Is Columbia County's growth making life better?

Editor:

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In the recent Columbia County water bill there is an article titled "It's great to be in Columbia County." Well, it used to be great before the increased traffic on Washington Road made it very difficult and dangerous for neighborhoods on the right side to make a left turn onto Washington Road (because there are) no turning lanes or traffic lights from Gibbs Road to the Greenbrier School entrance. Since installing the traffic light at Gibbs Road there has been no further work to widen Washington Road.

The voters passed a bond referendum to make needed improvements for Columbia County, and for the next two years our property has been assessed thousands of dollars more than it's ever been before in neighborhoods that have been in Columbia County for many years. But Columbia County has hundreds of homes that cost much more in the old neighborhoods but are now being assessed at the current cost of land and new home construction.

Now, there is a referendum added to our special election for the U.S. House and state Senate, called a TAD referendum. This allows the Board of Commissioners to have the authority to create a Tax Allocation District (TAD). This is all about increasing property values so more tax revenues can be collected by the County Commission.

In this article there is the following statement. "We're growing so fast we've got to find a way to offset hiring new people." Why are we growing so fast? Does growth make our way of life better? What about the once-beauty of Columbia County being torn up by development and loss of wildlife refuge? Do the real estate companies put pressure on county commissioners to allow them to up property values and issue permits to developers to continue building too many homes?

Maurine Sorrell, Evans