Heart of Triad plans threaten local farmland
I am writing with a few random comments concerning the so-called Heart of the Triad. North Carolina now has the highest loss of farms in the country — 100,000 acres annually. Our sprawl is such that our “growth patterns gobble up 3.5 times more land per person than the national average” according to William Fulton, a nationally known planning consultant.
We have three major “core” regions in the Triad and each has groups now working on restoring their cores. Many studies show that this can be done without disturbing areas that produce food, furnish trees to absorb CO2, serve as wetlands to filter our drinking water and provide habitats for disappearing wildlife.
There are a few encouraging trends. A local dairy farm has been saved from city sprawl by an easement negotiated by the Piedmont Land Conservancy. The recently passed state budget included $50 million for “Land for Tomorrow” to preserve natural spaces.
We should let our elected officials and planners know that the Heart of the Triad is not a desirable outcome for the Forsyth-Guilford boundary area. Those farms, woodlands and streams, many forming the headwaters of our Deep River, should remain in nature.
Elizabeth H. Conner
Colfax
Comments (2)
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And while supporters of HOT will tell you the local governments will not exercise eminent domain they fail to mention the NCDOT will do it for them. There has never been a major road built in NC that didn't require the use of eminent domain-- not one.
Also, don't forget the safest foods are locally grown. We must protect local farm lands lest we all die from salmanella or some other food disease.
Posted on August 6, 2008 6:44 AM
I agree as citizens we need to have a louder voice regarding development in the Triad. It has to be very loud to get county officials to ignore political contributions from wealthy and well connected developers, though. The threat of being thrown out of office has to be very real before they will listen.
I grew up in Southern Maryland. In the early 70's it was like rural North Carolina. Tobacco and corn farms as far as the eye could see. Then it became a "bedroom community" for workers in the District of Columbia. Development and sprawl took over a warm, beautiful, friendly landscape and essentially turned entire counties into strips like West Wendover. The congestion is so bad, it takes an hour to drive 10 miles during rush hour.
All this because the developers had the county commissioners in their back pockets. They built strip mall after strip mall not caring if tenants would ever move in. They build sub-standard housing developments as fast as they could, which just made sprawl and congestion worse. The cops couldn't keep up with the influx of crime moving in from DC, and funny how the expanding tax base never seemed to have enough money for more cops or better schools.
It saddens me to see the Triad going the way of my home town, which is so alien to me now I only go "home" a few times a year to visit family.
Posted on August 9, 2008 7:08 AM