Mission
The Citizens Coalition of Old Mission Peninsula is a resident-led organization dedicated to restoring unity, promoting fair governance, and ensuring a sustainable future for our agricultural community. We bring together farmers, shoreline owners, and residents who believe in transparent leadership and sensible policies that work for everyone.
Citizens Coalition of Old Mission, Who Are These Guys?
My name is Fred Swaffer. I've lived on the Old Mission Peninsula for almost 33 years. I’ve seen the rise of houses and developments and the retreat of the orchards that used to abound. Over the last several years we have gone from being neighbors, to people shouting at each other in meetings and on social media. A few months ago I was approached and asked if I would be interested in trying to change the direction we seemed to be headed in on this peninsula. From those first few meetings we have grown into this new organization “Citizens Coalition of Old Mission” Citizens Coalition for short.
We are a group of residents and property owners concerned with the direction the Township is headed in. The current survey results show a sharp swing from 61% thinking we were headed in the right direction on the last survey to 59% saying we were headed in the wrong direction on the most recent survey. Why is this? Certainly the current Township/WOMP/PTP lawsuit has everyone concerned. The Citizens Coalition has no interest in becoming involved in this issue.
We believe the lawsuit is a symptom of a broader problem, the governance of our Township. I want to stress here, I’m not talking about the individuals in the Township government, I’m speaking to the structure which governs us, our ordinances and regulations. We fear that if this is not addressed, more litigation will occur.
Some of the important issues are:
Repeal and replace Amendment 201. Free all of our farmers to be successful, they will grow crops/fruit or they will grow houses.
Pass a functional Shoreline use ordinance that works for all shoreline owners.
End the general over regulation of individual property rights.
Provide a more user friendly explanation of the Township’s finances with a clear picture of our financial condition.
These are issues we hope to work with the Township on as we move forward.
As to our transparency. We have met with the Township twice to provide our legal documents. We have pledged to provide a list of all our donors. Documents are available on the Township’s website.
The Citizens Coalition believes that if we can bring unity back to this community, and free the farmers to prosper, then we will preserve the landscape and heritage for the generations that follow us.
— Fred Swaffer
