To The Editor:

I attended the recent public hearing on the Comprehensive Transportation Plan and came away confused.  First, according to the Division Engineer who manages Division 14 of the N.C. Department of Transportation, of which Macon is a part, all this hoopla about requiring a Comprehensive Plan or we’ll be cut off from road projects is not accurate.  Yet it seems that the county administration is under the impression that this is the case.

Aside from the confusion over why the plan is necessary, I’m trying to understand its purpose, which, among other things, is ostensibly to create an environment that attracts jobs. Yet, there are many provisions and recommendations that make home construction more difficult and more expensive.

Considering the current plight of the construction industry and the attendant businesses — developers, realtors, well drillers, septic system contractors, landscapers, heating and air contractors, furniture stores, carpet layers, appliance stores, appraisers, cabinet makers, surveyors, interior decorators, tile contractors and so on — one wonders why county officials would consider the recommendations included in the Plan.

To trade the possibility of attracting job creators in the future, a task that has proven to be unsuccessful in the past, for the certainty of job destruction in the here and now seems like a fools game to me.

Don Swanson

Franklin