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May 2, 2006

Heart of the Triad opposition

The North Carolina Alliance for Transportation Reform issued a statement over the weekend opposing Heart of the Triad and questioning PART's role in it. (Sorry for the delay in getting this up, but I was out-of-town until this morning).

The gist of the statement is that the Heart of the Triad project needs to be closely watched and they're calling for "legal scrutiny." The group also questions PART's involvement because the agency contributed $200,000 toward the current study of grant money awarded by the state to study land-use and transportation plans that help improve air quality. The group is arguing that the concepts proposed will worsen air quality by promoting development on open space.

PART's executive director, Brent McKinney, has said in the past -- and this was not in response to NCATR -- that Heart of the Triad has the potential to do the opposite. The argument being that the area is going to develop at a density of roughly two units an acre, without much of an industrial or commercial job base nearby, leading to an end-result of the new residents driving longer distances to get to work lessening air quality.

It's an interesting debate.

You can read NCATR's statement here.

Posted by Jonathan Jones at May 2, 2006 11:25 AM