Senior Statesmen discuss the challenges of growth and development

(L to R) Jack Marshall (ASAP), Jeff Werner (PEC), Neil Williamson (FEF)

On April 11, 2007, the Senior Statesmen of Virginia (SSV) held their monthly meeting at the Northside Library in Charlottesville, VA.  The three invited panelists, among the community's most familiar faces when it comes to discussions of local growth and development issues, shared their views on topics including land use, transportation, population growth, government regulation, and property rights. 

The panelists were:

Jack Marshall, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population
Jeff Werner, Piedmont Environmental Council
Neil Williamson, Free Enterprise Forum

Before an audience of about forty people, each panelist made a presentation about the role of their organization and provided their assessment of the growth and development challenges facing local government and our community at-large.

President Don Wells, described the Senior Statesmen "as a vehicle for senior citizens to get together to learn about issues, to discuss them, but also to potentially take action... to influence the political process."

Podcast produced by Charlottesville Tomorrow * Player by Odeo

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20070411-SSV-Growth.MP3

Audio pointers and representative quotes:

• 00:08:30 -- Jack Marshall, ASAP
  • "A small but powerful group has been delighted with the relentlessly expanding local population.  For its members enjoy profits from land speculation and construction, or from an expanding market for whatever they sell."
  • "Although 'smart growth' is necessary, ASAP argues that it's not sufficient. Smart growth addresses where and how a community's population expands, but not whether it should expand. Over the long haul, smart growth merely accommodates growth. ASAP's approach goes beyond smart growth by contending that every community should try to identify its optimal population size, then work to reach and maintain a stationary size at that point."
  • "The only thing more radical than stopping growth is not stopping growth."
• 00:21:35 -- Jeff Werner, PEC
  • "We support growth and development at a pace and in a pattern that is fiscally responsible and not a burden on taxpayers."
  • "In total, the current residential pipeline for the [County's] growth area and for the [City of Charlottesville] is now over 18,000 units.  This does not include the rural area...which is another 30,000 to 50,000 lots. That 18,000 units in the growth area and the City is enough for approximately 42,000 additional people.  In other words, while the development community argues that the growth area needs to be expanded, their own proposals clearly indicate that such an expansion may not be necessary for at least another generation."
• 00:37:14 -- Neil Williamson, FEF
  • "As a purpose, [the Free Enterprise Forum] strive to provide balance to the public debate.  We feel that without such balance issues are often skewered by special interest groups which may not have a full understanding of the community ramifications for the solutions they propose."
  • "It is true that we would like to see more development in the development area.  That is clear. That's where the infrastructure should be placed.  It is also true that property rights are important."
  • "Right now the rural areas, for the past three or four years, probably the past seven years, have been at or above the [level] of development in the development areas.  I firmly believe that is due to government regulation making it difficult to develop in the development areas. This is something I see starting to change."
  • "Jack [Marshall] had mentioned, 'Are there limits to growth in our future.'  I think that is a very relevant question.  The other question is who should place those limits....Placing an arbitrary number [on population] is digging a moat around the County.  And who gets to man the bridge?"
  • "There are some in Albemarle County that want to place this population cap.  I find that elitist and it would be the equivalent of digging a moat."
• 00:48:20 -- Q&A

Brian Wheeler

 

Comments

[kay ferguson]

The availability of water is a real factor that should be used to determine the size of our community. There is nothing elitist about acess to clean water. What is elitist is to assume that surrounding communities and biosystems must provide us with whatever we demand.