Invisible Hands Make Evil Magic

 

A provision tucked into the proposed budget passed by the North Carolina House of Representatives last week would apply only to Buncombe and to Watauga counties. The provision would create an exemption from local codes for state building projects at UNC-Asheville and Appalachian State University -- only, of all the universities in the state.

According to Jack Evans in the Asheville Watchdog, the exemption provision first applied uniquely only to UNC-A; Watauga got added mysteriously as "part of a package" when the bill went through amendments in the House Appropriations Committee.

There's currently a controversy going on in Buncombe over UNC-A's administration's announcement earlier this year that it will seek to tear down a wooded area on campus in pursuit of an as-yet-unannounced project, which triggered a movement among Asheville voters to quash the development via zoning laws. Oops. This secret budget provision takes care of that -- by rendering public opinion, let alone local development ordinances, of no consequence whatsoever.