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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 18:55 |
BLACK MOUNTAIN ó The Black Mountain Board of Aldermen on Monday night passed a resolution formally asking the N.C. Department of Transportation to drop plans for a proposed interchange that would have connected I-40 with the west end of the town at Blue Ridge Road.
The measure was approved 4-1, with Alderman Joan Brown dissenting.
However, the board also passed a second resolution requesting that the state consider a new interchange elsewhere in the western part of the town as part of the DOTís Transportation Improvement Plan, which is currently being developed.
The
votes followed a public hearing that was attended by about 100
residents, who overflowed into the lobby, with most speakers expressing
objections to the plan.
Planning Board
member Harry Hamil noted that any projections about traffic congestion
around the interchange would be unreliable because of unforeseen
factors.
ìWhen you get
three to five years into traffic estimates without knowing what will
happen with the price of gas and what will happen in the Middle East,
youíve got nothing but a guess,î Hamil told the board.
Hamil also had
strong words for the board regarding its approach to planning, saying,
ìOnce again, the Board of Aldermen is going about this in what, when I
was a kid, was called ëbass-ackwards.íî
Furthermore,
Hamil announced that he would not seek appointment to another term on
the Planning Board, citing frustrations at having his concerns ignored
by the aldermen.
ìI donít believe that this board walks its talk on planning,î he said. ìYou donít really want us to do planning.î
However, not all
residents were opposed to the proposed interchange. One man, who said
he had moved to the area eight months ago, expressed concerns that if
the board did not encourage the kind of growth a new interchange would
foster, the town might not attract high-paying jobs.
ìRight now,
there arenít many good jobs in this area,î he told the board. ìSome
growth is really good for us. You need to look at what are the
unintended consequences of not looking ahead at the future.î
He noted that young people, particularly, will need to have access to jobs in order to stay in Black Mountain.
ìSomeday, Iíd love to have my girls and their spouses live near me,î he added.
Another man
expressed objections to the form the public dialogue over the proposal
has taken. ìIt just feels to me like a lot of what has transpired to
this point has not enjoyed the openness and transparency of open
government that I think is necessary,î he told the aldermen.
Noting that
debate over the issue had gone on for a long time, he added, ìI hope
that you all tonight will kill the Blue Ridge Interchange once and for
all.î
One speaker
approached the issue with humor. He pointed out that Ingles Markets is
one of the biggest proponents of the interchange, which would give
drivers easier access to its Black Mountain store.
ìSo I think giving up the Ingles parking lot for this interchange might be a really good direction,î he joked.
A woman told the board, ìIt seems to me weíre talking about money, but we need to talk about people, too.î
Citing concerns
about the safety risks an interchange would pose to Blue Ridge Road
residents, she added, ìI think we need to kill this now and let it go.î
A man told the
board that he had lived in San Francisco for 10 years, during which
time the city had witnessed a great deal of growth.
San Francisco, he noted, is the ìsecond- or third-worstî city in the country for traffic congestion.
ìOne thing that
theyíve learned in 40 or 50 years is that adding new lanes and adding
new interchanges never fixes anything,î he said.
In other action, the aldermen:
ï Issued a proclamation honoring the 100th anniversary of LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center.
ï Unanimously
passed a resolution of support for Land of Tomorrow, a proposed program
that, if approved by the state General Assembly, would set aside $1
billion over five years for land and water conservation.
ï Unanimously
passed a resolution of support for a Veterans Administration hospital
to be built at a site currently occupied by the N.C. Department of
Corrections.
ï Deleted a
section of the townís Personnel Policy Manual that had previously
allowed town employees to use certain pieces of town-owned equipment
for personal reasons when they were not in use for official purposes.
ï Scheduled a public hearing on a rezoning request by William A. Alan for March 12.
ï Rescheduled its April meeting to April 16 because of the Easter holiday.
ó JIM GENARO
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