12/30/99
Between 1982 and 1992, 935,800 acres of open land in North Carolina were developed. That's an annual rate of 93,580 acres. Between 1992 and 1997, development accelerated by 59 percent. During that period 781,500 acres were developed at an annual rate of 156,300 acres. 

When you consider that North Carolina added 287 new residents per day during the 12-month period that ended last July, making it the ninth-fastest-growing state in the nation, it's easy to see what's driving all that new development. Last year the state added 104,961 new residents. U.S. Census Bureau figures showed 7.65 million people in the state as of last July - 14.5 percent more than in 1990. 

The state's annual 1.4 percent growth rate compares to the national growth rate of .9 percent. 

All those new people are a boon to real estate developers, land owners and many businesses. Twenty years ago, an acre of mountainside land was worth about $2,000, but today the steepest lot can bring in $70,000, depending on the view 

"We're selling lots for more than the whole mountain would have been worth 20 years ago," said George Glance, developer of Junaluska Highlands, a new 350-acre subdivision north of Lake Junaluska. The development has helped all the trades and is a boon to Haywood County, he says. 

But there are some serious problems with such growth. During the same 20-year period in Haywood County, average income rose from $18,000 a year to $26,000 a year. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that income hasn't kept pace with the exorbitant increase in the price of land and housing, and that puts home ownership beyond the reach of many people, especially local young people who are just starting out. 

A second problem involves the degradation of the streams and other aspects of the environment that results from unchecked and unregulated development, especially on mountain terrain. New roads, ditches and culverts create sedimentation in streams and that undermines water quality. More impervious surfaces increase the likelihood of flooding. 

Less tangible, but perhaps even more devastating in the long run, are changes in the cohesiveness of communities. Mega-chain stores have replaced the locally-owned main street businesses that once drew people downtown to buy the things they needed. Main Street stores in Waynesville, Hendersonville, Highlands and other mountain towns now cater to tourists. 

Two area businesses with long histories, The Rollin' Pin Bakery in Asheville and Freeman's Newsstand in Hendersonville, announced they were closing and became part of the sad trend this week. 

Western Carolina University Professor Anthony Hickey believes the shift from rural society to suburban society has not only changed how people spend their money, but the values of the community as well. 

"I think when we talk about violence in schools and the loss of civility, I think that part of that comes with the loss of community," Hickey says. "There is no social control in this kind of community... nobody knows anybody. Part of what happens is that we lose the responsibility that living in the community gives us." 

Ironically, many people who move here come for the very thing growth is undermining - neighborliness and rural landscapes and values. 

Organizations like the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, a Hendersonville-based group that works in Western North Carolina to create conservation easements, offer one way of preserving open space. The conservancy purchases or obtains through donation the development rights, but landowners retain the property and get a tax break. In some instances, they can still farm or harvest some timber on the land and can provide a limited number of home sites for family members. The environmental and aesthetic benefits are obvious. 

We must seek creative solutions to other growth problems, as well. We can't turn back the clock or stop the growth that's occurring. But we must take stock of its effect and do what we can to ameliorate it.