Since the Asheville Citizens Times won't reports stories like this...

[Mozart271]

Originally Posted by cornbread

This kind of thing isn't new. Developers and the Floridians that are flooding in to our mountains are destroying it one mountain at a time. Something should be done before it's all gone.

Could we please not include all Floridians in this? I am a native Floridian who will be moving to Asheville within 5 years, and I plan to destroy no mountain--thanks.

[gypsychic]

That crook is NOT a Floridan - he is from New York, and moved to Florida where he ruined things there before moving to your fine state.

[Mozart271]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

That crook is NOT a Floridan - he is from New York, and moved to Florida where he ruined things there before moving to your fine state.

Figgers.

[cornbread]

Originally Posted by Mozart271

Could we please not include all Floridians in this? I am a native Floridian who will be moving to Asheville within 5 years, and I plan to destroy no mountain--thanks.

Well, you probably won't personally run the bulldozer, but what do you think is the cause of all this massive development? It's due to the stampede for mountain land by Floridians. Right many of them would like to make the N.C. mountains their own private resort and push the native people out since they believe we are not on their level.

[Mozart271]

Originally Posted by cornbread

Well, you probably won't personally run the bulldozer, but what do you think is the cause of all this massive development? It's due to the stampede for mountain land by Floridians. Right many of them would like to make the N.C. mountains their own private resort and push the native people out since they believe we are not on their level.

I don't think this is correct at all. You are mistaking "Floridians" for "greedy land developers". Floridians like me love the mountains of North Carolina (the people too) for what they are, and wouldn't change a thing. Floridians (or anyone else for that matter) who buy into the destructive developments are guilty of stupidity, and if they have a false sense of superiority, it is not restricted to North Carolinians. Believe it or not, we have many, many destructive developments right here in Florida. Our aquifer, despite hurricanes and rains, remains low, and seepage of salt water continues into freshwater systems.

Some of us Floridians are environmentally conscious and will plant trees when we move to N.C., not bulldoze anything, ever.

[LiveLoveLaugh]

And some Floridians will restore an historic 100 + year old home that may have been bulldozed, burned as a controlled fire for the fire dept. to practice on or allowed to completely deteriorate. As far as beleiving native people are not on their level....you are right! I truly deeply ADMIRE the people and the history of these beautiful mountains. I place the families that grew up here and were a part of history on a HIGHER level.

[rocketman10]

I wish the good people of North Carolina wouldn't sell the beautiful land to all those developers who do the bulldozing.

I wish the NC land owners would put their land in a conservatorship instead of selling out to the highest bidder. Preserving the beautiful mountains is of utmost importance.

Unfortunately, too many of the WNC towns don't have ordinances in place to restrict these developers from destroying many of the beautiful mountain ridges. Perhaps Cornbread, you could become an activist to make this happen?

We, the majority of us Floridians and others who move to NC do not wish to ruin the mountains nor their people.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by rocketman10

I wish the good people of North Carolina wouldn't sell the beautiful land to all those developers who do the bulldozing.

I wish the NC land owners would put their land in a conservatorship instead of selling out to the highest bidder. Preserving the beautiful mountains is of utmost importance.

Unfortunately, too many of the WNC towns don't have ordinances in place to restrict these developers from destroying many of the beautiful mountain ridges. Perhaps Cornbread, you could become an activist to make this happen?

We, the majority of us Floridians and others who move to NC do not wish to ruin the mountains nor their people.

But you are simply by moving here. The demand for the land by outsiders, and more so rich outsiders and the mega developers (The Cliffs and others) increase land values to the point that many long time land owners are simply taxed off of their land.

During the last tax reevaluation, a couple living in a very modest home (50- 60 year old 1500 sq/ft house) on 6 acres, on a modest retirement income in the Fairview area had their property revalued at over a million dollars. The taxes alone on that was probably 10 - 15% of their total income. They had worked for decades to buy and maintain where they hoped to live out their retirement. Now the can afford the "rent".

Land ownership is an illusion anyway, even if you have the a clear deed you are still renting it from local government.

[rocketman10]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

But you are simply by moving here. The demand for the land by outsiders, and more so rich outsiders and the mega developers (The Cliffs and others) increase land values to the point that many long time land owners are simply taxed off of their land.

But that is my point exactly Asheville Native. If the local communities would place restrictions and make that part of the city/county land development rules, then perhaps some of the mega developers wouldn't be able to ruin that area's community and the people living there. We don't wish that either.

Unfortunately, it's up to all NC residents to go to their councilmen and demand the changes. Also encourage the large land owners to set aside some of their land for future green areas that under no certain terms can be built upon. Conservation of the land should be explained to them and what their options are.

In Florida our community govt. can regulate how many homes are allowed to be built in a certain area along with many other restrictions. That is what NC government must do.

Please realize that it's not all "mega-rich" folks that are moving up there. Most of the FL folks have modest homes. Your normal every day Floridian loves the area the way it is.

Greed has become the norm by the developers. We don't like them either!

[jstubbspt]

Originally Posted by cornbread

This kind of thing isn't new. Developers and the Floridians that are flooding in to our mountains are destroying it one mountain at a time. Something should be done before it's all gone.

Nothing "needs to be done." Increased government invovlement, outside of the necessary law enforcement capacities when laws are broken, will just complicate the situation and make it worse. Witness the attempts to staunch the increasing rates of forclosures due to the "sub prime crisis" by the Federal Government; their efforts will help no one and merely draw out the decline that has been underway since 2006 in the early bubble areas. We're in unprecedented economic times; the Fed injected too much liquidity into the markets after 9-11 to keep the economy afloat and the boom in housing that you have seen since then is just a symptom of that. We've undergone a mass speculative bubble in real estate in this country; reality is just beginning to set in.

Just think back to circa 2000 in Asheville. How much new development was going on? Sure we had the hippies and freakniks invade downtown Asheville in the mid to late '90s, but while they scared my grandparents off from going to downtown they didn't really have an effect on inflating property values. 95% of the development seen in the mountains has occured since around 2004. The influx of outsiders really picked up during this period as construction, real estate related jobs, and home furnishing business flourished in this area. Now what's going to happen as these industries fall back to the norms, or even below normal, of the pre-bubble era?

I'm going to go out on a limb and forecast the future of WNC for the next 2-5 years. Construction and real estate related industries in the mountains are toast. I hope these folks saved some money from the good times as they will have a hard time finding jobs in the mountains to support their lifestyles. Knowing the intelligence and forethought of many in these industries however I don't believe they planned well for a rainy day, because as we all know real estate only goes up and there's always a need for 4000+ sqft homes hanging off the ass end of a mountain. With no real job base we will see a net emigration from the area; hard to believe but you've got to make money to feed yourself and pay for that pretentious Land Rover every realtor in the moutains drives. Land values will fall precipitously; in the short term however property valuations will sky rocket. We all know that that $1+ million home from the Cliffs development overlooking my grandparent's land, which they've lived on for 50+ years, automatically means they're sitting on a gold mine and should be taxed accordingly. This will be a great annoyance and cause for consternation. We'll see county commissioners booted from office over this and valuations will fall back to normal levels as the price of raw land plummets. Housing stock in the mountains is at monstrous levels and still growing. We're approaching close to 2 years inventory of homes; many of these will never be sold for occupation. On a national scale the baby boomer generation will find out they're merely paper tigers finacially and won't be able to retire in their early 60's and move to the mountains/beach. Population in the mountains will stagnate; an already poor job market will deteriorate further and while the national as a undergoes a recession similar to the stagflation of the late '70s boom areas where "everyone wants to live" like Asheville will undergo a local depression.

I very likely could be wrong on my outlook for the future, but this is what I'm planning towards. There are some major issues looming in the future for our country and it's time for certain segments of our population to grow the hell up and face the issues head on, specifically the coming implosion in medicare/medicaid which will affect my profession and social security going bankrupt. For the boomers looking for the perfect, oh so "beautiful and quaint place to retire" good luck with that. Don't come crying to me with your hands out when you can't afford your speculative albatross and there's no greater fool to sell it off to. Wow I'm long winded and bitter this evening.