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December 8, 2005

Heart of the Triad moving forward

I know it's not in North High Point, at least not yet, but the Heart of the Triad project looks like its starting to get some real legs.

This has been a big week for what has really remained a grand idea. The steering committee met for the first time yesterday. Today the Chambers of Commerce held their second annual "State of the Triad" meeting in Winston-Salem, at which the Heart of the Triad was supposed to be the hot topic, pardon the pun.

The consultant, HDR, has been in town this week getting things rolling.

All in all, the H.O.T. folks are feeling pretty good about themselves.

So why am I putting all this up here?

Whatever land-use plan the HDR folks come up with is going to affect north High Point in one way or another because part of the H.O.T. area is in the zone that has been designated as High Point's for planning. That means it may not yet be annexed by the city, but is likely going to be.

There's also the idea that if this thing works the way folks are dreaming about it working, well north High Point, along with Kernersville are going to be awfully close to a brand spanking new, major job center.

So what is this thing going to be? It's hard to say and we'll know a lot more in six months. It could be nothing if Kernersville, Winston-Salem, High Point, Greensboro, Guilford and Forsyth can't agree. But the folks involved believe it could be the Triad's answer to Research Triangle Park. Now if only I had a dollar for every city I've heard of trying to mimic RTP, why I'd have about $50.

If you're like me and you want to find additional information on the Heart of the Triad, well here's a few other places to look.

Eventually the official updates will be posted on that PART site.

Posted by Jonathan Jones at December 8, 2005 4:25 PM

Comments

This is ridiculous. PART does not have the legal authority to conduct land-use studies. If you read Section 160A-638 of the North Carolina General Statues, you can see that regional transportation authorties have the purpose to promote sound transportation solutions, not develop land-use plans for economic development. It is my opinion that PART has greatly overstepped it's legal authority, and the fact that residents are not allowed to participate reinforces it's illegititness.
I challenge the News & Record to investigate this aspect of "HOT" and stand up for it's readers. Come on N&R, Norht High Point and Colfax need you!

Posted by: Mac Bradley at December 10, 2005 1:04 AM

Mac,
Sorry it took me a couple of days to get back to you. I didn't look at the blog over the weekend.

There are a couple of things I want to clarify about resident representation on the H.O.T. Steering committee and PART's authority since some of it was cut from my original story.

On resident participation: The main justification for not having residents on the steering committee was the idea that the handful of "elected officials" serving on the board, such as High Point councilman John Faircloth, Greensboro councilwoman Sandy Carmany, Guilford Commissioner Bruce Davis and Kernersville Mayor Gordon Sheeran to name a few, are intended to be representatives of the people. Secondary arguments included a perceived difficulty in finding one resident who would suitably represent the whole area, quickly enough because of how rapidly this thing is expected to go -- they briefly entertained the idea of one rep and not two -- consideration of creating an adivsory board with residents and the big business folks, and what criteria to use for selecting the resident.

On PART's authority: I hope it was clear in my article that this steering committee has little legal authority. It's work is partially grant funded, partially funded by private business interests. The idea is that the local governments would have to consider whether they want to adopt this study at the end and its work is not nearly as binding as say a planning commission going through a land-use study. As for PART's involvement, the study will have a heavy transportation element and PART was the group awarded the grant. Whether or not they're over their bounds, I can't answer that. But I will look into it.

All that sad, I'm aware of residents' concerns and have no doubt that they will come out as this thing moves forward. And please don't take my attempt at giving a fuller explanation of what happened as my being in agreement with the folks that are making these decisions. I just wanted to fill in the holes that were left in the editing process on my story.

Posted by: Jonathan Jones at December 12, 2005 4:23 PM