development

First posted at Scrutiny Hooligans

We may not know whether our municipal elections will be partisan or non-partisan, but that doesn't have to stop us from taking a look at the candidates. Scrutiny Hooligans will be taking a look at (almost) all of them over the next several weeks. The major issues facing our city - Growth and Development, Business, Housing, and Crime are all at critical junctures, and we're going to need real leadership in every area to ensure that Asheville's progress doesn't become its downfall.

Our first stop is with my favorite candidate on the ballot, Elaine Lite. Elaine is a founding member of Mountain Voices Alliance, a member of People Advocating Real Conservancy, a board member of Hope for Horses and of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe county, and Publisher and Editor of Critter magazine. She's a 20-year resident of Asheville whose leadership has been vital as the tidal wave of overdevelopment hits western North Carolina.

Elaine has managed to leave me with a richer perspective on growth and development every time I've spoken with her. She believes strongly in the right of communities to determine their future. Her campaign platform is here, and here's the condensed bullets for you:

A Jackson Countian's response to today's John Locke Foundation article blasting the county's efforts to implement effective conrtrols on second home development.

At a press conference at the NC State Legislature in Raleigh yesterday political, non-profit and business leaders announced a new coalition, Partnership for North Carolina's Future, to urge the NC General Assembly to prepare now for the impact of the "population tsunami" on our state's economy and quality of life.

If you didn't read about it this morning it might be because the back of the Press Room, where reporters normally sit and stand, was crowded out by lobbyists opposed to the Partnership like Andy Munn of the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, Lisa Martin of the NC Homebuilders, Rick Zechini of the NC Association of Realtors, reeking with cynical commentary and Becki Gray, registered lobbyist for the John Locke Foundation, texting frenetically on her Blackberry about the "little children" at the front of the crowd.

Press release below the fold:

It's no secret that North Carolina's population is growing rapidly. With that growth comes a need for additional services and bricks, mortar, asphalt, steel and concrete to deliver those services.

When my wife wants to fall asleep she asks me to explain how a telephone works. Explaining growth and infrastructure has the same effect. Mention taxes and the average person will wake up but upon hearing the trigger phrase "tax base", eyes will glaze over and deep sleep sets in. Call me a somnambulist chaser if you will but I'm trying to raise awareness of the need for local government funding options.

That's why I've created this video: Support Transfer Tax or watch below the fold:

Environment North Carolina just released a report showing that the Triangle will lose 37% of its natural areas, the Charlotte area will lose 30% of its natural areas by 2027 unless legislative action is taken. Developed area is increasing faster that the increase in population. If current development rates continue, North Carolina will lose at least two million acres more of forests and farmlands over the next twenty years. To compound the loss, the State's One Million Acre initiative is falling well short of its goals.

Folks, the fight for local option funding sources has started to get hot. I'm on the WakeUP Wake County newsletter, and they're buzzing about Janet Cowell's proposal to let Wake County impliment a transfer tax.

As I mentioned in my kick-off post, we've got a lot better shot at this if every county doesn't try to bull rush the door and get their own bill. Currently, Orange and Chatham counties can charge school impact fees, and no one else, despite decades of trying by other counties. As such, I'm opposed to Janet Cowell's bill, just because it's a one-county deal. Let's settle this once and for all, for the whole state.

There are a number of bills in the general assembly about this right now. I'm saying, let's take a look at them here, find one (or more) to back, and give it a push from behind.

See, the Buncombe County Commissioners seem to have never heard of these laws. They don't remember passing them, and staff cannot find anyone in the City of Asheville to blame for them. The search is continuing for a culprit, both in Raleigh and Washington, DC.
The law in question?
See, water falls downhill.
Yep. For those of you from the county government apparatus, this is a fact. No amount of money, bulldozers, secret meetings, ignoring the people's will, or legislation will change it.
The ironically-named Citizen-Times reports today you received a report from one Jim McElduff, whom the C-T only tangentially identified as a past chairman of the Buncombe County Planning Board, which says in part..

Harrisburg is a sleepy little bedroom community that is learning how to deal with growing pains. Having been targeted by Wal-Mart for a SUPERCENTER (and we know how those behemoths gut a town), there were some pretty heated discussions and votes which kept Wal-Mart and it's anti-environmental practices out of the town.

However, the fight was not over. Lowe's Home Imporvement wanted to cash in on the booming housing market (think of all those home repair/upgrade projects) by having a store in town. After an initial vote, in which opponents of the measure walked out (a classic Rethuglican move, one of the key votes was absent that night, so they rammed it through). Well it came up for another vote and was rejected. Now it seems that the developer bringing in the home improvement giant just doesn't want to let it go and is contemplating filing a suit. I personnaly shop here, as the folks are friendly and the store is locally owned (heck, they even helped me out to my truck with some things I bought there recently).

Monday night, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners took a step toward implementing an ordinance to regulate subdivision development, but an impending moratorium has raised the ire of local developers. http://gulahiyi.blogspot.com/2007/02/courage.html

Quick introduction here -- I just created my account, but I've been lurking for a while. While this is the first time I've posted to BlueNC, I'm "Michael Bacon" at TPMCafe and nclefty at Daily Kos. (I created that username years ago, shortly after 2004, when I felt like I needed to defiantly state that I was a liberal living in North Carolina. Man, how times have changed... for the better!)

I'm here now because I'm trying to actually move on something I've been wanting to do for quite a while now. I don't think impact fees are a foreign subject around here, from what I've seen, but right now the topic of how to pay for schools, in the wake of the Wake County bond referendum, seems to have some life.

Having watched up-close the court battle in Durham to charge impact fees without explicit legislative approval, I think the only way to get alternate sources of funding like this is if activists from the impacted municipalities team up and get on the same page. If only one city pushes it, they'll get snowed, just like Durham. If only the legislators push it, it'll die of a whisper campaign by the homebuilders. The only way it will happen is if the activists, who in each district can get the ear of their legislator, work together and move the ball forward. That's the only way we can match the extensive influence of the homebuilders. And I think BlueNC and other communities like it are just the way to do it.