DOBSON — A public hearing is set for Monday night on an updated document that will dictate how land is used in Surry County.
The hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. in the Commissioner’s Meeting Room at the Surry County Government Center in Dobson.
The document, Land Use Plan 2020, is designed to address emerging land use issues and conservation strategies.
It is being updated to include current economic factors, Planning Director Kim Bates said recently.
The county’s current plan, Land Use Plan 2015, was adopted by the Surry County Board of Commissioners in October 2006.
Frequent updates to the county’s comprehensive land use plan are encouraged by many state and federal agencies, Bates said, and that information can factor into grant money for prospective businesses.
The proposed plan takes the current economic climate into account, and tightens down on the amount of land designated rural growth areas, according to the planning director.
“The idea is that times are tighter economically,” he said. “Money is tighter so we’re reducing the acreage available for commercial development because the county might not be able to provide water, sewer and other services to such large areas like those in the existing plan.”
The plan, which was presented to the county commissioners earlier this year and has been available for public viewing, constricts rural growth areas, updates the small area plans and takes into account economic factors including:
• The 60 percent decline in manufacturing jobs in the county since 2000.
• The doubling of the unemployment rate since 2004.
• The slowing of residential development.
While the plan could be changed based on public comment, the county board could vote to approve it immediately following the public hearing.
Reach Keith Strange at kstrange@heartlandpublications.com or 719-1929.
2) Agenda 21 is the global blueprint of implementation for Sustainable Development devised by the United Nations and was signed by 178 world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.
3) Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 call for a complete re-orientation of the world system of governance in every area in which human impacts on the environment.
4) Sustainable Development, like Communism or Fascism, is a doctrine or philosophy of governance complete with its own agenda, beliefs, and goals.
5) On June 29th, 1993 President Clinton signed Executive Order 12852 creating The President’s Council on Sustainable Development. This step began the full-scale implementation of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development within the United States of America.
6) Sustainable Development is entrenched throughout our government at every level from federal, state and regional agencies to county, city and community councils and planning boards.
7) Sustainable Development or “Sustainability” is often promoted with the environmental message of “going green”, or “being a good steward” but in reality there is actually a much, much deeper political philosophy of control and governance at work.
8) Sustainable Development is a political philosophy that is built upon three pillars. These three pillars are known as the “3E’s”, or “the triple bottom line”. The three pillars of sustainable development are Ecological Integrity, Economic Prosperity and Social Equity.
9) Sustainable Development demands that the perfect balance of “the triple bottom line” be the deciding lens through which all community development, growth, and decisions are viewed. All growth which fails to achieve this perfect balance is considered unsustainable.
10) Communities are being drawn down the path of Sustainable Development by the lure of numerous monetary grants and incentives from state and federal government agencies as well as non-governmental organizations.
11) Sustainable Development views traditional capitalism and the American way of life as a failing and inequitable system that must be replaced with a new governance system in order to achieve sustainability and a just world.
12) An overwhelming number of businesses and corporations have began shifting to a Sustainable Development operational model and in so doing have rejected the traditional “bottom line” of American Capitalism replacing it with the “triple bottom line” of United Nations Sustainable Development.
13) Almost every College and University in the nation has become indoctrinated with the philosophy of Sustainable Development. From campus infrastructure and administration to student life and the curriculum America’s Colleges and Universities are awash in this radical, collectivist philosophy.
14) The philosophy of Sustainable Development calls for a complete change in the lifestyle of the average American citizen. Numerous aspects of normal American life are subject to intense scrutiny under this radical new philosophy. Where and how we build our homes, what products we use, which foods we eat, what and how much we consume, and which methods of transportation we choose, are just a few examples of American life that United Nations Sustainable Development seeks to bring under its controlling grasp.
15) Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 promote a paradigm shift in attitudes away from the norm of national borders and individual nation-states toward a globalist, collective, one-world, interdependent, and interconnected planetary mindset.
16) Sustainable Development philosophy teaches that mankind is living beyond the “carrying capacity” of the Earth and that we are in the midst of multiple crises that are converging to create conditions that are not livable unless they are halted by a rapid global transition to a sustainable development system. Some of these perceived crises include overpopulation, global poverty and wealth inequality, manmade global climate change, and rampant environmental destruction.
17) Across our nation numerous communities of all sizes are putting into place the radical policies of Sustainable Development and United Nations Agenda 21. From new comprehensive land use plans, to smart growth, and sustainable community planning, the ideas and infrastructure of Sustainable Development are being implemented and added to daily.
18) The policies of sustainable development and Agenda 21 seek to change the way people live and build their cities and towns. Sustainable Development promotes high density, urban, pedestrian oriented, low carbon, walkable communities and discourages traditional American automobile usage, suburban lifestyles and development.
19) The Sustainable Development philosophy perceives the automobile and the ongoing use of fossil fuels as unsustainable.
20) In addition to the high level efforts within the United Nations and other similar globalist organizations, much of the work in promotion of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is being carried out by a massive network of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). These organizations have been fully consumed by this radical collectivist philosophy and are working overwhelmingly to advance the Sustainable Development Agenda.
21) Sustainable Development and the implementation of Agenda 21 are not some far off future possibility. In fact, America and the world are in the midst of what the sustainable development movement calls “the great transition” to a sustainable new model of living.