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ELBA will be presenting a series of articles regarding issues affecting our East Lincoln Community. We kick off the first in this series with an article discussing the county Land Use Plans

A better way to word the subject title may be: “Why do you need a road map when you travel to somewhere you have not been before?” A road map is a guide that tells you the directions on how to get to your desired location and gives you the principal road information or "action items" such as mileages, points of interest, etc. so you can organize your trip. It provides you with not only the road information, but allows you to choose your route, whether it be the quickest way using the shortest streets to arrive at your destination or the most relaxed way using rural roadways for travel to see some of the sights you may not have seen before. Whatever the case, a road map is probably one of the many most used tools travelers rely upon to get to where they want to go.

Picture our Lincoln County Land Use Plan as a similar type of “road map” to take the residents of Lincoln County to where we want to go in the next 10 years. It allows you to choose your route and rate of speed in order to get to the desired location, and gives a list of “action items” or “guiding principals” that all citizens could consider in working toward our destination. The Plan, similar to a “road map” is intended only to serve as a guide for future growth and development within Lincoln County. It is moreover meant to also serve as a good guide for our elected officials, Planning Board, and municipal staff to study and provide a foundation for just how the residents of Lincoln County want to travel down that “road” of development.

Our “road map” recommends 10 “guiding principals” on how all of County citizens would best benefit the burgeoning growth continuing to come our way:

The East Lincoln Betterment Association (ELBA) is pleased to announce the official renaming of the new hwy 16/73 Lowe's from Lowe's of South Lincoln, to Lowe's of East Lincoln. The official corporate name for this new store was to be Lowe's of South Lincoln. ELBA sent a letter of concern to Larry Stone, COO, of Lowe's, at the Mooresville headquarters expressing concern over the stores name and asked that Lowe's change the stores name to one better reflecting the community is serves.

In a letter to ELBA dated July 30th, 2007, Gary Wyatt, Senior Vice President of Real Estate, Construction and Engineering, confirmed that Lowe's management had reviewed the request and, have approved an official corporate name change from Lowe's of South Lincoln to Lowe's of East Lincoln.

ELBA thanks Lowe's for this accommodation and ELBA appreciates the consideration and understanding shown by Lowe's in accommodation our East Lincoln community and welcome them as an integral part of our community family.

The East Lincoln Betterment Association is a community based service organization working to better the quality of life for all East Lincoln residents and is membership driven.

What is happening regarding the construction projects along the hwy 73 corridor? ELBA is looking into the construction scheduled and the delays in completing the projects between hwy's 16 and the new hwy 16 connector. There is concern in ELBA membership that the agreements on style and materials of a number of these projects are not being executed as originally presented. A full report will be presented shortly.

With the Summer Doldrums coming upon us, the ELBA board is utilizing June and July as our planning months. We will be setting our fall and Winter general meeting schedules and ELBA will be participating in the July DABA fireworks festivities.

The next ELBA General Meeting the third Thursday of August, the 23rd. We expect to have an exciting lineup of events and meetings scheduled for the community. Emails will go out doing this period however to keep the community appraised of any events that are affecting our residents. Election years are exciting times for ELBA and '08, with its major US candidates up for reelection, will prove to be one of our most exciting to date.

ELBA will continue to send our Email newsletters throughout the summer to provide current information for our membership and community. ELBA will also continue its support of the Neighborhood Community Notification email system. ELBA feels this is a vitally important tool to provide our community with the best and most current information on projects and issues that impact our residents.

2007 ELBA Board

President
Lester Poole
Vice-President
   George Arena
Treasurer
   Martha Tide
Secretary
   Jack LaPointe
Immediate
Past President
   Peter Browne

Board Members
   Brian Moates
   Rose Marie Poppler
   Marshall Digh
   Tom Campbell
   Brad Champion
   Wayne Vinzant

Dues are $25.00 per couple at one address. ELBA does not accept corporate memberships or Government funding.

ELBA Website

www.elbanc.org

Mailing Address

ELBA
PO Box 920
Denver NC 28037

Membership Renewals are now DUE

Everything that ELBA does is dependent upon our membership dues. ELBA has no other source of income. We do not solicit business or government funds. The scholarships we give yearly, the dinners we present, the meetings and the support we offer in assistance of the community are all derived from the monies we receive each year from our paying members.

Our General meetings are open to both membership and the general public. All are welcome, however, if you attend the ELBA General Meetings, and are not a member, your support by becoming a member will go a long way in showing your support of the East Lincoln community, at only $25.00 per couple, an ELBA membership also a great value.

Renewals may be mailed to:

ELBA
PO Box 920
Denver NC 28037

Or via the ELBA PayPal account from our website at www.elbanc.org

Lincoln Co. Sheriff and District Attorney to Speak at ELBA Meeting

Is Law Enforcement Ready for Growth in Lincoln County?

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ELBA's May Meeting will be held tomorrow PM, Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 7:00PM in the main fellowship hall of the Unity Presbyterian Church, 8210 Unity Church Rd, Denver. As always, this meeting is open to the general public. Please forward this email to any neighbors or friends in the area and invite them to attend.

There has been a great deal of discussion lately on the need, timing and cost of new resources for the Sheriff’s Department and the Courts in Lincoln County. The growth of the region and cultural changes across the county have had a significant impact on crime and enforcement in this area. The issue, evidenced by the apparent growth in felony cases and drug trafficking, begs the question, is law enforcement ready for the extraordinary growth we are currently experiencing and which will only intensify with the opening of the Hwy 16 bypass and Wal-Mart.

Sheriff Tim Daugherty and District Attorney Rick Schaffer will be our featured speakers at the May ELBA Meeting. The Sheriff and District Attorney will discuss the current state of their respective organizations and the impact of the dramatic growth in Lincoln County on law enforcement. There will be a special presentation on how to set up a Community Watch program that will be of particular importance to local neighborhoods.

This should be a very important and informative meeting. ELBA continues in its role as a conduit and forum to deliver vital information to the community, thereby empowering progress and ensuring the quality of life in East Lincoln County. All interested residents concerned about the need for increases in law enforcement and court system resources are urged to attend. Questions from the audience will be encouraged.

We encourage all recipients of this notice to attend and forward this email to other friends living in the East Lincoln and Iron Station townships. This is a very important meeting regarding the safety of our families.

Talent Search is still ongoing

Your Community Needs YOU! ELBA needs community residents that can give back to the community. These talented folks are needed as content providers for the ELBA newsletter, article editors for media campaigns and to develop written content and provide images for ELBA's website. ELBA also needs reviewers who can clip or copy news articles of importance to East Lincoln and assist in research of areas of interest to assist the Board in its communications with government and Commerce. This, year All of these can use assistance from ELBA's community membership.

ELBA and your community would really appreciate the talents any retired editors that can create content for our website and newsletter communications. We can also use members that can research and report on various community concerns. Please help, contact Lester Poole if you feel giving back to your community would be a way of helping your neighbors.

Communication is the KEY

ELBA will continue to develop its community out reach capabilities as it is vital to the communities best interest that it be able to respond quickly and with a common voice when faced with issues that are not in East Lincoln's best interest. Communication will allow the community to voice its wishes through many different venues. In doing so, we can insure that our voice is not only heard, but respected and appropriate action is taken to resolve East Lincoln concerns in the most satisfactory manner.

Membership Renewals are DUE

Your 2007 Membership fee is now due. We thank those that have already sent theirs in an ask that those that have not, please do so at their earliest convenience. Renewals may be mailed to: ELBA, PO Box 920, Denver NC 28037, or you may join as a subscription with automatic renewal via our PayPal account located on our website at www.elbanc.org, Your support is appreciated.

NCN . . . the newly instituted Neighborhood Community Notification network

Commissioner Jim Klein will present the new NCN at this meeting. The NCN is a way to quickly notify neighborhood homeowner associations and community residents groups of zoning and other changes that may impact their neighborhoods and communities. If you are part of a HOA or residents group and are not affiliated with the NCN you need to do so to benefit from this program. Commissioner Klein will be available for questions after the meeting.

"Communication and Information are the Keys to

Our future"

ELBA's General Meeting on Sewer and Water Issues, held Thursday, February 22nd, 2007, update

Here is a brief recap of the April ELBA General Meeting for those unable to attend. We had an attentive audience of engaged and interested community residents. Commissioners Marie Moore, Bruce Carlton and Jim Klein were in attendance along with several media representatives. County Commission Chair, Tom Anderson, led the presentation.

Much detailed information was presented about what the District is, how it came about, how its funded and what the future holds for the Sewer District. We also learned of the problems encountered by the District in its implementation and by changes in the way the state figures capacity, how the capacity is figured to meet future growth and current construction plans and time tables. County Commission Chair, Tom Anderson, County Manager, Stan Kiser and County Director or Public Utilities did an excellent job in their presentation. The audience was well engaged asking numerous important and substantive questions, all of which were well answered.

From the feedback from attendees, the meeting hit the mark on answering the concerns of the attendees. Steve Gilbert was kind enough to allow ELBA to post his presentation to our website for those unable to attend. ELBA encourages members to attend our General Meetings. It is this participation that allows ELBA to empower its membership as active participants in our communities future. You may access the Sewer Presentation at our website at;

The membership approved two changes to the ELBA bylaws. The primary change broadened the scope of ELBA's community involvement from Catawba Springs Township to include "and surrounding areas" due to the rapid Westward development. The second change added the position of "Immediate Past President" as a Board of Directors position. This one year position was felt necessary to allow the smooth and knowledgeable transition in the executive board. Peter Browne is our first Immediate Past President.

We are in discussions to finalize the meetings presenters. ELBA holds a minimum of four General Meetings per year on issues of concern for the East Lincoln community and may hold more if the need presents itself. Once we have all the details for a March meeting finalized, we will send out an e-Notice on its agenda. We should have this finalized shortly.

Members, we could really use several folks who love to write to help with content for our website and various newsletters. There is so much to do in an organization such as ELBA and over the next two years communication is going to be very key in ELBA's growth. If you love to write and are skilled with a pen, please email Lester Poole. We would really appreciate your help.

Folks, I really can't tell you how important it is to grow ELBA. If each member would find one other new member this year we could greatly increase the support we offer the community. Look at it this way, ELBA gives four high school scholarships per year to outstanding students in East Lincoln. This is an expenditure of $800 dollars yearly. By doubling our membership base, we could greatly expand on our scholarship program and broaden our base community support. Let's challenge each member of ELBA to step up to the plate and enlist that one new member this year.

Our promise is to educate and communicate and in doing so allow our membership to be engaged in our community and empower our community to control the direction of its future. ELBA also has an open door policy that invites any East Lincoln residents to contact us with their concerns and questions. Well thought out and constructive comments are always welcome.