To Plan or To Continue Not to Plan in Western North Carolina...

According to the 1990 census, North Carolina is, for the first time, more urban than rural. This change in demographic conditions has economic and natural resource implications for regional and state-wide growth management. Concerns regarding the ability of communities to effectively deal with growth management issues, particularly in the mountain area, resulted in legislative initiatives enacted by the 1991 North Carolina State Legislature. Senate Bill 917 created two study commissions to determine the need for mandated land-use planning in the mountain area of North Carolina (House Bill 1261) and for the state as a whole (House Bill 1157). Each initiative is controversial, due in part to both strongly held property-rights beliefs and misunderstandings about the role and usefulness of planning. This paper examines land-use planning issues in the mountain area of North Carolina, including the problems particular to the area, new perspectives that planning can bring to these problems, limitations placed on planning by the state and future directions for planning in western North Carolina