THE PUBLIC MIND: OUR COUNTRY HAS GROWN BECAUSE OF LACK OF RESTRICTIONS; ZONING IS USELESS MIDDLEMAN

Dear Editor:

Do we need county planning and zoning to protect us from landfills, junkyards, hazardous waste recycling centers, billboards or industry? No! We do not!

1. Landfills. What's in a landfill? There are no tires, no car batteries, no junk cars, no medical waste, no hazardous waste. Why not? The Environment Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of National Resources will not allow them. All landfills are strictly regulated by these agencies. No one could sneak up on you in the night and put one next door. State and federal law already protect you. If you went to County Planning and Zoning Commission for help, they would send you straight to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of National Resources, and those agencies would protect you. County Planning and Zoning Commission is the useless middleman.

2. Junkyard. Would County Planning and Zoning protect you from a junkyard? No. But the Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of National Resources will. You can appeal to them and they have laws that will protect you. County Planning and Zoning is the ineffective middleman.

3. Hazardous Waste Recycling Centers. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Missouri Department of National Resources and numerous other government agencies strictly regulate hazardous waste. Remember when those train loads of hazardous waste from "back East" tried to come through our state? Did County Planning and Zoning turn them around? No, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources protected us. County Planning and Zoning is the worthless middleman.

4. Billboards. No one wants a billboard next to their house. Be realistic. Why would any business put a billboard on County Road 535? If they want to put one on a state or federal highway, state and federal law require that billboards be erected only on land owned by the business being advertised. This keeps your neighbor from surprising you with a billboard. County Planning and Zoning is once again the useless middleman.

4. Industry. Where could Cape County be without Procter and Gamble? They came in long before County Planning and Zoning. They have raised property values in rural Cape County, paid tremendous amounts in taxes to our schools, provided more than 1,000 Cape County residents with high paying jobs and done an admirable job of protecting the environment because of state and federal laws and their own corporate convictions. Do we want Planning and Zoning to protect us from more industry like them?

Now that we see how much protection county planning and zoning will give us, let's see what restrictions they will impose on the freedoms of Cape County.

1. Charge you for permits, fees and fines.

2. Increase county payroll by three and one half employees.

3. Hire outside attorneys to sue us.

4. Pay outside consultants to make $88,000 censored booklets.

5. Prevent people from moving into Cape County by telling landowners they can't sell more than two parcels of their land without platting and subdividing it, at the discretion of the Cape Planning and Zoning Commission.

County Planning and Zoning does not protect us, it merely controls us. Why do they want to control us? I suspect that there are vested interests at work here. Who stands to gain the most from this? Not the freedom loving rural citizen, but the urban developer. Only wealthy developers will be able to buy or sell land, and then we all know what will happen to the price of rural land.

The Southeast Missourian tells us that in the last 10 years most of Cape County's growth was in the rural areas. Could it be that rural Cape County has grown because of the lack of restrictions? Could it be that the powers that control incorporated areas are jealous of our growth and want to control and restrict it for their own personal gain? We see that we do not need their protection. Can we stand their control?

Vickie Mungle

Route 4 Jackson