Regarding Loudon County Growth

I lived in Colorado on and off for 30 years. I moved here last year from Colorado. I certainly understand the difficulty of finding a place to live here. And I know it's gotten worse finding a place recently. With that being said, I will caution you heavily about growth and over-development. I may be the new guy here in this community, but I moved here to Loudon County because of how pretty it is, how rural it feels, and because of a low population in comparison to a larger city.  I wouldn't care if Loudon County stayed the way it is right now for the next 20 years.

What Loudon County has is what America needs. People need to slow down and enjoy the rural beauty. The town I came from in Colorado used to be like Lenoir City (size in comparison to its surrounding areas) and the city was separated from the larger cities by county land and farm land. Now it's California. It's horrible. Buildings popping up everywhere. It grew over the last decade but most of the growth happened in the last couple of years. It was no longer a small town feel and it became burdensome and cumbersome to live there.  Don't destroy Loudon County. It's special the way it is. 

This will be my first time attending a meeting ever. I sat by quietly for decades in Colorado as the city and county destroyed that area. I just kept assuming or hoping that these were 'elected officials' that knew what was best. Along with their policies, corruption/money/special interests certainly played a role indeed. The reason I'm speaking up now is because I don't want Loudon County to become what I fled from. It worries me. This is a wake up call to you guys.  I know what happens when it grows too quickly or too much. And it can't be undone at that point. It doesn't just change the land. It changes the people. It changes the community. The people here that don't like the change will leave. And the people that are moving here won't know any different or won't care so it won't affect them in a negative way. 

What will happen as growth happens is that more people will come, more traffic will occur, travel times will get longer, people will get angrier and stressed out, road rage will occur, kindness will diminish.  A trip to the store half a mile away will be a 20 minute drive and it won't be a peaceful drive. People will be so busy and distraught that they won't know their neighbors, they won't have time to know their neighbors, they won't care to know their neighbors. I've lived it. Like a frog in the pot, I didn't even know any better until it came to where I realized I was unhappy all the time, I had no quality of life, etc. I think you see my point.

Since my wife and I got married, we lived in Colorado for about 10 years. We have met more friends here and formed more relationships with people in just a few months of living here vs the entire decade that we lived in Colorado. The people here are real. The people here are kind and caring. Loudon County needs to continue to be a slow-paced area with real, laid-back people. That will all change with over-development. I guarantee it. Imagine living on one of the grass medians over in the Turkey Creek shopping area. I kid you not, that is the living environment that I fled from. No trees, no land..... just buildings, concrete, and cars (and this wasn't even a suburban area of Denver). Along with that comes the traffic regulations, fines, corrupt police officers, over-regulation. Some of it is to pay for all the growth, some of it just naturally occurs because there are too many angry people everywhere and the government doesn't know what to do other than regulate and fine people.

Don't turn this place into California. Please. I'm begging you. 

A closing thought that is relevant to me. I spent the last 10 years or so being pretty overweight. I lost 50 pounds within 7 months of moving here. I drink less, I eat better, I have such little stress here! The quality of life here has actually improved my health. 

Doug