Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation


The Bedford Bulletin, Bedford, Va. January 4, 2006 LETTERS Keeping the county rural As we start a new year, there was a resounding theme in many of the letters to the editor of the Bedford Bulletin printed in 2005. That theme is that most current residents of Bedford County would like to keep our county rural and free from massive development. Our pleas have fallen on deaf ears since most of our Supervisors have approved the major development projects. A big development in Forest has been approved and Downtown Moneta/Mayberry Hills has been approved. Eventually the 122 bypass through Moneta will be similar to 221 in Forest. Some of the things Moneta residents who live south of Halesford Bridge will be facing are traffic lights, traffic congestion, air pollution and even “light” pollution. Downtown Moneta/Mayberry Hills will be a small town. Its close proximity to Smith Mountain Lake will only add to the boating dangers that already exist. In addition there is a limit to the number of people the beach at Smith Mountain Lake Park can comfortably accommodate. While developments do bring in more tax revenue, it has been proven elsewhere that the expense of providing services and infrastructure to new developments outweigh the real estate taxis collected. Ultimately this leads to a greater tax burden on everyone. Even one of our Supervisors, Dale Wheeler, admitted in a statement to the Bedford Bulletin that taxes could increase as a result of development. I would like to quote George Aznavorian, developer of Downtown Moneta/Mayberry Hills. This quote is from a full page Chamber of Commerce advertisement that appeared in the Bedford Bulletin. “Bedford County will change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 40 years.” My opinion is it will not be for the good. I would like to applaud the following who have protected their large tracts from development: Mary Patterson McGregory, 368 acres at Patterson Mill Farm; Don Layman 440 acres, Layman Farm; Anita Braun 100 acres Porter Mountain. I would like to thank the following organizations which are helping to keep our rural areas rural. They are the Western Virginia Land Trust, The Virginia Outdoors Foundation, and Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation. I would also like to thank Supervisor Roger Cheek for his opposition to a large development in Forest. Steven Woodroof Moneta