Like an irritating mosquito that won't go away, the growth debate continues to plague our community, despite the adoption of the Building Permit Allocation System last year. Since I will doubtless have the "Developer" tag hung around my neck, I need to address this issue head-on.

I was a member of a small group who actually wrote the ordinance with the help of County staff. Also included in the group were members of the Sustainable Growth Initiatve Committee and representatives of the building industry.

We spent sixteen exhausting months, meeting weekly,in the crafting of this ordinance. Just to make the process clear, there was considerable recalcitrance on both sides that needed to be overcome to reach a compromise agreement. The resulting ordinance is complex and is fully understood by only a few even today.

My reasons for being involved in this effort need to be clarified.

First, it had become apparent to me that we are reaching a tipping point in our infrastructure capacity, specifically regarding traffic and drainage, including floodplain management. We need to get a handle on the pace at which future development will occur, the requirements to be placed on this development, and give ourselves the ability to do longer term planning than we have done to date.

Second, this issue has fostered a level of devisiveness in our community that I have not seen in the nearly 30 years that I've lived here and needs to be put to rest. There will be growth. Let us not forget our past; nearly all of us live on what was once someone's ranch. The more vocal anti-growth advocates, my opponent among them, will continue to clamor for existing approvals to be revoked for the slightest reasons and that not one more nail be driven in our Valley. They will also try to tell you that we're overpumping our water supply, an assertion not supported by the available data. Their claim that more water means more development is merely a smokescreen for drying up the Valley to prevent growth. I'm not buying.

We have the tools available to manage our growth - let's use them and move forward.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further. I can legitimately claim to be an authority on the subject.