This week’s question: Should the publicly owned land around Lake Hiwassee and other areas of Cherokee County be turned over to private development?
- Yes, that’s the free market at work, and the county needs the tax dollars.
- No, those areas should be preserved for present and future generations.
- I have no idea.
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“I have to say no. The private sector can be very, very shady, and they really don’t have the best interests in mind when it comes to people. They swim on the backs of the poor, and I think that’s very sad and corrupt. I think they should keep the land for future generations and preserve it.”
Karla Pitzer, Peachtree
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“My answer is no. I think it should be kept for future generations and shouldn’t be sold. They’re just selling it off for more money for the things that they want. They’re not thinking about the future generations and what they wanna do with it. They’re just selling it off to get what the county wants at this time, like with these roundabouts and all this other stuff.”
Kim Wolfe, Martins Creek
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“No, I think it should be kept the way it is just because if they sell it off to private businesses or homes, then the access around the lake is gone. You can’t go hiking in the woods, you can’t go hunting in the woods like we can now. You won’t be able to stop your boat and have a picnic on the side of the lake somewhere because somebody’s going to have a ‘no trespassing’ sign on it. It should be preserved for the future generations, we don’t have enough of that.”
Mike Taylor, Ranger
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“No it should be left pristine for future generations to enjoy without development. It’s a beautiful area and doesn’t need to be destroyed with more development.”
Steve Riedel, Ranger
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I believe that no, the land doesn’t need to be sold to private individuals. Where I came from, it just brings in a lot of negativity to the prospering areas.
“It’s like with the crypto mine; we gave them tax breaks, it’s a private entity and I can hear the ground rumbling under my pillow at night so they can keep air conditioning running in order to keep their facility cool. It drives our market down, and their revenues up, for personal gains. The county doesn’t need that money, we need to have our lakes stay clean, not with garbage everywhere. It’ll just drive the market down.”
Todd Duval, Murphy