From: Jean W Griffith
Sent: Monday, November 01, 1999 11:40 AM
To: planning&zoning@eastonmd.com
Cc: robert.karge@eastonmd.com
Subject: Comments on Big Box

I have been a Talbot County resident since 1976 and have grown to appreciate the high quality of life we enjoy here in this county and would like to think that future generations will be able to enjoy this same high quality. I would like to raise three questions regarding the Big Box issue and other future commercial developments.

1. What will be the life expectancy of proposed Big Boxes? Experience has shown that the American consumer is quite fickle; the "in" retail store or shopping mall of today often falls into disfavor in a relatively short period of time.

2. Is there a clearly-defined need for a particular Big Box or other commercial establishment? I don't think that most of the residents of Talbot County expect to find all their needs met by the retail establishments here. Back in the early part of this century, residents took the steamboat over to Baltimore and spent the night there to do shopping that couldn't be done here, and somehow it wasn't regarded as a hardship. I am quite convinced that many current residents just love to climb into their cars and pickups to shop in Salisbury, Dover or Annapolis, and would continue to do so even if there were Big Box retail stores here.

3. Is it good for this area? If an aspiring developer devised a questionnaire asking residents whether they would like something new -- a sports stadium, a Big Box, a theme park or whatever -- the answer would probably be affirmative. This does not necessarily mean that it would be beneficial for the area, that it would be ecologically sound or that it would improve the quality of life here in Talbot County.

I commend the Town of Easton for enacting the Moratorium and inviting citizen input.

Mrs. Jean W. Griffith

23901 Mt. Misery Rd.

St. Michaels, MD 21663