9000 Acres
From John Hammer at The Rhino Times:
The deal is good for the county because the land that Perkins wants to extend water and sewer service to is in unincorporated Guilford County and, according to the current annexation laws, despite the fact that it will have city water and sewer the land will not be eligible for annexation for years. So if the 9,000 acres is developed as Perkins says that it will be, the county will reap benefits in increased property taxes, but the city will only benefit from increased water and sewer revenue. Water and sewer customers whose property is not in Greensboro are charged a little more than double the rates of customers who are in Greensboro.
Perkins notes that both the new American Express data centers are in this area and that – because of the roads, fiber optic network and electrical infrastructure – this is a prime location for development. He said everything was available except providing high tech industry a way to flush their toilets, and with this agreement the city should be providing that. That corridor has some of the most reliable electrical service in the country.
Let the howls, rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth begin among the paranoid Short Bus Bloggers with their unsubstantiated charges of crony capitalism. Now Roy Carroll gets to spend his own millions, which can’t be infinite, rather than the city’s, to make his properties shovel-ready. Hopefully, he can still sell it for a profit.
Regardless of what you think of Perkins on other issues, this represents his best deal since taking office. In addition to revenue, it should provide much needed jobs for Greensboro and Guilford County. And although not while being mayor, his previous efforts to develop the aerotropolis to the west have created transportation infrastructure which will yield dividends for generations. If Perkins should live so long in this deflated economy to benefit from it, so what?
These are the kinds of deals which cause people like me to believe Perkins to be among our most visionary citizens with the clout to get big things done.
