Plans to relocate Chick-fil-A disregard neighborhood | READER COMMENTARY

Plans to relocate Chick-fil-A disregard neighborhood

From all indications, Chick-fil-A in Westminster is losing its lease and has selected its new location – across the street from Wawa, which also happens to be my neighborhood.

The property is zoned Business and a fast-food restaurant is a permitted use. However, the estimated 2,800-plus cars six days a week is not a permitted use for our neighborhood.

The city and county planners have convinced themselves every  Chick-fil-A customer will use Route 140 to turn onto the extension of Market Street, aka, Old Baltimore Road, to access the one and only entrance/exit. We’re told no one will travel Old Baltimore or any of the tree streets off of Old Westminster to gain access, but if they do, it should be minimal.

The city annexed the roadbed of Willow Ave so it could make the Hoff Farm, aka, Stone Gate, contiguous to another city property. We would only have 100 houses on well and septic at Stone Gate; instead, the city supplied public water and sewer and we have over 300 houses.

The Market Street crop circle extension was promised to be completed before one house in Stone Gate was started. So, trust in the city to make the best decisions for county residents is zero.

The county says its hands are tied because this is city property. Guess protecting county residents isn’t in the job description.

Then there’s the developer, the Morgan Companies, out of North Carolina. One would think that if you’re going to negatively impact a community, at least a conversation would occur. Nope.  We’ve been told the company is well within the rules and regulations, and if we have any concerns, it will think about mitigating.

When you mitigate harm, harm is still being inflicted, it’s just to what extent. Our tiny neighborhood just wants to be left alone, live our lives and not have to worry about our property values decreasing, our children being placed in harms way or our streets becoming a trash can. More traffic means more crime, too.

We are humbly asking for help. We are only around 125  houses. The city, the Morgan Companies and Chick-fil-A must find a different location, like the mall.

Please help us contact the city, the developer and Chick-fil-A.  Help us keep our neighborhood safe and help us convince all involved that the end of Old Baltimore Road is not an acceptable location.

Michelle Jefferson, Westminster

Denying the sex we were born in a disaster for our culture

An Associated Press article entitled “New bills again target transgender health care” and which masqueraded as a news article in the Jan. 13 Times, was actually more balanced than the headline suggested it would be.

Whether or not the Times (or Sun) editors chose that headline for the article, who knows.  But the headline did what the article itself did not do, which is to demonize state legislatures that have voted against letting minors make decisions for which they are unqualified to make.

uman beings are born either as females or males.  Someone who is born as a biological female (or male), but who thinks she is a male (or female), is either going through some adolescent phase, or needs psychological help.  Today’s pop culture is telling these kids that they can be whoever and whatever they want to be.  What a disaster for our culture.

Steve Kranz, Westminster