Susan has a good post about preservation in her town, and the problems that build up as property gets into developers hands. I so hear this discussion. I've followed the provenance of a couple of farms in this county pretty closely. I live in a house that has only family historic value, but it is approaching a hundred-years-old, and is situated on 160 acres that is still used for agricultural purposes. It is the house my Grandma Bea grew up in, and as she was an only, and my Mom is an only, it has stayed intact through the years. However, the bulldozers are working overtime four miles down the road, as the road is widened and given turn lanes. Mom's half-mile stretches of just farm are rare: most frontages have been transformed into homes. I'm just grateful for the time I do have here. The uncertainty of the future makes now sweeter.
Now Grandma Bea's husband, Chris, also grew up on a farm, over in the next township (closer to Lansing). He was the youngest of six. His father bought him eighteen acres when he married Grandma. The farm he grew up on passed to his oldest brother, who helped take care of the parents. Uncle Wills and Aunt Tommee had a dairy farm. Development hit their township a lot earlier. Uncle Wills passed in the early 60's, and in the early 70's Aunt Tommee sold the land to mall developers, with the proviso that part of the acreage would be a township park. There is nothing left of the original farm.
Development. Progress. Or is it?
6 comments:
Do you have local government? We have town or shire councils which can zone land according to use - industrial, commercial, residential, rural, etc. Developers have to go through planning committees and obtain permission before they can do anything. Plans have to be made public and the local population can object. For instance, Maccas have never been able to get into the Dandenongs because the locals say no. Of course, that requires a council that listens to its constituents - those that don't are soon voted out though. Sometimes, though, the damage is done before this can happen. But in places like the Dandenongs there's a strong sense of community, strong environmental support, etc., so developers have to fit in with that or they get refused permission.
Just read your last post at Susan's - perhaps you'll have to buy your mother and brothers out in order to preserve what needs to be preserved.
And further.... hehe, sorry, ... people forget sometimes that food doesn't actually grow on a supermarket shelf. If farmland keep getting developed then what the hell do we eat?
**chuckle** Yeah, we have to have some land for the food, don't we!
I live under township authority. And they do have a balanced development authority. The frontages can only get subdivided so much. But the roadwork 4 miles away, at the east end of the township, is a portent of things to come, I'm afraid.
I would love to buy everyone out. The problem with that, of course, is money, and my lack thereof. There is alsoa tax issue. If Mom continues to own it, the tax rate stays low. When she no longer owns it, the rate goes high. And how we'll afford it? I just dunno.
So, I enjoy every moment here, and we'll see what comes.
Okay, what are Maccas?
Maccas = McDonalds
oh. OOOOOHHHH! Thanks!
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