Fifth County Signs on to Regional Land Use Agreement
Photo by Ryan Ewing ESLC Staffers John Seward, Kris George, Amy Owsley and Rob Etgen celebrate outside Council Chambers following the 3-2 vote by the Talbot County Council to adopt Eastern Shore 2010. Talbot County Votes to Adopt Eastern Shore 2010 Agreement Easton, Maryland February 28, 2008 – Talbot County became the fifth county to sign a newly updated regional agreement aimed at strengthening land protection efforts on the Eastern Shore. This agreement, led by the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC), sets forward four broad conservation goals for the region together to strive toward achieving by 2010. The Talbot County Commissioners signed the updated Eastern Shore 2010 agreement with a 3-2 vote. Last year, representatives from ESLC presented the updated agreement to the six counties of the middle and upper shore , which are Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties. This agreement, originally launched and signed onto by all six counties in 2002, was strengthened last year by ESLC in response to increased growth pressure facing the Shore in the next few decades. Kent, Caroline, Cecil and Queen Anne’s all voted to adopt the revised agreement last spring. Talbot’s first vote on the issue in 2007 was a 2-2 rejection of the plan. ESLC brought the plan back to Talbot County this week to ask the Council to reconsider. In discussion prior to the vote, Councilman Thomas Duncan encouraged the county to take a leadership role by supporting Eastern Shore 2010. “We’ve got to step up to the plate and show leadership to get this plan to move forward,” he said. “There is more need for this agreement now than there was in 2002.” Councilman Corey Pack echoed a similar sentiment. “It is heading in the right direction for the Eastern Shore,” Pack said. In addition to Duncan and Pack, Councilman Dierk