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By Mike Barnhardt

Enterprise Record

County commissioners are often faced with rezoning decisions that are difficult to decide.

They hope to alleviate some of that difficulty, starting with an Aug. 29 meeting to discuss future growth and dev elopment in Davie County. That meeting is from 1-5 p.m. in the board’s meeting room on the second floor of the county administration building.

For board member Brent Shoaf, some clarification of what county residents actually want is needed.

“We need to really determine what we want and what we do not want,” he told fellow commissioners on Monday evening. The board needs to be deliberate in deciding ways to “keep what we have” and still grow to meet the growth pressures that will come just because of where the county is located.

The county, he said, especially needs to work with towns, especially when it comes to growth on NC 801 on either side of Bermuda Run, and along US 601 North in Mocksville.

Growth along Farmington Road at I-40 also needs to be discussed, he said, suggesting the county create a point along Farmington Road where no more major development would be allowed. The same would go for US 601 North in Mocksville, he said.

And there’s US 158, which begins in Mocksville and travels 10-11 miles through Bermuda Run.

“I believe the overwhelming majority of Davie County citizens do not want to see this corridor morph into our very own South Stratford Road,” Shoaf said.

People are also concerned that developers are allowed to skirt “the spirit” of the county’s zoning regulations, he said.

“We need to maintain as much of our rural character as possible. Some areas need to be developed quite a bit, and others areas need to be left alone.”

The county, he said, could lead large land owners and farmers who want their land to remain rural to land trust or conservation easements.

“Growth is inevitable, but let’s do our best.”