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It's a win for the people of the region and the future and the environment.

We've enough golf courses and a glutton of unsold houses in the area.

I totally agree with Mr. Sykes in his comment:enough is enough & definitely a win for the people, our future and the environment. Regardless of how much rain we get this winter, the days when we can look at water as a limitless resource are over. Golf courses at best are very heavy users of water with lots of chemical runoff from fertilizers, weed & pest control products, etc. Bluegreen was fined for environmental violations in Chatham County NC while building there, and if you check them out in ripoff reports, they have many unhappy customers in Florida. Letting a company with a poor track record build a golf course next to an important water supply is insane. We need responsible and sustainable business and development. Exploiting our remaining resources and water supply does not qualify.

Who knows if these guys were bad news but we all know the Triad needs jobs,jobs,jobs--there are plenty of acres of fallow land and unproductive assets to go around and not enough positive momentum. This may have been the wrong project but the huggers shouldn't be allowed to win the day every time over the economic survival of the region. It would be nice for the region to retain 100% of its undeveloped land but, if it does, it will be because the it died and most of the people left.

How many jobs would a Bluegreen vacation resort create? Not many in the Triad; the company is headquartered in Florida, and their business is such that they could expand positions there to market and manage the development in our area.
The state park has the potential to create truly local jobs, for example by sparking tourism-based ventures such those growing around the Dan River.
I'm thrilled that public support for the park won out and that the state and county governments listened to that support in moving a decision forward.

You're right about the jobs--the construction jobs for housing, the manufacturing jobs creating the materials, the maintenance jobs for the yards and the golf course-- only a few are "permanent"--but they would certainly exceed the payroll for park attendants.
But that wasnt my real point--this deal was attacked like it was the proverbial camel's nose under the tent by the "all development is bad" activists. Im not saying this project should happen, Im just saying the tone and hysteria I sensed in the fight can be dangerous for the region long term.

"...the huggers shouldn't be allowed to win the day every time over the economic survival of the region."

Who says the "tree" huggers do win every time? This was a critical area for the park and the ecology/environment. I'm glad to see that both sides realized that and was overwhelmingly impressed by the show of support for a park that will benefit the general public and not just a privileged few individuals. These opportunities don't come along every day. One does not have to travel too far from this area to find development of the residential kind. You won't see much business development in the area and probably wouldn't have if Bluegreen had built the development and golf course. In my mind, the so-called huggers have a much harder time because they are typically strapped for resources (i.e. monetary funding, lobbying) to compete with the dollars and political power that big business has. A lot of opportunities to protect ecologically important and sensitive areas in this region and state have slipped by the wayside because of limitations that those who want to protect the land have upon them. Congratulations to the State of NC and the Citizens for the Haw River State Park for their work on this!

"...I'm just saying the tone and hysteria I sensed in the fight can be dangerous for the region long term." (esstokes)

If you sensed "hysteria" I believe you are mistaken. This was a very well thought out campaign.

While all development is not bad, at some point, we must decide what we mean by the word "development." Is it truly progress? Must we fill in all the empty space until no one wants to live here anymore?

The developers in this area won't have to worry about losing battles any time soon. Their main attorney, Henry Isaacson, is relentless in his pursuit of rezoning the entire county. I'm exaggerating, of course, but many times when there's a major battle over rezoning, Mr. Isaacson is there. And he's good at what he does.