Why, oh why, do the powers that be always think the answer to growth is a building moratorium? The county manager for Cabarrus County (that's Concord, Harrisburg, Kannapolis NC) is apparently panicking at the current rate of growth and wants a moratorium to slow it down.
Granted-this area is undergoing dramatic change. The new Concord Convention Center opened last week, new subdivisions are multiplying like rabbits, new retail is opening everywhere, schools are bursting at the seams. And you know, the sacred cow of property tax isn't even something that's been a problem here. Sure, we're low compared to most of the country and especially Charlotte-but we had a raise in 2005 and no one went through the roof-because it was universally accepted that it needed to happen to keep things moving forward.
But a moratorium? Dangerous stuff. If you just stop building and development altogether, you create an instant shift in supply and demand, manipulating the economic markets. Home prices go straight up-creating an even smaller supply of affordable housing than already exists. I say this as a homeowner in Cabarrus County-heck, I own multiple properties for rental as well-and while I love property values that go UP UP UP, I want it to be organic and not forced.
Smart growth? Better planned growth? All for it. But don't shut down the new stuff, killing jobs and artificially messing with property values because you're afraid to take a stance from issue to issue! Hmmm...perhaps that's the true problem here-our elected officials and town staff are afraid of deciding case by case so would rather do a blanket cessation? Hmmm...
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