League of Woman Voters of Frederick County Voters Guide

The Frederick County League of Women Voters sent a candidate questionnaire to all of the candidates for Frederick County Board of County Commissioners. The questionnaire came with tight word limits for each question.

I've posted my responses below, just as they were sent, and as they appear at the Frederick News Post online.

League of Women Voters of Frederick County
Candidate Questionnaire
Board of County Commissioners
Primary and General Elections 2006

Please Type or Print

Name of Candidate: Kai John Hagen

E-mail: kai@kaihagen.com

Your campaign’s web address: https://www.kaihagen.com

1. Qualifications: What are your qualifications for this office? (50 words)

I love Frederick County, have explored it thoroughly and know it and its people very well.

Citizens Zoning Review Committee. Park and Recreation Commission. Columnist for News Post and Gazette. Founder of the Frederick Regional Action Network.

Dedicated. Thoughtful. Attentive to detail. Hard working. innovative. Done my homework. Well prepared.

2. Priorities: What do you think are the three most important issues facing Frederick County and how would you address them? (50 words)

Fixing the decision-making process is an essential first step to more responsible and economically-sound planning.

Taxes, traffic, schools and affordable housing are all important issues, But they will all get worse if we don't change the way we are conducting the business of shaping our future.

3. Housing: What measures would you support to ensure the availability of “affordable housing” for a cross section of the community: senior citizens on fixed income, entry-level home buyers, and low-income families? (50 words)

Replacing farmland with sprawling subdivisions of large homes does not help affordable housing.

Affordable housing starts with good planning. Successful communities offer a diversity of housing sizes and prices.

We can use available tools to plan and zone, mixed use, more dynamic communities that reflect the people who live here.

4. APFO: The County’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) evaluates the adequacy of public infrastructure such as schools, roads, water and sewer for new development. What, if any, changes to this ordinance would you enact? (50 words)

The APFO is an essential backstop to bad planning, not a planning tool. Repeated attempts have been made to weaken it. We should protect the APFO and improve county planning.

We should :

* eliminate portables as part of official school capacity.
• add Fire and Rescue services.
• add Parks and Recreation.

5. School Adequacy: When new residential projects fail the APFO test for schools, developers may offer to pay for additions or new schools to allow their project to move forward. What do you believe are the advantages or disadvantages of this developer option process? (50 words)

I'm open to the idea of creative public-private funding mechanisms to meet or exceed the requirements in the APFO.

But we must use the leverage we have to ensure the results benefit the broader community, and account for the full range of impacts a particular new development will have.

6. Budget and Taxes: Frederick County’s budget must fund both operating and capital costs for schools, roads, transportation, public safety and other government services. Are current tax rates sufficient to fund the budget? What other measures will you support to meet the increasing funding needs in the next four years? (50 words)

Current tax rates should be more than sufficient. But we will continue to get less for our money if we continue the same economically unsound pattern of development supported by the current board.

Higher taxes and growing budgets have hid the costs of poorly planned growth.

We can do better.

7. Vision: There has been much public discussion about growth in Frederick County. What is your vision for the County in 25 years? How would you achieve and fund this vision? (100 words)

Frederick County is a wonderful place. It will become less and less exceptional following the current path. We don't have to squander the beauty, prosperity and quality of life we enjoy here.

If we do things right, and learn from the failures and successes of other places, in 25 years we will still be a place where distinct and thriving towns are still set in a healthy rural landscape, not lost amid a sea of suburbia.

We will blend history and modernity, combining the best of Frederick County with careful development that benefits our community now and in the future.

Signature for release for publications

Kai John Hagen

Date: Tuesday, August 8, 2006

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WHY I'M VOTING FOR KAI!

Alan Feinberg
Frederick

I've known Kai ever since we began crossing paths at all the odd places and events that people go to "fix" things in the community. Kai is much more focused on actually sitting through endless, boring public meetings than I, since I do not have that kind of patience. Thank goodness for Kai. I'm a licensed architect, certified planner, urban designer, mediator, and now, principally an implementer of all that I've learned -- a different...

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