Open Space

I grew up in a small lake front home in the suburbs of Minneapolis, where I could enjoy swimming, boating, and fishing. I would visit my grandparents who lived in a rural farming community, and was introduced to farm life. I spent many summers in my youth camping in the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota. As a young Cub Scout, I went on hikes in nearby parks and natural areas. I developed a deep appreciation of nature, agriculture, and the real value a variety of local open spaces can give a community.

This appreciation of natural areas, parks, farmland, and rural living attracted me to Southern Wake County and my home in Fuquay-Varina. We have many working farms, large stretches of still natural land, and several parks that add greatly to our quality of life. But as all of North Carolina grows, these sources of critical open space we all enjoy are under great pressure.

Farm lands appraised in the same way as nearby sub-divisions of high demand suburban homes create large tax burdens for our working farmers. These high values can also make it difficult to pass along local family farms from generation to generation. As I listen to the many farmers I will represent in Southern Wake County, I hear their concern that soon the only crop they can afford to plant is houses.

We are also running short of natural and park space. Often, the few open space requirements we have for development are waived and bought off. However, these “land banks” are getting near worthless as local land values continue to skyrocket. And if every acre is built on and paved, what space is left to buy for parks and natural areas? Additionally, Wake County’s best hope for a future large urban park, the Dix property, still is under threat of sale and/or development.

We need to commit to supporting our local farms and working farmers, putting teeth into our preservation of nearby open spaces for parks and natural preserves, and protecting all of the Dix property for a future as a world class destination park.