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County votes not to pave N.C. 197 after public input |
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Tuesday, 10 October 2006 |
By JIM GENARO
After a long and often heated public comment period, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to refrain from recommending that the North Carolina Department of Transportation pave a 4.5-mile section of N.C. 197 that runs through Pisgah National Forest.
Chairman Nathan Ramsey, who proposed the paving project, cast the sole dissenting vote.
The road, which connects Barnardsville to Yancey County‘s Pensacola community, crosses a high ridge at the county line at an elevation of 4,240 feet.
The board noted that commissioners had voted in 2001 to request the paving, but later rescinded the request after environmental concerns were raised by residents — and following an assessment that the project would cost an estimated $2 million.
During
the public comment portion of the meeting, some residents voiced their
support for paving the road. Max Wilson said that he has wanted the
road to be paved since he was 20 years old. And George Harrah said the
benefits of paving it would outweigh any potential harm done, adding,
"I don‘t believe it will harm no one."
However, the majority of speakers argued against the move, focusing on environmental, safety and lifestyle issues.
"I love it because it‘s not paved," a woman told the board. "I don‘t want my tax dollars spent paving a National Park road."
Susan Roderick
urged the commissioners to consider their roles as stewards of the
environment."You all have a lot of responsibility for this," she said.
"One way we can show that we love where we live is to take what we‘re
given and do better with it, not destroy it."
One man
expressed his concern that paving the road would make it more inviting
to young people who would race motorcycles on it, inevitably leading to
injuries and fatalities.
Admitting that
he had, in his youth, engaged in such activities, the man added, "It‘s
great fun, but it‘s got its place. I‘d rather not see us up the ante in
this regard."
Others spoke of the N.C. 197‘s unique quality as a small, country road.
"It‘s unique," a
man said. "Unique is what brings people. If you pave it, you lose it."
He proposed that the board "make this a preserve for Buncombe County
and call it ‚Äòthe Slow Road.‘"
Jerry Rice of Leicester
drew laughter from the crowd when he said, "If you pave it like you did
out in Fairview going out to Mr. Ramsey‘s house, you open yourself up
to every predator from New York City and the world out there."
Rice added —
apparently jokingly — that the county should construct a fence along
its border at the top of the ridge to keep outsiders from entering and
then charge money to anyone wanting to see the view from the top.
A woman
challenged the notion that pavement could be equated with progress. "I
live in Barnardsville because it‘s a very beautiful, peaceful, quite
place," she said. "This paving of the road does not represent progress.
It may have in the past, but the world is changing fast."
However, one
local resident expressed anger over the opinions voiced by some of the
speakers.
"Everybody that‘s talked against it is moved-in people," the
man said. He noted that his family has lived in Barnardsville for many
generations and that his 80-year-old mother has to cross the ridge
every day. "What about us?" he asked.
He added that
locals who have paid taxes all their lives are "not getting our taxes
back" in the form of paved roads and other services.
Following the
public-comment portion of the meeting, Commissioner David Gantt voiced
his feelings about the issue. "The trump card for me is, is it the
right thing to do?" he said. "Development is not necessarily bad ...
but we also have to look at it and see if it fits into what our
community needs and wants."
In his dissenting opinion, Ramsey disputed the charge that the environmentally sound choice was to not pave the road.
"Everyone that
moves here says, ‚ÄòWe want to close the door,‘" he said. "The real
conservationists are those that don‘t sell their forests and farms to
developers." Those people, he argued, are the ones who suffer by not
having paved roads.
Following the vote, Ramsey noted that the NCDOT will not move to pave the road unless the county requests that it do so.
In other action, the board presented the Friend of the County Award to N.C. Rep. Wilma Sherrill, R-Buncombe.
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