URGENT ACTION: STOP THE SPRAWL
The Henderson County Planning Department is circulating a draft Future Land Use Map that contradicts our community’s priorities as reflected in the County’s own survey results. The draft map prioritizes sprawl — development that spreads too far into the countryside, unnecessarily destroying forests, farmland, and rural communities — at great expense to taxpayers and against the desires of county residents.
Take action: Email Henderson County Commissioners and ask them to fix its Future Land Use Map and adopt a responsible, sustainable Comprehensive Plan.
The Case Against Sprawl
Perhaps the greatest threat to clean air, clean water, and natural landscapes in Western North Carolina is sprawling, poorly-planned development.
Sprawl is a financial loser, too. It wastes taxpayer dollars on unnecessary roads, sewers, and other infrastructure, even as it threatens the farms and orchards that make our county attractive to visitors and investors.
What is Sprawl?
Sprawl is development that spreads too far into the countryside, unnecessarily destroying forests, farmland, and rural communities. The key word here is “unnecessarily.”
Between 1976 and 2006, Henderson County’s developed land area grew eight times faster than its population, according to a UNC Charlotte study. In other words, as the county’s population slowly grew 92%, its developed land area exploded by 730%. At the same time, other counties in Western North Carolina experienced something similar.
What is at Stake?
Unfortunately, the same sprawl-inducing forces are still at work today. Growth in Henderson County is governed by antiquated rules that allow low rural land prices to drive development out into the countryside. And … roughly 40,000 new residents are expected here between now and 2045. About 17,000 new homes will be built. If we don’t take action, current rules will allow new development to explode all over the county map, endangering…
- Clean Air: Sprawl forces residents to drive more miles, increasing air pollution and exacerbating climate change
- Clean Water: Sprawl threatens the purity of creeks and rivers. Asphalt, roofs, and lawns dump polluted storm water directly into waterways, rather than letting it be filtered through the soil. More asphalt, roofs, and lawns means more pollution.
- Wildlife: Sprawl displaces wildlife. The Southern Appalachians are a global biodiversity hotspot. To protect the amazing variety and abundance of local species, we must protect more land — not just forests, but also the habitat provided by open fields and pastures.
- Rural Heritage: Sprawl undermines rural heritage. Henderson County lost one-third of its apple orchards between 2002 and 2017, according to the county’s comprehensive planning consultant. If this trend continues, the consultant added, no apples will be grown here by 2040. For decades, Henderson County has been “apple country.” Why destroy our heritage, and our branding, unnecessarily?
- Fiscal Prudence: Sprawl burdens taxpayers. When developed land grows faster than the population, each taxpayer becomes responsible —unnecessarily — for fixing more potholes, maintaining more sewers, repairing more electrical wires, buying more gasoline for fire and police protection, etc.