Fragments From Floyd

Dream on, dear Fred. I spent two months touring the USA the summer of 2003, looking for communities that had managed to stay attractive. They are few and far between. Unless you--and some very determined and like-minded friends--can get ON the planning commission, the voice of McDonald's will simply be louder. They will argue for just a little place out at the outskirts...and before you know it, Floyd will be ringed, like almost every other American town, with ugliness and parking lots and fast food joints, car parts, Wal-Mart, and Motel 6. If you are hoping YOU won't have to get involved (and I know you already are, to a certain extent), think twice. Serious, determined, committed activism is the only thing that has saved Boulder, Colorado, Eureka, Arkansas, and the one or two other places I discovered that had escaped ruin as places of beauty and grace.

Hi Fred,
Thanks for writing about this.
I grew up in NoVA and it would break my heart to see any of the SWVA counties--esp. Floyd--any more NoVA-fied.
Is it inevitable that as more people, and more money, come into our area from the North that sprawl, bad manners, gentrification, and general marginalization of Southern culture will follow suit? I sincerely hope not, but your essay here makes good sense, as I think folks in this region need to be very proactive about making sure the tourism and development we get is really the kind we want. I'd love to see more discussions on this, even if they get a little thorny.
Development is a scary thing, but I think that Floydians are plenty creative & resourceful enough to come up with a plan for the future that doesn't put today's residents on the cultural and economic defensive.
Thanks again. Have a great day.
Suzy

To anyone who might wish to relocate to FC (as I did)...just two things I beg of you...first and foremost, buy an existing, older house and (if necessary) fix it up; don't build another new one...and buy everything you can locally, from local, independent businesses. I don't need another neighbor who "loves the area" but drives to the Walmart in C-burg to shop. For groceries!

Beware the developers! (What Trish said, in spades.)

As evidence I offer Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Or Destin, Miramar Beach, anywhere in South Walton County, FL, along the beach.

As to the promise of jobs? Heh. Minimum wage jobs tending to the visitors. Its said of Destin that if you work here you can't afford to live here, and its true, unless you work as a real estate broker, etc.

Taxes? Sure, but you'll soak them up in infrastructure. Sewers, water, roads, that sort of thing. Around here you have to sacrifice an 84 year old lady to get a traffic light at a busy intersection, so unless VA has more cash than FL, development will outstrip capacity.

It appears to me, from your posts, that now would be the time to start planning for growth.

you thinking about this as a floyd paper piece? It (or something like it) ought to be. I worry a lot about Floyd. Sadly, Trish is right about "direct involvement." While I wouldn't underplay Everything But committee memebership as "indirect"---so writing to encourage other Floyd Countians who hold (or TO hold) likeminded perspectives---ultimately this encouragement has to manifest itself as SEATS ON THAT DAMNED COMMITTEE. And I for one would rest a little easier if you yourself were in one.

I'm afraid the die is cast, change would have come to Floyd in any case...hopefully your quiet recruitment of like-minded folks will slow the spread of commercialism, but there are always locals who resent 'newcomers' setting the agenda and will take the check and move on.

Ironically, the more you regulate, the more people will chafe under restrictions and the easier it is for them to rationalize selling.

We've seen this dynamic repeatedly in California as people move ever outward/northward to escape creeping commercialism and the heavy hand of government, only to bring it with them.

What we've done with some success, and much too late for many of our old growth forests and coastal mountain ranges outside the reach of the Coastal Commission, is to create communal land trusts and/or non-profits and purchase the open space.

You cannot rely on local, state or federal government, as it's interests change as the population demographics change. Need I say Headwaters Forest?

The only way to fight commercial development, long term, is to outbid and outwit them by creating perpetual land trusts. Do it now.

In Pennsylvania, we have one of the highest rates of sprawl in the country despite a shrinking population. One reason is our inordinate fondness for roads and highways. The other - widely agreed upon by experts - is our unwillingness to regulate. In PA, the counties have almost no say in zoning matters; that's all done at the township level. And the smaller the unit of government involved, the easier it is for builders and real estate speculators to wield disproportionate influence.

It's not that we are unwilling to submit to zoning *in principle*. Neighborhood and municipal ordinances against unmowed lawns, front-yard vegetable gardens, bees, goats, solar clothes driers, etc. etc. are submitted to with barely a murmur just about everywhere. I disagree with the above commenter that the presence of such burdensome regulation is a primary motivating factor in making people pick up and move; I think the opposite is more nearly the case. People pick aup and move because they realize they have fouled the local nest, and they are gullible enough to believe the real estate agent who tells them that the view from their new place will forever remain as bucolic as it is when they sign the papers. New residents to an area are often among the MOST willing to pass zoning ordinances. It's the folks who've lived there for a while who don't want to miss out on the chance to make a killing by subdiving Pappy's farm - which they may have to do to whether they weant to or not in order to avoid getting killed by rising taxes.

Land trusts are a big part of the solution, but they are not the whole of it. In PA, we have more land trusts and conservancies than any other state, but the rate of envelopment is barely slowed. The land trust folks here have a saying: "natural fragmentation mirrors political fragmentation."

I don't know how much if any of this applies to VA. But I suspect that there, as here, it is relatively easy to get yourself elected to the local township board of supervisors.

All the above...true. But wasn't the Floyd Press hopeful this week...with the Partnership for Floyd becomming pro-active and talk of a "Village Green?" PS we do have a Hardees.

Fred, down here in Virginia's other "best kept secret," we share your angst about the future. We our content for the time being to let our neighbor, Gloucester, absorb the brunt of urban flight but they are filling up fast and we know we're next. The primary deterrent here is that the largest percentage of our land will not "perc" but of course, if you have enough money and determination, you can overcome that. It is waterfront, naturally, that is driving the train and the tragedy is that our watermen can't afford to live near the water. We have our share of bumper stickers proclaiming "We don't care how you did it in New York," or "No to ----development" but our hosts, the Been Heres, aren't exactly activists when it comes to protecting their homeland. They tend to complain alot amongst themselves but rarely attend public meetings where decisions are made. The biggest bugaboo now that has them all stirred up is the recent tax assessment that brought them screaming into the 21st Century. My dad managed to hang onto a very desirable piece of Georgia real estate, with miles of river frontage, by simply refusing to put a price on it. That's the way we all feel when we find our piece of heaven but the truth is, as in my dad's case, our time is limited and hanging on to a piece of heaven just got harder.

Boone has loved itself to death...what with it's natural beauty, Walmart and fast food formula restaurants plus a top ranked university which is being forced to grow...Everyone wants to move here and build upon the slippery slopes--What truly pisses me off is far off neighbors who seem to require that all dogs be on leashes!! Help me. Where am I suppose to go now? Maybe I'll move to Floyd...hmmm.

Fred,

You seem to have hit a nerve with your thoughtful post. Even more telling are the comments from those who have "been there and done that".

Perhaps we should spend more time telling the world "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey was wont to say. Every township has its armpits and Floyd is no exception. A few photos of the creative countryside auto repair facilities that dot most back roads might deter the SUV onslaught for a while.

An article about the "White Elephant" industrial park building cum skating rink / abandoned warehouse might deter the settlers, but might pique the curiosity of an entrepreneur.

Perhaps that is where the bloggers will wield influence in the future. We are the media of the future and our comments are being read by more people every day. If we write to attract the people who can contribute most to the Floyd of the future, we may have a profound effect on the course of Floyd history.

Writing responsibly is always a necessity. It will not hold back the course of history, but it will give us early warning of the consequences of our actions.

During the Sixties and Seventies, I lived in Plantation, Fla, where cattle grazed a few blocks away with egrets in attendance. It was a bucolic existence for a family with young children. Scattered farms stretched west to the Everglades.

Today, those farms have been replaced by half a million homes and the largest shopping mall in the United States sprawls near the once lonely crossing where Alligator Alley met Sawgrass Road on the edge of the Everglades.

In a few short years, if we continue to glorify Floyd as an idyllic retreat, we may become the "early settlers" pointing out to our grandchildren where the last trees stood, or recalling a time when there was only one traffic light in town.

Ah, the bittersweet joy of discovering paradise.

Yes, we must tell all the story. Studies show 60 percent of city dwellers who move to the country return to the city within five years. They find the country life too limiting and they first try to bring more city amenities to their doorstep and -- failing that -- return to whence they came.

We must talk about the brutal winters, the unresponsive county government, the provencial attitudes and even the Ladybugs that cover the floors and walls. Septics back up, wells run dry and the power goes out. The doctor is 45 minutes away.

But we also must do our part to preserve the things that brought us to (or back to) the county. That means a commitment of time and resources.

Unless we do, those who came to Floyd County to find a refuge will be packing and headed for another refuge in a few short years.

Hi Fred,
I am still keeping up with the doings of my ancestral home county thru your wonderful words and pictures. Wish I had the answer. You'd think I would, since I work daily in the grind of development in rural Union County, NC, right smack up against the behemoth of Charlotte (last time we spoke I was working in Greensboro). Yes, there are still cows & strawberry fields here, even rural vistas. We do our damndest to preserve them. The result is, land prices here go for between $100K and $140K an acre, and that's this week. You think that's alot? It isn't. People all over the country think that's a steal, they just weren't born & raised in the South. As a career land use planner across 5 states in the rural south for the past 15 years, I have tried every which way I can legally to assist communities in keeping their identities intact, but the bottom line is, as long as people can subdivide and sell, we are chipping away at the foundation of that identity. We can't stop it here like they do in Britain. Here, we don't recognize that rural identity is part of our definable heritage, and it's something worth preserving for the future --we brain it to death with something called "private property rights," those things that tend to elbow aside the neighbors & smash communities to bits until they become something else, something ubiquitous, something less than they were. And, incidentally, "private property rights" are not what people think they are. Donald Ripkema gave an excellent assessment of this subject at the National Home Builders convention several years ago. To find it, search on his name.

The answer: Don't subdivide and sell. Place your land in a conservation trust, more about this at http://www.valleyconservation.org/. It's the only way. Planning Commissions and local boards & commissioners are ultimately answerable to the voting public --ask me how I know. And once you let the Yankees in, they'll vote out the natives. Be one of those the real estate people hate . The real estate artists have a derogatory expression for those who either won't put a price on their bit of earth, or price it several times above the market: "They've fallen in love their land."

Yes. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Best regards,
Susannah

The Washington Post had an article last year about urban dwellers that moved to the country only to return to the city when they decided they couldn't live without a WalMart with 5 miles.

I blogged it at http://www.odonnellweb.com/mtarchives/000822.php

I now have 2 SuperWalMarts within 5 miles of my house. Ugh.

Living on the Outer Banks I watched the change as people sold their heritage. I listen as people come here to live and complain about crab pots stacked by the hundreds in a fisherman’s yard. Comment on how old, perfectly good fishing boats tided to docks are an eye sore. Complain that they can’t build a fence past the dune because of a stupid law that says there are no private beaches. And worse of all I have watched as the price of living here has become so high that the young have to move away. We have a very serious shortage of workers here but young people cannot afford to live where they were born and raised. Fishermen are telling there kids that fishing is no life for them. The Outer Banks is losing its heritage. Of course this is the land of pirates so I guess a better term would be we are selling our heritage.