Neighborhoods, beware of rezoning requests

Today, at 5 pm, City Council will hear the Planning Board’s recommendation to approve the rezoning request set forth by Catawba College.

Please be aware that families are living in the homes that the college seeks to rezone from residential zoning to IC (Institutional Campus). Their homes may be rezoned as they live in them. This is within the legal reach of the city and in alignment with the city’s Vision 2020 master plan. No official statement has been given as to how this “alignment” will set forth the slow erosion of an existing neighborhood that Vision 2020 also sets as a priority.

Please know that there is not a person within our neighborhood that does not want nor hope to see Catawba College grow. But that growth simply cannot come at the expense of the people that live in the neighborhood — which began before the college relocated here years ago.

If the council approves this rezoning, it will set a precedent for other corporations, businesses, etc., to seek rezoning of homes within neighborhoods surrounding their sites and/or future sites for development.

Like many small towns, our city is experiencing shifts in socioeconomic standing. Crime rates, home values and the recent health evaluation are just a few areas of concern. It seems that voting to rezone a portion of an existing neighborhood should be intensely scrutinized by our city leaders.

A sense of ownership of the city in which one lives is imperative for vitality, which in turn spurs support and growth of said city. Eroding a neighborhood through development does not produce a sense of ownership by citizens within the city.

Please preserve our neighborhoods. Please stand by the stated goals in the 2020 Vision Plan and show that you value neighborhoods and the citizens that live in them.

— Renee MacNutt

Salisbury

The writer is a member of Neighbors of Catawba Heights.

Be careful with columns

The Post seems to be using more Washington Post columns these days and I would caution you be more careful. The Washington Post writers are so liberal and unbalanced in their reporting of political news that you will lose some of your Rowan county readers.

— Stacy Walser

Salisbury

Editor’s reply: The Washington Post pieces are from a variety of writers with different perspectives — including, on Monday, President Trump.