Development boom could be hazardous to pristine mountain communities

Here's a shocker: People will pay big bucks for breathtaking views. But sometimes it is the general public that suffers the consequences.

Case in point: The beautiful mountain towns of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock and the area around Lake James.

These areas, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times, boast "green mountains, flush with cool breezes and soaring birds"; the namesake lakes offer "idyllic vistas, swimming and fishing to scores of visitors." But people are willing to pay upwards of $1 million -- for just a lot.

But that comes with a cost.

In recent years, says this article, lakeside development has, in some cases, sparked efforts to protect public access to the water and fragile environment and to shape development so it considers both the environment and the local economy.

It's a particularly delicate balance for a region where "building boom" is on the tip of nearly every resident's tongue.

"Obviously, Lake Lure is growing leaps and bounds like it never has before," Lake Lure Mayor Jim Proctor, town native and real estate agent, said recently. "That's certainly a boon for the economy, but it's certainly something the town has to pay attention to and not let it get overboard." ...

North Carolina is a state with a natural resource heritage like very few others. There are just a handful of places where you could conceivably drive from the coast to the mountains in one day.

But the attractions that many of us grew up enjoying, especially in the mountains, are being tossed by the wayside because of pressure from developers. The blue-collar worker's family will find it almost impossible to be able to take his kids for a week's vacation in the mountains to enjoy Tweetsie Railroad or an outdoor drama or even a day at Lake Lure's beach. Is it no shock that mountain real estate is going the way of beach real estate?

"It leaves most of us speechless," Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina Executive Director Susie Hamrick Jones told the Citizen-Times. "People are just speechless about how fast and how high the land values have risen."