It’s save-the-land-day over at the N&R.
First, there’s this story on the purchase of 46 acres in Guilford County with help from the $10 million open space bond that voters approved two years ago:
Guilford County officials recently bought the land , a 46-acre tract that includes well over a half-mile of the serpentine stream that feeds into the Haw River, from its Asheville owner. It cost about $225,000.
County officials and the volunteer advisory committee hope to disperse the remaining $9.8 million across a wide swath of what once was a predominantly rural county, now under development pressure from new roads and housing, industrial and commercial projects.
I’ll argue that Guilford still is a predominantly rural county, and, in my mind, Jack Jezorek supports that claim when he points out that the 46-acre tract is only 12 miles from downtown Greensboro. That tells you right there you don’t have to drive very far before reach you countryside. The article also says the county is “under pressure from new roads and housing, industrial and commercial projects.” Yeah, the housing market carried the economy during the recession, but it’s since cooled. As for pressure for industrial and commercial projects, I just wish Guilford County had that problem. There’s a lot of talk out there, but results have been few and far between.
Then there’s this (unposted) editorial from General Assembly members Charles Albertson and Lucy Allen:
The news we were expecting finally came: Census experts recently announced that North Carolina overtook New Jersey to become the 10th most populous state.
…The clock is ticking. When the General Assembly convenes later this month, nearly 50,000 acres of North Carolina farm and forestlands will have been converted to other uses since they adjourned last summer. The time for action is now.
But I have to question how urgent the problem is when the report Albertson and Allen submitted says that population growth in North Carolina is going to slow over the next decade:
North Carolina is expected to experience strong growth, though not at as high of rates seen during the 1990s. The State’s population is forecast to grow to over 9.3 million by 2010 (10-year growth rate of 16.2%) to over 10.7 million by 2020 (10-year growth rate of 14.6%) and to over 12 million by 2030 (10-year growth rate of 10.9%)
I’m just concerned that we’re spending a lot of money to solve a problem we may or may not have.
