Out west, it seems that local officials may have underestimated what freedom means to the locals. After pushing for a moratorium on new development, citizens responded. According to the Citizen-Times, “Construction trucks presenting a show of force lined a roadway near
Southwestern Community College on Tuesday as more than 1,300 people
packed a public hearing on controlling growth.
So many times, folks don’t really tune into what cities and counties are up to, but this time was different. More from the Times:
The real estate and building industries fear jobs brought in by transplants could be lost with the moratorium.
?We
didn?t come to cause trouble,? said Randy Dillard, manager of Toxaway
Concrete. ?We just came to show them who they are putting out of
business.?
Once again, moratoriums are bad news for property rights and show a remarkable failure on the part of local government to deal equitably with growth issues. With a doubt, the issue in Jackson is really about development on slopes as the terrain is rather hilly, but that can be done with developers at the table. The real culprit with moratoriums is usually the Green Church. A reminder from when it was tried at the coast:
?. . . ALL permits for new development projects proposed within the 100-year floodplain should be placed on hold.? 9/24/03 Press Release from Environmental Defense, N.C. Coastal Federation, Southern Environ. Law Center
