What’s at stake in the Laurel Valley area of Madison County is at the heart of Madison County for years to come. It represents the changing of the guard in the county.
Nearby counties such as Buncombe and Haywood, with various organizations, contribute to the debate and have a voice in the process of real representation in fights over development. Not so true in Madison County.
Family and religion play a big role in Madison County, where isolation and competition play a large role as well. Since the county’s Planning Board seems to have its verdict made prior to meetings, an organization known as Laurel Valley Watch has been incited into activism.
Developing feuds in Madison County might open up the county to new ways of doing things. Don’t fusses and fights sometimes bring people together? Remember the Hatfield and McCoy feud between East Kentucky and West Virginia families of 1888 and later? Henry H. Hatfield of West Virginia was elected governor in 1912 after the long feuds between those two families.
Is it not true that Madison County commissioners have used “illusion of due process” in approving rezoning requests of B & E Ventures and their investors, from residential and agricultural to resort and commercial?
There are questions about what type of businesses will be put on Laurel Valley Road, where no current business exists.
Is an airport to be located at Wolf Laurel without any public discussion?
Imagine a county without a comprehensive development plan!
Slow development and farm preservation are needed in Madison County. We need to work together with enforced mountain-ridge development laws. We can reach mutual satisfaction given the mutual desire to cooperate.
Locals need to preserve their way of life; they were here first. This is not a game we play. We most assuredly need protective zoning and low housing density. Our rural character must be preserved.
Let’s remember that development increases the cost of living and will not necessarily benefit Madison County’s budget by providing a larger tax base.
Too much development destroys the environment and local way of life. Financial interests motivate developers. Madison County must continue to be a desirable place to live and work. Growth must entail the inevitability of gradualness and protect the future and best interest of this area.
