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| Here We Go Again |
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According to the US Census Bureau, both North Carolina and the Triangle region will experience unprecedented growth over the next twenty-five years. In 2000 the state ranked 11th in population, with just over 8 million residents. By 2030 the population will grow to more than 12 million, making North Carolina the seventh most populous state.
This 52 percent increase in population will be surpassed only by Florida and Texas. This growth will catapult North Carolina’s population ahead of Georgia, New Jersey, Michigan, and Ohio. The issue then is not whether the state and region will grow, but how they will grow. Since this growth is predicted, then the quality of the resulting communities should also be predictable. The region’s evolving greenway network is the public infrastructure intended to respond to much of its ecological function conservation, water quality buffering, flood hazard avoidance, unprogrammed recreation and exercise opportunities, as well as natural resource education needs. But, will the way this network has been pursued by the region’s local governments in the past successfully create the network needed in the future? Florida has and continues to experience one of the nation’s highest growth rates. They have a statewide greenway plan that is based on the principles of landscape ecology; North Carolina has no comparable plan/vision. They are in the second decade of voter approved, ten year long, $3 billion referendums for conservation land acquisition programs; North Carolina commits between 30% to 50% of that amount. Governor Hunt proposed and the Legislature authorized a Million Acre Initiative to conserve an additional 3% of the state’s land by 2010; at the current pace the initiative will fall 40% short. New Jersey’s population is projected to be surpassed by North Carolina’s in 2010. Several years ago that state’s voters approved a $1 billion referendum for conservation land acquisition. It is intended to protect 50% of the underdeveloped land remaining there. In North Carolina the nonprofit Land for Tomorrow Coalition is only now proposing a $1 billion referendum that will not go to a public vote before the fall of 2006. Within the Triangle region, local governments have had repeated success with bond issues for greenways, parklands, and related conservation purposes. The public’s interest in retaining the quality of this place is strong, and must continue to accommodate/counteract the projected population increase. Further, the public’s interest must be complemented and reinforced through positive steps by elected bodies to update and improve adopted infrastructure plans and development regulations to better assure the region’s future, as well as to find dedicated revenue sources to guarantee community quality for future populations. |
Greenways meet an ever growing need, a need to leave the hectic city (if only for a moment) and to experience earth beneath your feet and fresh air in your lungs – to feel life and to feel alive.
— VICTORIA LOGUE
— VICTORIA LOGUE
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