Politics

(Steve Shipley, courtesy of Youtube)

Eastern Gaston County should be excited about the opening late last winter of the US National Whitewater Center . The center is located just across the Catawba River in Mecklenburg County from the Stowe Family YMCA in Mt. Holly.

However there are more than a few folks still fussin’ about the park.

The Whitewater Center is rapidly becoming a major regional and national destination site for “outdoors people”. In July alone, over 70,000 people visited to raft, kayak, climb, and mountain bike. In late July, an international competition for teens was held. That competition was the world championships for sprint kayaking. 

Several of the high school and college aged children of our Belmont and Mt. Holly neighbors have summer jobs at the Center. From all reports, it is a very busy and exciting place.

But, people are still upset that Belmont and Mt. Holly governments invested in the underwriting or “underpinning” of the non-profit organization. Over at the Gaston County Watchdog, a politically conservative rant forum, people are still angry.

What occurred was the local governments pledged funds to the park to cover any operating losses for a set number of years. Mt. Holly pledged a million dollars ($1,000, 000), Belmont pledged $500,000. Several other communities pledged funds including Gastonia and Charlotte. Everything is based on a percentage of “investment”. If the park were to operate at a loss of, let’s say, $1,000,000 in the first year, the participating cities would cover their percentage share to bring the operating account back to zero. We can’t remember the percentages of the overall participation rates, but even IF the Mt. Holly percentage would be 10%, their share would equal $100,000.

With all that being said, the center has had six months of surplus operating revenue that should balance the losses incurred when the opening was delayed by the road issue. So, it is possible that the cities may not even be called to “pony-up” for first year funding.

None of us care for increased taxes or anything that could potentially take money out of our pocket without our expressed permission. That is why we have an elected, representative government at all levels. There is too much suspicion and hand-wringing. That is not even enough to consider a $.01 addition to the property tax rate. Area towns even cut tax rates this summer due to increased property valuations.

We do have a community responsibility to share in economic development costs, and an expectation to share in its rewards. In this case, there are tourism dollars spent in Belmont and Mt. Holly. Restaurants in both towns are seeing vistors, the ABC store in Mt. Holly certainly is doing well. People have also secured summer and permanent jobs.  

So why are a few making a fuss?

By a vote of 3-2, the Belmont City Council approved the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP, or the Plan) last evening after months of public hearings, committee meetings, and presentations.

Well, people quickly gathered on the Porch last night, in the hot, sticky, bug-noise filled neighborhood to discuss the comments made by council members.

It was a very interesting and civil debate. Thank you Mr. Mayor, Richard Boyce, for keeping it on task.

“Property Rights” activists, Charlie Flowers and Becky Burch, stuck to their convictions that planning and foresight cost property owners their right to develop their property as they see fit. Seems ok at first blush. We all want to get the best for our investments. What is different here is the continued pandering for support by their constituency trying to label planning policies and efforts as a way of “…discriminating against poor people.”(Flowers), and that, “…it’s just not right…”(Burch). More on the comments below.

It is a shame that two members of council who are seeking re-election this year are saying in essence by their votes, “we don’t think that planning for the future is important”.

The days of the rivers keeping out growth are past. Once I-485 was opened, the drive to Ballentyne, South Park, and even to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ( Lowe’s Motor Speedway), takes less than half the time. So, the carpetbaggers and local speculators are willing to buy up and sellout. In the view of the porch-sitters last night, failing to plan is planning to fail. With all due respect to former Police Chief Flowers and Mrs. Burch, flying by the seat of your pants only leads to bumpy landings.

Pineville failed to plan. As you drive in from Hwy 51 or even from South Boulevard, you have to ask, where did the town go? Yeah, they got lots of tax revenue, but it seems the only benefit was what, less tax rate?

Other interesting comments:

Becky Burch, “… people in this city are not interested in planning or they would have shown up to the meetings…”.

Unfortunately, Becky only came to one, maybe two, of the public hearings and general meetings. She stayed away from the others because her mind was made up before the process took place. Obviously, she still takes marching orders from the former mayor who definitely prefers to be reactive rather than proactive.  

The current mayor’s response to Becky, “…we need to balance property owner’s rights and responsibilities…”, and, “…this plan allows for continued work…”.  

Irl Dixon, who is also running for re-election, expressed some concern over the decision to use existing transportation maps and plans rather than, in his words, “something new…”. Donal Simpson, whose company, HNTB, consulted on the plan, replied that the connector roads through the eastside of the peninsula were not viable due to the existing development. The westside “Belmont-Mt. Holly Connector” provides for another major artery parallel south to the South Point Road.

We guess that some people just don’t get it. 

Mayor Boyce through the entire process has kept the council, the task force, and city staff, on task by repeating that this Plan is a “tool in our toolbox”.

Mr. Flowers did have one valid concern, but his drumbeat is wearing thin on many of our Belmont neighbors. His concern was the willingness of the Plan to focus “affordable housing” options in North Belmont.

We too, have that concern, but Charlie, you lost many of us when you stated, or more appropriately — mumbled, ” I grew up in North Belmont, and was discriminated against…”. Come on Charlie, you were the Chief of Police for how many years? If there was any discrimination, your department defined it for us.

Well the Plan is approved, and yes, there is a lot of work to still be done. By North Carolina General Statutes, a huge hurdle (the lack of a plan) to a variety of resources has been overcome. Even though the council was split on this issue, the meat will come with how we as a community wield this tool.

Thursday’s Observer (8/9/2007) article link: Belmont approves guide for its growth, remember you heard it here first. 😉

  (Belmont Reserve)

Belmont and Mt. Holly are both attempting to deal with the massive planned home construction in their own ways. “Belmont City Council has approved construction of 2,269 homes in 17 developments, from condominiums to single-family homes on 68,000-square-foot lots. That would mean about 1,408 more school-age students in Belmont, according to calculations from Gaston County Schools.”

Of course, neither the city or the county schools have the ability to provide land for school construction. The city is averse to requiring developers to provide land in their plans because of a ” building time-frame requirement” for use as imposed by the school board. The county school sytem doesn’t want to specify a site or approximate site due to continued demographic changes.

  (Gaston Gazette)

Last night, August 7, the city council approved the Belmont Estates schematic plans without rezoning or special conditions. However the new plans for this particular project call for a greater density (55′ x 125′ lots), 235 lots,  and no second connectivity point out of the project. That means all the traffic will be dumped out onto the two-lane South Point Road, right below the High School. Adrian Miller, staff member of the Belmont Planning Department, said that the project still needs to go through the technical review process and brought back to the P&Z board for approval, then back to council.

Councilmembers, Charlie Flowers and Becky Burch, who oppose planning processes in general under the guise of “property rights”, voted with the majority to allow another development to progress in the bottleneck area around the high school.

Belmont Reserve is another project that is under construction. This project, at the intersection of Eagle Road and South Main Street, is the re-development of the old Belmont Hosiery mill property. 14 units are about three-quarters complete, and signs posted on the windows of 11, say that they are “sold”. It appears that the markets for the Belmont Reserve are “empty nesters”, and young professionals. Just an opinion, but they are dinky, and when built out will be tightly packed together.

  (Belmont Reserve)

One of the “good” projects that fit with the surrounding community and the TND philosophy of managed growth is the Belmont Village project. Located on Myrtle Street, smack in the middle between South Main and South Central Avenue and across from the middle school, this project re-uses the old A&P grocery store site. Lots of steps up will be required, but the look is similar to many urban townhomes along the east coast cities.

      (Village Park)

We will provide some information and discussion of the South Point Road/High School area projects sometime in the next week. Overall, we are concerned about the proper development of in-fill projects being a fit under the neighborhood preservation and traditional neighborhood development (TND) policies.

See the next Belmont Front Porch entry about our feelings about the City Council vote on August 7 in regards to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan.  

Source Articles: Belmont About to Boom, Mt. Holly Looks Ahead On Growth With Caution