Voice of the People

In one fell swoop the Town of Porter’s Board of Zoning Appeals just wasted about $45,000 of its constituent’s tax dollars. Those tax dollars were paid for an extensive land survey of the Porter Beach area so that logical and thoughtful future development could be pursued. Three lawsuits over zoning and variances against the Town had been the stimulus for this expenditure. The Town Council also had the laudable goal of trying to keep the inherent esthetic value of the dunes from being spoiled by haphazard and willy-nilly projects and development.

So last Wednesday night, the BZA approves three variances so one man could build a 20- x 28-foot freestanding garage on a 20- x 100-foot parcel that had been considered (for good reason) a non-buildable lot. Now there’s a brilliant masterstroke of community planning. The Porter Beach area probably has somewhere close to another 125 lots that size. Now that one variance has been given for such a purpose it follows that these other lots can now sprout other garages.

Maybe the BZA has more wisdom than I do. Maybe they can see that with a multitude of garages out here we will eliminate the parking problems that exist here in the summer. And then maybe they thought the Town could tax the revenues we garage operators could charge all the tourists! Also, maybe they thought the Fourth of July Parade would be re-instated and we could use all these garages for parking and run a shuttle bus into town. Why, they may even have planned ahead for Porter’s busy holiday shopping season when the streets of the Town are packed with holiday shoppers. Why, they could just call Porter Beach and have us turn on our Open for Parking lights. What vision!

Stay tuned residents of Porter. Be prepared for other instances of where your hard earned dollars go into the Town coffers and are squandered on similar illogical decisions. And for you non-residents, keep reading the Tribune. There’s sure to be more good laughs coming soon as you read about more dysfunctional events coming to you soon from a governmental meeting at the Town Hall on Franklin Street.

Franklin E. Maxwell

Posted 3/26/2008