greed
Pat Mueller: But honestly, I'd prefer to see none of these [Triangle cities] on any lists. We already know it's a good place to live. Until we start using impact fees or transfer taxes to help cover infrastructure required by all the new people coming in, problems like poor transportation options and overcrowded schools will only get worse.
Those familiar with my opinions on city planning already know that I despise the Triangle's unchecked growth and shameless conversion of trees into tax revenue. What was once a very pretty area is now overrun with shopping centers and McMansions, with road improvements and schools lagging far behind. The area continues to outperform most of the nation's cities when periodicals compile their Best Places to Live reports, but I think it may have jumped the shark. Le sigh.
Of course, for all of the complaints that residents make when they realize that there are now six grocery stores within a mile of their home, few of them show up to the town meetings that decide the fate of the surrounding land. I attended a meeting of Cary's Planning and Zone Board last month to support a group of citizens who are fighting against rampant growth at one of the town's most important intersections. When it came time for the public hearing, dozens of residents waited in line to voice their opposition to a developer's plan to add a significant amount of commercial buildings to his plot. I would estimate there were ten opponents for every supporter, and the supporters were all employed by the owner or the developer of the plot. It was clear that, as far as the citizens were concerned, the development was a bust.
Almost.
One of the last speakers at the meeting was the original owner of the land in question. For those of you who are not from Cary and do not drive through it on your way to work, this land includes a solid seventy acres of farm land and forest. There is a pretty white farm house on the corner of the intersection, and a beautiful red barn. From one side of the property, you can see a fishing pond at the bottom of a hill, about fifty yards from the house. The property is surrounded by white fencing and used to be home to a stable of horses. If I had to guess at the value (from the perspective of someone who will build dozens of residential and retail outfits on it), I'd peg it at ten million dollars[1].
The man who had sold his land and was guiding its fate came to the podium and introduced himself this way:
Hello. My name is Bill Sears. I was born at the corner of High House and Davis, just as my father before me, and my grandfather before him. If half as many people as are here tonight had shown up when the town decided to take my house for the widening of Davis Drive, I would still be living in it today, and we wouldn't be here.Ouch. At that moment, I knew it was over. He went on to talk about his intentions, and how everything he was doing was legal and approved by the town, but it wasn't necessary. There was one last speaker that night who tried to bring the citizens' message back to life, but it paled in comparison to this man's bitter dismissal of an anti-growth message from the same people whose desire for faster roads had made his house uninhabitable. Final vote? 5 - 1 to go forth and build until you couldn't build anymore.
Where was I going with this? Oh, yes: first, community participation is not a part-time job. Second, I don't think that Pat's plan to use fees to prevent people from moving here will stop developers from building and/or paying the fees as "incentives"; losing a few thousand dollars on a sale isn't a big deal when you've got people chomping at the bit to pay $400,000 for half an acre of beige. Rather than fees, I think this county needs legislation requiring the development of entire schools, hospitals, and roads around the area of construction. Requirements such as the construction of a school could easily send costs soaring if not managed properly, and for some projects, the risk factor will be too high.
If you want to prevent greed from ruining our cities and towns, you have to target the source of the greed, and the source is not people who don't even live here yet. The new residents are easier to pick on, but they are just taking advantage of bad decisions made well before their time.
[1] This estimate is based on the development that has occurred on the other corners of the intersection, all of which is smaller than the proposal under debate.
Labels: cary, narcissism
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