In a mass e-mail, Forsyth Rep. Larry Brown blasts HOT, saying it won’t get $1.5 million from the state if he has anything to do with it:
“There has been absolutely no citizen involvement to this concept at all concerning their property,” Brown wrote, speaking about people who live in the 6,000 acres that would comprise the “Heart of the Triad. “If the 22 Chambers of Commerce, the five municipalities and two counties want to spent $1.5M to plan on how these property owners use their property then each can chip in $51,725 each. You will not get my support.”
In response, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce president Gail Anderson got a little snippy:
“The question is not IF the area will change but HOW,” Anderson wrote. “If we want 18,000 acres of single-family houses on septic tanks interspersed with a few warehouses, we don’t need to do anything.”
Anderson went on to say that good planning would concentrate development and still leave plenty of land open.
“Our choice is whether we try to plan for the inevitable growth to preserve some green areas and discourage auto use … or simply let the cities grow together without adequate roads, etc. and become the nation’s poster-child for sprawl,” Anderson wrote.
The key words being discourage auto use. And just how do they plan to do that, keeping in mind it’s no coincidence that PART is the major player in this deal.
Choo-choo!
