If you’re not sure whether to vote for I.G. Burton or Mark Schaeffer for Sussex County Council, you should recognize the clear differences between the two candidates.
I.G. Burton is about protecting our economy and environment for the long run. Mark Schaeffer is about ensuring landowners make as much money as possible right now.
Need an example? Consider the 2015 proposal for Overbrook Town Center, which would have paved over pristine farmland for 850,000 square feet of retail (the size of Dover Mall) just a few miles north of the vast stretch of outlet shops already in place on Route 1.
The developers came up with familiar arguments for the project, promising more “jobs” and extolling the value of more shopping options. In contrast, more than 1,500 people, including engineers, marketing experts, farmers and everyday residents wrote letters pointing out that those jobs would pay minimum wage and that the mall would have brought more than 2,300 extra vehicles to the intersection of Route 1 and Cave Neck Road every hour.
Most troubling to people with a conservative mindset is that the cost for traffic improvements would have been close to $28 million. The developers offered to pay just $8 million, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the rest.
The council listened. Led by I.G. Burton, they weighed the views of taxpayers and the long-term impacts on our economy and environment, and voted 4-1 against (the one dissenting vote was from Rob Arlett).
So consider what’s happened in the five years since. Shopping malls are emptying nationwide. Retailers are declaring bankruptcy at an unprecedented rate. State and city budgets are starved for resources, and being forced to lay off teachers, police and other first responders.
Obviously, I.G. Burton and the other councilmembers who voted “no” were right. Taxpayers avoided spending tens of millions on a mall that probably would have been belly-up before it ever opened. Meanwhile the damage to the environment and economy would have been done, with taxpayers seeing no return on their investment and a probable tax hike to make up for the deficits caused by this proposal if it had gone through.
Hindsight is . . . well, you know. But right now I.G.’s looking pretty smart. He’s protecting our economy by ensuring developers pay their fair share for better roads and traffic management. He’s been a major supporter of the new industrial park in Georgetown, which is bringing tremendous job growth to the area. He’s promoting larger but completely reasonable buffers to clean up our waterways. And with wise decision-making on Overbrook and other sites, he’s protecting taxpayers from greed and shortsightedness that only benefit the few.
Meanwhile it’s difficult for me to believe Schaeffer would have voted to protect us from this debacle. As a candidate he’s avidly touting a platform that maintains the “right” of landowners to squeeze as much money as possible from the sale of their land without - in my opinion - sufficient details on how to mitigate the costs of higher traffic, more school construction and other expenditures as a result. He also wants to reduce buffers that protect the environment, and makes his own living selling real estate.
The choice is simple. Vote for I.G. Burton, the smart guy who’s looking out for you.
Chris Beakey
Lewes
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