Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Our Board of Supervisors is committed to conserving areas where citizens have public access to the water, and the board committed funds in 1994 to preserve public access to the East River at Williams Wharf Landing.

Isn’t it reasonable to ask the Mathews Board of Supervisors to guarantee public access to the East River at Williams Wharf Landing in perpetuity by not vacating the county’s existing 30-foot right of way established in the 1920s? What do taxpayers gain by such an action? The area in question has always been basically a "turnaround"—a cul-de-sac where people could park to go fishing, walk around, picnic, or just to mediate and enjoy the aesthetic beauty of the river and to experience the Wharf’s historic aura.

The county entered into an agreement with the Mathews Land Conservancy in 1994 to obtain a VDOT grant to purchase Williams Wharf Landing for development as an "engineless, small craft, public access...