St. Mary’s County should revise it’s zoning rules for placement of mobile homes on private land. The recent case of a longtime county resident, Marquerite Barnes, trying to upgrade her existing mobile home, ran into the buzz saw of prejudice against the middle class and lower income residents who can only afford a manufactured home, against manufactured homes in general and topped off with with the mindless morons of the consulting business who waltzed into the county with this stupid plan twenty years ago.

There are no explainable reasons for the Board of Appeals to have shirked their duty to give relief to citizens from onerous rules and regulations. That is the purpose of the panel.

The issue here is clear. Ms. Barnes wanted to get rid of her worn out early sixties single wide trailer. What she can afford was a new double wide mobile home. She didn’t believe she could afford a modular home yet the awkward and embarrassing questions of the silly Board of Appeals made her admit, stowing her pride, that she couldn’t afford the extra cost of a modular home.

This lady wasn’t coming to the county for a handout, for a low interest loan for housing, for a subsidized section 8 apartment. She was simply trying to pay all the costs associated with upgrading her home and found out she was asking for a very small increase over what the arbitrary code called for, in a code which was drawn up long before our crisis in affordable housing existed.

On top of the way she was treated, she paid $600 for her appeal to be heard. St. Mary’s County ought to be ashamed for the way this citizen was treated and quickly change the code and give her money back to her.

Too often our politicians and Chamber of Commerce bloviate about workforce housing, about affordable housing and show up for ribbon cuttings with the Habitat for Humanity.

This time all they have to do is to cut the baloney and issue this woman a building permit.

The reason that we have uncontrolled growth, overcrowded schools and traffic beyond the capacity of the roads to handle it is not the fault of Ms. Barnes getting a new double wide on her own land. The solution to these problems doesn’t rest with the exercise of arbitrary and abusive authority over Ms. Barnes and her desire to upgrade her home place.

St. Mary’s continues to make life tough on the working stiff in addition to their long-standing ignorance when it comes to preserving the Navy railroad right of way for future commuter rail use. The phantom FDR Blvd. road will never be built but it continues to be used as a bludgeon over property owners. The St. Mary’s Commissioners bought the Flat Tops property and now they ought to get that one right. Leave it alone and let it turn back to grass and trees. The pressure on development in the AICUZ Zone can only serve to send vital missions at Pax to Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Count them commissioners.

1. Be serious about workforce housing issues, don’t bloviate. Help Ms. Barnes and others who can only afford manufactured homes.

2. Stop the malarkey about FDR Blvd. You won’t fund it, the state won’t fund it. Let the property owners alone.

3. Preserve the railroad right of way from further easements, make those who want to cross it find alternatives.

4. Leave the AICUZ Zone alone and stop further development along Willows Road. Protect the Golden Goose.