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Locals in developing towns are generally on board with new schools, restaurants, and other infrastructure — until realizing that building a trendy new local bar means having a rock den in their background.
Enter: “Disamenities”…
These increasingly problematic location-based drawbacks are causing tension in growing communities.
In general, people demand improvements and expansion of local buildings and roads, yet they resist the emergence of local resource pools (landfills, rock mines, etc.) necessary to deliver on those demands.
Quarries are a particular source of rockiness, since they usually sit near residential zones in order to curb high transport costs and pollution.
Take Raleigh, for example
The North Carolina capital highlights the rise of disamenity animosity. Faced with booming construction demand and dwindling rock resources, mining company Wake Stone inked a land lease with the local airport authority to extend its old, worn-out quarry into fresh land.
The problem? The wooded area in question borders a popular public park and several mountain biking trails — a revelation that caused the outdoorsey Raleigh residents to respond with a collective, “Oh, hell no.”
The ensuing quarry quarrel has become a political hot button
Local environmentalist groups and bikers have pushed back on the plans through fundraisers, a lawsuit, and a petition signed by more than 20k people.
The ironic part? The fired-up residents are living and driving along infrastructure largely built from — you guessed it — local quarry rock.
Therein lies the paradox of disamenities
Residents want reduced congestion and new entertainment options, but they fight the material sourcing — putting landowners and city officials between a rock and a hard place.