet or a 100’x100’ space.

Second, this previous article refers to the Business Focus Group and how they stated that relaxing the RMA would not encourage business growth. Well, I was on the Business Focus Group and I didn’t see Mr. Olekszyk in any of the meetings. In fact, he was not on this group. I never heard anyone speak about leaving the RMA as it is. In fact, we suggested it be changed to match other counties, 100 feet behind the RPA.

A previous statement about their being 16,000 septic systems in Gloucester I think is also false, as there are only 13,000 family units and some are hooked to sewer, plus 80 percent of these have been installed since the Bay Act was placed and now have a backup field as required by the Bay Act. If you look at the charts on the internet, it breaks down the pollution of the Bay by 50 percent from agriculture, 20 percent from sewer, about 6-8 percent from runoff and the rest from air pollutants. The real causes of the Bay pollution is coming from the pig and chicken farms on the Eastern Shore; this is why the Upper Bay has a “D” and “C” rating, plus all the runoff from the huge homes with large yards that have chemicals sprayed on them.

Last is the misleading statement about growth. Well, we may have grown a little from 2013, after being on the bottom since 2009, we only built 130 homes last year and that’s a long way from 316 in 2006. Next, the high school student population is down from 2,100 in 2006 to 1,700 in 2015. Do the numbers; the federal government will and cut funds. We need a new high school, and the way to pay for it is with some growth.

Growth brings jobs, taxes and building that will increase the money we will need in the future. This is best board of supervisors we have ever had and they need our support to manage this county.

C.W. Davis

Gloucester, Va.