Welcome to our weekly column in which a topic of interest, piece of news, relevant opinion, or general request for feedback is presented. We’ll offer the topic du jour and accompanying question, and you have the opportunity to respond with your thoughts.
Simply fill out the form below. A collection of each week’s responses will appear in the following week’s column. To view responses last week's topic "Maryland Gubernatorial Debate" click here.
Publisher reserves the right to edit responses for clarity and publish online and/or in our print publications.
Please let us know your thoughts!
This week’s Feedback Friday topic is:
What To Do with Holly Beach Farm?
Last week, Chesapeake Bay Foundation President & CEO Hilary Harp Falk announced that the foundation would begin the process of transferring stewardship of the Holly Beach Farm property, which was acquired with $9 million in public funding. The controversial property, a vast peninsula of protected habitat just south of the Chesapeake Bay bridge, has been in CBF’s stewardship for the past 20 years. The acquisition terms of Holly Beach Farm included language for public recreational use. Under CBF’s control, however, the gates have been mostly closed, the property inaccessible to the general public. Only a handful of students are granted access each year for educational programs. To CBF’s credit, the property has remained environmentally protected from any development.
But the agreement between the State of Maryland and the National Park Service for the use of the federal Chesapeake Gateways and Watertrails Program funds toward the acquisition specifically states that the property “shall be maintained in the public trust for preservation/recreational use in perpetuity.” More recently, the lack of public access has made headlines and has ignited more than the few county residents who remember the original terms of acquisition. Public officials have joined the call to open the gates; even pitching the idea of the National Park Trust purchasing the property to make it part of the Chesapeake National Recreation Management Area—a plan that was rejected by CBF’s board earlier this month.
The timing of Falk’s more recent announcement coincides with the pressure placed upon CBF to open the gates, and, at a time, when public outcry for increasing water access for all citizens seems to be at an all-time high.
What do you think about public and recreational access of Holly Beach Farm and who the next steward of this property should be? Or should the property remain mostly closed to the public, in an effort to protect it’s sensitive environment?
Please share your thoughts by filling out this form. Today’s responses—and all future Feedback Friday responses—will be published in our Monday newsletters after the weekend. AND, several responses from recent topics will appear in our upcoming print magazines!
