I am writing this letter in response to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's email alert regarding proposed changes in development regulations that would allow the Virginia development community to eliminate public accessibility to various stormwater applications.  The citizens in the Bay watershed are best served by what CBF initiatives and proposals, not those from the building industry. 

 I have been in the planning and preservation planning field for 25 years in Maryland, Virginia, and California. All development applications, zoning applications, building applications, grading applications, etc. are applications available for public review.  This is standard practice and it is a good practice that allows communities to understand the complexity of a development application in their neighborhood and its environmental impacts.  

This proposal to shield components of stormwater plans from public review puts communities and the protection of the bay at a tremendous disadvantage. It is a seious step backwards. As a planner and a preservationist, I say this proposal stinks like a dead fish, which is all that we will have in the bay with these kinds of grossly irresponsible public policy decisions.