Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Exurbia in Davidson County

According to the News & Record, a company called Shugart Management wants to build a new development in N.E. Davidson County, far outside the current High Point city limits, and is asking High Point to annex the property.

The proposal has been rejected by the city's planning and zoning commission and the city's planning department, but is favored by the planning and development commission (I wonder what the representation of the development industry is on that comission.)

City planners . . . questioned whether the city could afford to provide services to an area so far from the existing city limits . . .
A cost-benefit analysis done by the city showed a net economic benefit of $191,989 over 5 years, but city council candidate Michael Pugh said the city had used "fuzzy math."

You don't have to be a liberal (and I'm not) to question whether this kind of growth actually pays its own way or whether the benefits outweight the costs. And I wrote earlier about why I don't like the social consequences of developments like this. I think they encourage social and civic fragmentation.

Here's a related national story.

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