The Charlotte Observer interviews the city manager of Hickory, NC, about his views on planning and development.
"Mick Berry has been Hickory's city manager for just six weeks, and he's already been hit with one of the city's most controversial development projects in years -- a proposed Lowe's in Viewmont.
...Question: What's your philosophy of urban planning in the age of sprawl?
Answer: We don't have sprawl in Hickory. You do in Charlotte, out west in Utah and Nevada ... You try to encourage the growth where the infrastructure already exists. ... When the county (Catawba) was concerned about school capacity and it changed its ordinance requiring two-acre lots, that encouraged development to come into municipal boundaries, where the infrastructure is to some degree."
Thanks to Laura Kranz
FULL STORY: Berry: Conflict doesn't faze me
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