_There was one brief period of lucence and hope during the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) meetings that I attended this week.  It occurred during the West Southern Pines focus group meeting.  A young lady (well, young compared to me and many of my friends anyway) by the name of Dorothy opened her remarks to the focus group with an eloquent explanation of the plight of West Southern Pines.

As is so typical of planners and "sustainable development" consultants, the folks there did not pay enough attention to her remarks -- at least initially.  The planning pinheads wanted only to talk about sidewalks, streetlights, architectural compliance, "connectivity", bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, zoning changes, etc., etc.

Even though the other residents of West Southern Pines who spoke echoed her lucid and sage input, the consultant was so oblivious that he stated at one point during the discussion that the concerns were "outside the scope of zoning and land use"!  What a dunderhead!

Let's explain it again here, slowly and clearly as Dorothy does in the video below....  Southern Pines is a lovely small town.  It has a very strong sense of community and charm for a town of 12,000 souls.  The Town has tried very, very hard to preserve and maintain that ole-timey atmosphere and "feel".  That's the problem:  The town has, for the past years, focused on preservation to the point of stifling growth and vitality.

As Dorothy, with her keen insight explains in the video, the young generation finds nothing in Southern Pines to hold them here after graduation.  If they go on to college, there are so few (rare) career opportunities here (except for FirstHealth medical careers, and those are in dire danger from ObamaCare), that college graduates choose to settle in large cities which do offer the career opportunities which they seek -- Charlotte, Raleigh-area, Greensboro, Atlanta, for instance.

Also, high school graduates find scarce opportunities here in Southern Pines.  The only real options are retail, restaurants, and golf clubs.  Let's face it; the management jobs in these sectors are few and the occupants usually stay for life.  The non-management jobs simply do not pay enough or offer enough upward mobility opportunities to attract and retain most of our high school graduates.  So, again, the young folks venture off to the big cities in search of better jobs and lives.  And they don't come back.

Without jobs, the town begins to stagnate.  OK, it's not quite stagnating yet....  It has managed to attract enough retirees like myself to bring in relatively stable incomes and lifestyles to keep itself relatively healthy during the economic doldrums of the last 20 years.  I'm sorry.  That's obviously not a complete recipe for the future.  The influx of retirees has slowed down, and guess what?  We're dying off.  There have been a number of deaths in my subdivision over the past couple of years.  We're all old and getting older.  A number of us have left our homes and gone to live in assisted-living complexes.

West Southern Pines is especially hard-hit by the dearth of job opportunities.  The old businesses are disappearing as the owner-proprietors die.  Their heirs have no intention of moving to Southern Pines, particularly to a declining area.  Abandoned properties increase.  Dependent unproductive elements fill the void from other areas seeking to thrive off the relative prosperity of the retirement communities and retailers.  But drugs and crime follow in the wake.  The Southern Pines Police Department struggles to rein-in and control the problems.

But, as Dorothy wisely pointed out, the fundamental problem is lack of jobs and careers.  The Planning Board of Southern Pines can treat the symptoms all they want, and they won't make a dent.  They won't change anything.  The people of West Southern Pines -- indeed the youth of ALL OF SOUTHERN PINES -- need jobs and career opportunities here.  If we fail to renew these communities through the younger generation, the decline is inevitable!

If you want to fix the problems of West Southern Pines -- if you want to stop the stagnation -- if you want to restore the vibrant prosperity of the town -- if you TRULY want to preserve Southern Pines, then you MUST support a greater amount of growth and development.  You must attract businesses -- particularly businesses which offer well-paying, professional careers which will induce our young graduates to stay here and renew the area.

I have watched past Town Councils.  They were more concerned with historic preservation, nature conservancy, preserving the "character", freezing development, stopping "big" projects than they were with achieving the critical balance which keeps the area thriving.  Our previous Councils and appointed boards were much more concerned with how big a business' sign could be and where that sign could be placed than they were in attracting new business!  What a short-sighted approach!  Our town has been more concerned with bicycle and pedestrian transportation than in fostering a welcoming atmosphere for those who would bring us more jobs and careers.  Our planning board has been much more consumed with making their own jobs "easier" and controlling all the architectural, historical, appearance, density, and land use of private property owners than they have been with ensuring jobs for our kids and prosperity for all.

Our town has imposed far too nitpicking restrictions on building permits and architectural plans.  Our town has become obsessed with land use restrictions.  Our town has been preserving itself into a petri-jar experimental culture, totally controlled by Central Planning.  I do not know if the local forces which advocate this vision are really in the majority.  Typically, these highly vocal activists are simply louder and more energetic than the rational majority.  Whatever.... these folks have managed to control the local agenda for way too long.

I have faith that the people spoke this past municipal election of 2011.  I have faith that our new Council has more wisdom and concern for the future of our great Town.    I hope the Council listened to Dorothy and the other speakers at the West Southern Pines focus group.  The planners largely did not.  The Council needs to help them see the Truth.  I hope the Council will no longer downplay the efforts of leftist advocacy interests to implement draconian controls and restrictive land use plans.  I hope they will constrain their Kansas consultants who are dedicated to the misguided SmartGrowth and "Sustainable Development" policies.

If the Council does not take its responsibilities to the long term future very seriously, Southern Pines will literally "preserve" itself to death -- a slow, slow death, but a death nonetheless.  Our population is aging.  The population of the whole county is aging.  If all the young folks leave here, the ultimate future of Southern Pines is inevitable.  Please create a welcoming, hospitable environment for vital business growth bringing more jobs and careers!  Please, Council, think longer term and not just about the next election.  I'll stand behind you, and I think a lot of others will, too!


Bill Cochrane

_I spent all day yesterday attending the opening day's meetings related to development of a new Southern Pines Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).  At the end of the day I was filled with a mixture of hope and dismay.

On the hopeful side, I heard some very good discussions which I feel truly highlighted the most fundamental overarching problem facing the Town.  I will write another article saying more about that.

To my dismay, however, most of the discussions that I witnessed were all about more control, tighter controls, "clearer" ordinance regulations which leave no room for leeway -- clamping down on property owners.  The worst example of this was the Planning Board.  The Planning Board met with two representatives of the consultant firm which has been hired by the Town Council to rewrite the Southern Pines Development Ordinances.  The consultant will write a Unified Development Ordinance which will incorporate the wishes of the Town staff and manager, the Council, and all its appointed boards.  Oh, yes..... and maybe the wishes of residents and taxpayers as well -- perhaps, maybe, possibly.... well, at least conceivably..... but not likely.

You see there are two problems here:
❶  Very, very few -- almost no -- residents and taxpayers showed up at any of the meetings, including the public hearing -- more on that later, too.  So, the input into the new UDO will almost exclusively consist of the intentions, ideas, wishes, and input of the boards and Town staff.  And these folks are about more control over you and about making their jobs much easier to impose control over you with less arguing and debate.
❷  There were no discussions at all about balance of property rights and individual liberties against the "good of the community" and the "needs of the collective" (and those exact terms were used, especially by the consultants, over and over).  You see, good planning would strive for such a balance.  Good planning -- which drives actual zoning and building permits -- will strive to minimize government controls to the smallest extent necessary to achieve rational growth.  Unconstrained growth and development is just as terrible as is totally constrained growth and development.  Good planning would strive hard to achieve the optimum balance.  There were no discussions about how to achieve such balance yesterday -- with a single bright spot and Planning Board member about whom I will speak in a moment.

Good People of Southern Pines!  Where are you?  Why aren't you involved?  Why aren't you standing up for your rights?

I chose to purchase a house and make my home in Southern Pines for several reasons.  Among them was the rural character and small town atmosphere, yes.  But also, and no less importantly, I wanted to escape the onerous, intrusive city ordinances and regulations imposed on all residents in the big cities.  I wanted more freedom to live as I choose.  I wanted to feel more a part of the community -- including our local government -- than is possible in a metropolis.  Therefore, I am disappointed and alarmed when I hear our local government appointed board members and town staff speak only of taking more power and more control.

There is not enough appreciation here that more restrictions, more government control, more regulation represents:
●  An erosion of my property rights.  The fewer property rights, over time results in reduced property values.
●  An assault on my personal liberties and my sense of well-being.
●  But much more importantly, it creates a less welcoming environment, especially for many businesses.
●  And so, it creates an anti-growth environment which tends to cause very slow growth or stagnation.
●  Consequently, such a restrictive approach to land use and property rights will inevitably lead to less prosperity for
     the community.

The problem is that (a) government always seeks more power, (b) government employees always want to make their jobs "easier", (c) people want to preserve their lifestyles, history, appearance, character, etc.  To preserve these things -- which are good -- they often go too far.  You can preserve to stagnation and slow death.  I am concerned that may be where we're heading, especially as the economy will only get worse for some time to come.

As I said, the Planning Board was alarming because all of their conversation went as described above.  Except for one Planning Board member:  Mr. Michael Martin.  Mr. Martin was the only person who argued for prudent balance in the Town's plans and planning process.  He was the sole champion of private property rights and the balance needed to remain a vibrant and prosperous community.  The only one all day.

I videotaped this special Planning Board meeting, and you can view the entire meeting below.  Mr. Martin's very brief statements can be heard beginning about 36:40 into the video.  If you listen carefully to the entire meeting, I think you will find it as chilling as did I.

You should take the time to thank Mr. Martin and encourage him to exert more influence over his fellow Planning Board members to balance their tendencies toward restrictive central planning against the people's private property rights and pursuit of happiness.  We need more folks like Mr. .  And we need more of our non-activist, non-special-interest residents to get involved!!!


Bill Cochrane