Nelessen completes visual preference survey

After much controversy and a seven-month delay, Nelessen & Associates of Princeton, New Jersey, have completed a Visual Preference Survey in Worcester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The firm will draft a growth plan for the 300,000-acre county, which has a reputation for laissez-faire zoning. Tony Nelessen says the plan seeks to preserve 250,000 acres of farmland, while encouraging transfer of development rights into eight new village neighborhoods. Nelessen’s efforts met heavy opposition from the local Landowners Association who fights development controls and argues that the Visual Preference Survey is biased. “It was an orchestrated and well-funded delay, and now a new Home Depot is going up before the rules change,” Nelessen says.