GREENSBORO – I have not read the legal document in opposition to developing the town hall into an apartment complex so I can not speak to the tone, but it is clear there has been a determined effort to ignore the wishes of a significant number of home owners in Greensboro, so I am grateful that there are people taking legal action to preserve our community from this dreadful apartment project.
We are a small village with primarily single family and vacation homes for the most part filled with families that have called Greensboro home for many generations. A large apartment complex in the middle of the village in what has been historically a town building, containing our town green, should never have been considered a viable housing option. The desire to create housing need not be met with such a sacrifice to those already in residence. Given the vast number of signs all around the village I do not understand why this project hasn’t already been stopped without the need to take legal action?
The “affordable housing” Rural Edge is advocating is but one model. Please consider they are not the only source of federal funding and their notion of development is not the only option. We can do better.
What if we allowed variances to the zoning so that local landowners could develop rental housing spread out throughout the larger community on small parcels of land, like on an acre more or less? Allowing for limited growth, local land owners could apply to participate in a group effort to create affordable rental housing that could also be federally funded. With contracts creating sustainable income for the land owners and terms that would help fund the management of these properties and provide local tax revenue. It would also make sense that families should be able to invest in rental properties for their own families and have a say in the applicants seeking to rent, though having a centralized rental management would provide for the most continuity overall.
Furthermore, what if a local home building cooperative was established to build modular housing that could be built by local contractors and onsite sub-contractors? If we create a housing industry that utilizes a co-op business model, with employee ownership with federal funding to help create jobs, education and housing this could be a win-win all around. A business model that is not only a place of production but also education, where students could work and learn on the job the various building trades, and management of, graduating to work as staff, or branching out to create similar models of building modular housing, a model that could be replicated far and wide supplying much needed housing, ideally built with ecologically sustainable materials, housing that is efficient and affordable providing local jobs, education and revenue.
If the context of meeting the needs of housing is integrated into the community the benefits also stay within the community. Rural Edge may call themselves a nonprofit business but if they own our land and public domain we lose out on the opportunity to meet the needs of integrating housing in a way that truly supports our local community in all ways.
I would also suggest, if bringing children into the area is considered a vital key to sustainability, perhaps transitioning the elementary school into a Montessori school, which has an excellent track record for creating brilliant students that are widely successful adults, might be a companion plan to encourage families with young children to move here.
In addition, it would seem there is a need to create a foundation for the preservation of the town hall with funding that attends to the upkeep and presents with a plan for public use that is more in tune with preserving our community and providing opportunities for public engagement. If it is considered a tax burden to maintain this building let’s create a way that doesn’t entail giving our resources away to outside private developers.
But, first and foremost, in respect to the many residents that live in the village, and vicinity of Greensboro, that have made it clear we do not want our public domain to be turned into a massive apartment complex owned by outside private investors, please stop trying to force this issue on us and make way for an alternative means to creating affordable housing that is not so divisive, a plan that truly supports the local residents that already call this our home. With more thought and consideration affordable housing can be integrated peacefully and productively. There are other options, let’s come together and create a plan that is beneficial for us all.
