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Commissioner says maybe county should stop growing


If a county isn’t growing, maybe it’s being smart, County Commissioner Ted Godwin says. Screen capture

By Scott Bolejack

sbolejack@johnstoniannews.com | 919-424-1776



SMITHFIELD — Johnston County Commissioner Ted Godwin is having second thoughts about growth.

“We’ve often heard it said, and we’ve said it in here: If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” Godwin said during the commissioners’ morning meeting on July 18. “A lot of counties would love to have the problems we have associated with growth because they’re going backwards.”

But Godwin, a Republican and retired banker, said he had begun to rethink what he once considered a truism about growth. “Maybe not,” he said, likening the county to a business. “If you’re not growing, maybe you’re getting smarter. Maybe you’re repositioning things. Maybe you’re using your workforce better.”

Godwin said commissioners should keep that in mind as they tackle the county’s next comprehensive land-use plan. “I’m not sure that less growth, or stopping growth, is going to mean that we’re dying,” he said, suggesting that the land-use plan might favor less residential density over more. “Growth to me doesn’t necessarily mean size but maybe smarts and how you do things.”

Godwin noted that he was in banking for 40 years. “So you always think, yeah, we need to grow,” he said. “Well, what’s it doing to our quality of life? I grew up here 70-plus years ago, and a lot has changed, a lot for the good. But there’s a lot that’s not so good. We’ve got 200,000 people here that would begin to question where we’re going and what we’re doing.”

Three of those 200,000 would attend the commissioners’ evening meeting that day to bemoan the county’s rapid residential growth. Christine Livingstone of McGee’s Crossroads called for a 12-month moratorium on housing starts. Jill Parker, who lives near Four Oaks, complained that a proposed subdivision, because of an easement, would split a farm that’s been in her family for better than 200 years. Jim Weisner of Wilson’s Mills worried about the impact that an 800-home subdivision would have on the community, including its elementary school.

“I don’t know how we come to this, but maybe we need to rethink,” Godwin said, conceding that he didn’t have the answers. “But it’s been on my mind.”

“I think it’s probably on all our minds,” said Commissioner Butch Lawter, the board’s chairman.

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