Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:09:58 -0400
From:
Bill Carraway
Subject: RE: Chatham Chatlist #3146
In response to Ginna Earl’s comments on the coming McDonald’s I must say, as much as I never go to McDonald’s, that it is not the end of the world. BTW some of the communities in Western North Carolina that have capitalized on their art communities also have McDonald’s, Walmart and other purveyors of the evil as some put it.
Quite simply inevitable growth caused by the establishment of RTP and the population increase that accompanies it in Chatham County are the reasons for these happenings. The trick is to control growth and have it happen with intelligence, like keeping developments back from the road a bit shaded by trees so the road looks the same, so that the part of the community you speak of does not disappear. You cannot and will not stop the growth. I made this point years ago but the debate rages on without intelligence but rather by emotion and a losing battle against the inevitable. I have been in many communities across the nation where such balanced growth has occurred.
It was done by creating cooperation with developers and a clear set of rules that everyone understood from the outset. This allowed land to be priced realistically and for plans to include the features you cry for.
Chatham’s Commissioners choose to fight the developers and to create adversarial relationships so cooperation goes out the window. Landowners, developers/builders, those of you complaining and just the average citizen all get cheated in the process and the resulting growth makes everyone unhappy in the end. So, continue to argue and fight for your artist and hippie community ignoring the simple fact the growth was set long before many of you even arrived here and you will get Long Island.
As an example I saw a developer in Maryland comply with open space in a new PUD and even built a school on land they designated at no cost to the taxpayers. They knew going in what would be required and they did it. They priced everything from the start in their plan accordingly.