| Bursting at the seams County not alone in growth-related concerns by Derek Smith news@unioncountyweekly.com Growth is the single biggest issue facing Union County. From rapidly developing neighborhoods to overcrowded schools to traffic congestion, Union County citizens fight the battle to live outside Charlotte’s southernmost boundaries in what was once a more rural setting. The rural charm that lured residents is disappearing, transforming into shopping malls, jam-packed roads and residential developments. Union County isn’t alone, planning experts told about 100 local residents and elected officials Monday at the first symposium in a series of meetings over the next year, during which time the county will be undergoing a comprehensive land-use plan. “We are starting to face growth pressures,” said moderator Roger Waldon, a planner with McBride Dale Clarion, the company that will help the county, develop ways to manage growth. Union County is one of the fastest-growing areas in the state. “You aren’t the first ones to encounter these problems.” Union County’s last land-use plan was completed in 1998, but much has changed since then, Waldon noted, saying it was time to rethink the previous plan and shape a new one for the future. “Planning is sometimes a controversial thing,” said David Owens, professor of public law and government at University of North Carolina and the man many call the father of extraterritorial jurisdiction. Owens said that 85 percent of the cities in North Carolina with populations of more than 10,000 have some kind of ETJ on the books. State of growth In recent weeks, the Union County Board of Commissioners has turned down ETJ requests by Marvin and Stallings and rescinded Wesley Chapel’s previously approved ETJ plans. Owens outlined growth management tools, such as planning and coordination, moratoria, and public facility availability and funding, and other land-use approaches being taken elsewhere in the state. Mike Jennings, a Wake County planner, also is dealing with rapid growth in and around Raleigh. Wake and its 12 municipalities have seen the population more than double in the last 25 years, growing from 300,000 in 1980 to 775,000 in 2006. He said 42 members made up the steering board that guided Wake County’s last land-use plan, citing the cooperation between city, county and school officials as the catalyst for the project’s completion and worthiness. Newly elected Union County commission chairman Kevin Pressley is hoping for the same kind of cooperation with Union County’s land-use plan. “I would like to see municipal leaders as part of the steering committee, too,” he said. “I think it’s vital they are a part of it.” Lanny Openshaw, a former Marvin councilman and now a county commissioner, said he thought the presentation was a comprehensive outline of what’s ahead in this massive undertaking. “It struck me as kind of a thoughtful parent talking to a teenager,” he said. “The problem is you don’t know how much of that is sinking in. The leadership of Union County are teenagers and they are smart enough to learn if they wish, and they’re also smart of enough to manipulate if they wish. That’s what’s going to make this an interesting process.” The next step in the land-use project will be a designer’s workshop in early 2007 when other examples of growth management plans are showcased, Waldon said. |
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