Proposed changes to the county’s Land Use Plan are designed to address current economic trends and emerging conservation strategies.
DOBSON — Meetings have been set to allow the public to view and provide input on the county’s proposed Land Use Plan 2020, according to Surry County Planning Director Kim Bates.
The most recent draft of the proposed plan is now available for view on county government website, along with the current plan which is now in affect. Both documents can be accessed directly at www.co.surry.nc.us, Bates said.
The proposed plan is designed to address emerging land use issues and conservation strategies. It is being updated to include current economic factors, Bates said. The current plan, Land Use Plan 2015, was adopted by the Board of County Commissioners in October 2006.
Frequent updates to the county’s comprehensive land use plan are encouraged by many state and federal agencies, Bates said, and that information can factor into grant money for prospective businesses.
“People who fund projects like to see that you have an updated plan,” Bates said. “It can actually impact the economic development of the county. Having an updated, well-thought-out plan shows that you have your fingers on the pulse of the patterns and trends going on.”
The proposed plan takes the current economic climate into account, and tightens down on the amount of land designated rural growth areas, according to the planning director.
The draft employs blue text to present updated information. It also includes maps showing existing land use trends and future recommendations.
“Taken together, these maps would encourage a more compact development patter than previously recommended, near existing water and sewer lands and urban centers,” Bates said. “This may prove to be the most significant message of the updated plan, an even more diligent, more conservative stewardship of county resources may be advisable in these times.”
The proposed plan, presented to the Board of Commissioners during its May meeting, constricts rural growth areas, updates the small area land use plans and takes into account economic factors including:
• The 60 percent decline in manufacturing jobs in the county since 2000.
• The doubling of the county’s unemployment rate since 2004.
• The slowing of residential development.
Interested citizens can learn more about the plan as follows:
On Monday, July 9 at 6 p.m., the county Planning Board will hold its regular monthly meeting in the commissioner’s meeting room in the Surry County Government Center in Dobson. During this meeting, a number of stakeholders will be invited to attend for general discussion of the plan. The public is welcome to attend, Bates said.
On Monday, July 23, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., the public is invited to informally visit with county planning staff and planning board members in room 335 of the county government center for overview and discussion of the draft plan and associated maps.
On Monday, August 13, at 6 p.m., the Planning Board will hold its regular monthly meeting in the commissioner’s meeting room in Dobson, and will hold a final review of the updated plan before its submission to the county Board of Commissioners for adoption.
The Board of Commissioners is expected to hold a public hearing on the proposed plan on August 20 at 6 p.m., during their regular meeting. It can be adopted at any time after that hearing.
Reach Keith Strange at kstrange@heartlandpublications.com or 719-1929.
As someone who has read hundreds of reports on sustainable development, I question that abundant food supplies is one of SD's goals. Sustainable Development is at the very least unsustainable. SD'ers call for the abolition of farming within a 1000 feet of water sources. This is approximately 80% of US farmland. At the same time they promote the turning of "food" into fuels to operate autos. As the world starves, we turn corn into ethanol.
SD'ers have called that the sky is falling since the late 1700's, with Malthus. Malthus claimed England would starve in the early 1800's. Now the 'sky is falling' crowd has convinced people that the 'end of the world' is here. Only they know how to save us? The lifestyle that Americans have had came from Capitalism, in spite of government interference. Sure, it has had warts, but we have solved the problems as they have arisen.
Now, we are being led by the actual planners who have been part of the problem, through lack of planning they say. If only they had more authority, they wouldn't have these problems. They claim lack of planning is the problem. But, they were the planners? Their answer is that they couldn't plan for a town or a county because of politics. So they want to plan for a region without interference from local elected politicians. Their councils are filled with the intellectual elites, who can sovle all our problems because they are smarter than the rest of us.
Agenda 21 was 20 years ago, and is dead they say. Then why is Rio Agenda 21 20 being held, and the groups involved calling now for "those voluntary guidelines" to have a global enforcement mechanism. When the US signs a treaty in over rides the Constitution of the US.
1) From the largest metropolitan cities to the smallest towns of Main Street America, communities all across our nation are being influenced with a new political philosophy known as Sustainable Development and its primary framework for implementation called Agenda 21.
2) Agenda 21 is the global blueprint of implementation for Sustainable Development devised by the United Nations and was signed by 178 world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.
3) Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 call for a complete re-orientation of the world system of governance in every area in which human impacts on the environment.
4) Sustainable Development, like Communism or Fascism, is a doctrine or philosophy of governance complete with its own agenda, beliefs, and goals.
5) On June 29th, 1993 President Clinton signed Executive Order 12852 creating The President’s Council on Sustainable Development. This step began the full-scale implementation of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development within the United States of America.
6) Sustainable Development is entrenched throughout our government at every level from federal, state and regional agencies to county, city and community councils and planning boards.
7) Sustainable Development or “Sustainability” is often promoted with the environmental message of “going green”, or “being a good steward” but in reality there is actually a much, much deeper political philosophy of control and governance at work.
8) Sustainable Development is a political philosophy that is built upon three pillars. These three pillars are known as the “3E’s”, or “the triple bottom line”. The three pillars of sustainable development are Ecological Integrity, Economic Prosperity and Social Equity.
9) Sustainable Development demands that the perfect balance of “the triple bottom line” be the deciding lens through which all community development, growth, and decisions are viewed. All growth which fails to achieve this perfect balance is considered unsustainable.
10) Communities are being drawn down the path of Sustainable Development by the lure of numerous monetary grants and incentives from state and federal government agencies as well as non-governmental organizations.
11) Sustainable Development views traditional capitalism and the American way of life as a failing and inequitable system that must be replaced with a new governance system in order to achieve sustainability and a just world.
12) An overwhelming number of businesses and corporations have began shifting to a Sustainable Development operational model and in so doing have rejected the traditional “bottom line” of American Capitalism replacing it with the “triple bottom line” of United Nations Sustainable Development.
13) Almost every College and University in the nation has become indoctrinated with the philosophy of Sustainable Development. From campus infrastructure and administration to student life and the curriculum America’s Colleges and Universities are awash in this radical, collectivist philosophy.
14) The philosophy of Sustainable Development calls for a complete change in the lifestyle of the average American citizen. Numerous aspects of normal American life are subject to intense scrutiny under this radical new philosophy. Where and how we build our homes, what products we use, which foods we eat, what and how much we consume, and which methods of transportation we choose, are just a few examples of American life that United Nations Sustainable Development seeks to bring under its controlling grasp.
15) Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 promote a paradigm shift in attitudes away from the norm of national borders and individual nation-states toward a globalist, collective, one-world, interdependent, and interconnected planetary mindset.
16) Sustainable Development philosophy teaches that mankind is living beyond the “carrying capacity” of the Earth and that we are in the midst of multiple crises that are converging to create conditions that are not livable unless they are halted by a rapid global transition to a sustainable development system. Some of these perceived crises include overpopulation, global poverty and wealth inequality, manmade global climate change, and rampant environmental destruction.
17) Across our nation numerous communities of all sizes are putting into place the radical policies of Sustainable Development and United Nations Agenda 21. From new comprehensive land use plans, to smart growth, and sustainable community planning, the ideas and infrastructure of Sustainable Development are being implemented and added to daily.
18) The policies of sustainable development and Agenda 21 seek to change the way people live and build their cities and towns. Sustainable Development promotes high density, urban, pedestrian oriented, low carbon, walkable communities and discourages traditional American automobile usage, suburban lifestyles and development.
19) The Sustainable Development philosophy perceives the automobile and the ongoing use of fossil fuels as unsustainable.
20) In addition to the high level efforts within the United Nations and other similar globalist organizations, much of the work in promotion of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is being carried out by a massive network of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). These organizations have been fully consumed by this radical collectivist philosophy and are working overwhelmingly to advance the Sustainable Development Agenda.
21) Sustainable Development and the implementation of Agenda 21 are not some far off future possibility. In fact, America and the world are in the midst of what the sustainable development movement calls “the great transition” to a sustainable new model of living.