Mathews County Planning and Zoning Director John Shaw will retire at the end of December after eight years of service to the county. He will be replaced by planner and wetlands and marine projects coordinator Thomas Jenkins, who has been with the department for two years.

Shaw said that when he came to Mathews he saw saw that environmental constraints could make development in Mathews difficult, and that his goal became to find balance between what seemed to be competing issues—helping people develop their property while, at the same time, adhering to regulations.

One project that Shaw felt demonstrated his success with that goal was the offshore breakwater system built by property owners of the Bavon Beach and Chesapeake Shores subdivisions, assisted by grant funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and with the cooperation of The Nature Conservancy, the owner of the beach.

“We did what we could to try to make it happen,” said Shaw. “I take some pride...