YOU ARE Making a difference!

We, the Citizens of Moore County, petition the County Commissioners to stop the alarming loss of farmland to major subdivisions and urban sprawl in the unincorporated areas of the county. The county’s population has surpassed 100,000 and has increased approximately 18% since adoption of the 2013 Land Use Plan (LUP). Within the last 2 years, Moore County’s population has grown at 3% (the statewide average is only 1%). County-wide, developers seem only concerned in maximizing home densities. On March 16, Pinehurst Director of Planning, Darryn Burich, stated at the Moore 100 meeting, “There's an immense demand for single-family residential in our market, and we are starting to run out of developable lands. There's not a lot of large land tracts left out there that are zoned appropriately.”  Over development in Moore County’s unincorporated areas destroys Moore County’s agricultural heritage and ambiance and violates the spirit of the 2013 LUP, the 2012 Working Lands Protection Plan, and the Draft 2020 Land Use Plan (LUP). To this end, we petition the County Commissioners to take immediate action to recommit the county to the preservation of farmland enshrined in our 2013 LUP.  We oppose development of major subdivisions outside municipal city limits and their ETJ.  We FAVOR growing the farming community in the unincorporated areas of Moore County by creating pro agricultural policies which promote 6–11-acre family farms. Densely packed housing developments cost the county around $.15 per tax dollar collected, while farm and forestry land earn the county approximately $.62 on the dollar. Family farms will grow our county’s fiscal base, reduce traffic congestion, moderate school overcrowding, and build resiliency in our communities. Specifically, we petition the Commissioners to:  

 1. Adhere to the spirit of the 2012 Working Lands Protection Plan, the 2013 LUP, and the 2020 Draft LUP by ceasing development of agricultural land into major subdivisions; and,   

2. Suspend approval of rezoning requests of RA lands; and suspend approval of major subdivisions in unincorporated areas of our county until the commissioners can determine the impact of development on agricultural lands and update their LUP plan to provide greater protection to agricultural lands in accordance with the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Enabling Act, N.C.G.S §106-744(e).