D.E.C Public Hearing

The issues we are hearing today are very important and these laws will change Woodbury forever. I have always said that change is good along as it is change for the better. I live in Woodbury because it’s a great place to live and raise a family which is the same reason we all live here. We all came today because most of us all love where we live; we have two great parks, one of the best school district in the county, great neighborhoods, low crime which all adds up to a better quality of life.
A year ago this board came to you like today and asked for your input on us spending $140,000.00 on a new comprehensive plan. We told you the people that we needed to hire experts in planning to help shape the look of our town for years to come. As of today the plan is not done and we sit here now proposing five new laws which will make this town grow almost 25%. According to the times herald record Woodbury is the 4th fastest growing town in Orange County now with an increase of 13.70% since 2000. This new growth may jump us to first place still without our experts that we hired with your money telling us if we are making the right decision. There has been much talk about our master plan telling us we can do this now but that plan was done in the 1980’s and we all know life in Woodbury in the 80’s was very different then life in Woodbury today.
I would like to make this very clear that I respect all my fellow board members; they work very hard this town and spend many hours away from their families conducting town business. It’s not easy sitting up here but we do this because we all believe we can make a difference and better our community. But we also represent the people of Woodbury and I believe the residents on these five laws should be allowed to make their own decision. All of us up here ran on the platform that we are for open government well lets keep our word and allow the people to vote on these issues with a pubic referendum!

"As one of our founding fathers, Andrew Jackson, said, the people are the government. By enacting Initiative and Referendum, we will be ensuring that the people of this state play a more integral role in the decision-making process. Ensuring that the power is in the hands of the people is the best way to preserve the democracy that is a cornerstone of our country."
Initiative and referendum represents the very core of democracy – ensuring that all people have a voice in the democratic process. It is an idea grounded in the belief that power ultimately rests in the hands of the people.
For more than 100 years, Americans have used the Initiative and Referendum process to make changes in state and local laws. The guiding principle behind initiative and referendum is simple: when a Legislature fails to act on issues important to the citizenry, the people have the ability and the means to act on those issues.
Right now there are six property’s that fit into these new laws which means we could be looking at over 2500 new homes just on the passing of these new laws.
In closing I ask my fellow board members to let the people of Woodbury decide these five new laws! I leave with a quote from FDR
Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.
Franklin D. Roosevelt