Why WNC Needs Smart Growth
By Julie Mayfield
Many of you are probably wondering what role smart growth has here in Western North Carolina. Some of
you may think smart growth is really about “no growth,” or you might think it’s only about building densely in
big, urban areas. Others might think that smart growth is about getting people out of their cars and single
family homes, putting everyone in high rise condos, and making people ride the bus. I have even heard
people say smart growth is part of a United Nations plan to cram people into cities so that wildlife can once
again roam free in the rest of the county.
Well, none of those things are true. Smart growth is about creating options for how people live and travel
that are easier on the environment and healthier and more equitable for people. Yes, smart growth promotes
dense development, affordable housing, and multi-modal transportation. It also promotes mixing different
types of land use – commercial, residential, institutional – together, which is different from growth over the
last 100 years. And yes, it promotes investment in existing downtowns and other urban centers.
But smart growth is also about preserving and protecting rural landscapes, small towns, and working farms
and forestlands. Smart growth recognizes these lands as equally important to urban areas, and it seeks to
keep small towns vibrant; to ensure that new rural development creates quality, enduring communities; and
to preserve working lands for food and other product production and environmental benefits.
Indeed, preservation of rural areas and working lands, and promoting density and transportation options are
flip sides of the same coin. If we want the former, we need to do more of the latter. We know from our own
work in rural communities and from efforts like the Mountain Landscapes Initiative that people here want to
protect farms and forests, mountains and streams. Newcomers and old timers alike want to preserve the
rural way of life that exists throughout this region.
We also know, however, that growth is happening here and that growth is good for our people and our
economy. In the last decade, the counties in our region that saw the most population growth generally also
saw higher wages and lower levels of poverty and unemployment. But this growth is not all good. The
number of acres developed in Western North Carolina grew by 570% in the last 35 years, while the
population only increased by 42%. Today we develop five times as much land per person as we did in 1976.
The region’s population is projected to grow an additional 25% by 2030, and the associated development is
projected to encompass an area almost six times the size of the City of Asheville. Correspondingly, we are
losing forests and farmland, and sediment is the number one pollutant in our rivers and streams. So the
question, really, is how can we continue to grow and preserve these rural lands and small towns we all care
about so much? There are many tools, some of which are being widely used here today, including
conservation easements, present use value taxation, and voluntary agriculture districts. These tools keep
land in its natural state and make it more affordable for rural land owners to keep their land intact. These
tools are good, but they are not enough.
Smart growth offers additional tools that we should explore, including rules that require or encourage denser,
mixed use development in already developed areas. If we don’t want new growth to bleed into rural areas,
then cities and towns need to make it easier for development to occur within their existing limits. We also
need policies requiring or encouraging more affordable housing in urban areas; many people are now finding
that their inexpensive house outside of the city is not actually affordable when transportation costs are
included. And we need more investment in elements of our transportation system other than roads – van
pools, carpools, park and ride lots, greenways, bike lanes, sidewalks, and buses. In a rural region like ours,
people will continue to drive, but we can make it easier for them to travel together, saving money and time.
Another key tool used across the country in urban and rural communities that want to manage how they
grow is zoning. Yes, the Z-word. Zoning. But this isn’t your father’s zoning. Zoning today can apply to large
areas or it can be tailored to meet the desires of individual communities. And zoning is not all about saying
what can or cannot happen on certain land; it can also address what development looks like. So communities
can still grow and develop, but will do so in a way that enhances the existing community and respects the
desires of those living there.
Zoning created as part of a community-based planning process puts community members in charge of their
future and makes the local government the guardian of those wishes. This is a very different model from the
one we have now, where out of town developers have more power to determine the future of a community
than the people who live there. Often decried as an invasion of personal and property rights, zoning done
right actually gives people power to control their future.
To explore how our region can make better use of smart growth tools, WNCA has created a broadbased Smart
Growth Coalition. Represented are interests as diverse as affordable housing, transit, rural preservation,
health, and aging. We all want the same thing: for our region to be livable, vibrant, affordable, and
sustainable. More specifically, we want to accommodate growth while also revitalizing communities,
improving housing and travel choices, and conserving the natural environment and working landscapes.
To that end, we will be working to enmesh smart growth principles in land use and transportation planning
and policies, initially in Asheville and Buncombe County, and later throughout the region.
Watch future issues of Accent to hear about our projects and learn of our successes.
Smart Growth Principles
1. Design compact, pedestrian-friendly communities.
2. Provide transportation and housing choices.
3. Encourage mixed-use development.
4. Preserve and enhance downtowns and other urban centers.
5. Build vibrant public spaces.
6. Protect environmental resources.
7. Conserve open space and working lands.
8. Design matters.