Advocating for responsible development
By Kevin Curry
Friends of Falcon exists to help preserve the area’s unique character and identity as a harmonious rural-urban mix. A key part of that mission is advocating for responsible development.
Development is necessary to keep a community vibrant, but unbridled growth can have the opposite effect. Responsible development means implementing meaningful density transitions, ensuring compatible uses among adjacent properties and ensuring that all necessary resources, such as roads, are built at the time of development. However, as articles by Terry Stokka and Friends of Falcon in last month’s edition of The New Falcon Herald pointed out, elected officials do not always share the same commitment to responsible development. As evidence, one need look no further than recent votes on Buc-ee’s, low-income housing and jam-packed urban residential development applications.
So what can be done?
The single most effective way to advocate for responsible development is to make your voice heard. One way is to speak up at Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners meetings. If outright denial is unlikely, as it often is, ask that conditions be added to ease the impact. The more effective way, however, is through the ballot box. Political party affiliation is an unreliable indicator of positions on development. So, if preventing urban overrun is important to your vote, ask candidates about their positions or visit their websites and social media sites to find out where they stand on development, and vote your conscience. When your elected officials reflect your positions on important matters like this, the outcomes will be more likely to be favorable.
To stay abreast of information like this and other things relevant to the Falcon area, visit TheFriendsOfFalcon.org.
