Owners Tommy and Anna Barbee with Brent Barbee, right, the farm manager. (Barbee Farms photo)

By ALEX GREGOR
DavidsonNews.net

N.C. Department of Transportation officials decided Wednesday not to move forward with a proposed realignment of Pitt School Road near Concord. The NC DOT’s original plan would have cut through Barbee Farms, a family run farm that supplies fresh produce for area farmers’ markets and businesses.

DOT official: Learning “what the farm means to the community” made the difference.

At a meeting in Raleigh Wednesday morning, DOT officials decided to drop their original plan and move forward with an alternate realignment. The move followed an outpouring of community support for the Barbee family and their farm.

The Barbees’ customers include many in and around Davidson who shop at Davidson Farmers Market or buy through Davidson-based Know Your Farms food buying club.

The alternate route came to be known as “Plan B” after local food activists rallied community members to oppose a realignment that would have split one of the farm’s fields, separating some of the Barbees’ best cropland from their retail, washing, and packing facilities. While “Plan B” will still claim some of the Barbees’ land, the realigned road will cut through the outskirts of their operation—not through the middle of it.

Brent Barbee, the son of owners Tommy and Anna Barbee, decided to make a career out of farming and continue what has become a family tradition. Mr. Barbee lives with his wife in a house that was built by his great grandfather. That house would have been condemned had NCDOT moved forward with the original plan for realignment. While Mr. Barbee notes that “land acquisition will be knocking on our door pretty soon now,” he says “it’s a huge lifted weight” to know that there won’t be a new road through the middle of the farm—and that he can keep his house.

At a public hearing concerning the realignment, held on Oct. 1 at Northwest Cabarrus High School, more than 20 people spoke on the Barbees’ behalf and in favor of Plan B. Speakers noted that Barbee Farms is one of the oldest farms in the area and, in addition to providing food for a number of local food markets in the area, donates a huge amount of food to hunger relief efforts in the Charlotte region.

In response to the hearing, NCDOT sent a team of engineers to the Barbees’ farm to have a first-hand look at the property. Hearing the community speak out and seeing the farm helped persuade NCDOT to change course. Project Engineer Wilson Stroud contacted the Barbees yesterday to let them know that NCDOT had chosen Plan B.

When DavidsonNews.net spoke with Mr. Stroud today, he said, “I’m glad that we were able to make this decision and move forward.” Ultimately, it was learning about “what the farm means to the community” that made the difference, he said.

Mr. Barbee told DavidsonNews.net: “Ever since we had the public hearing, I felt “cautiously optimistic,” like my dad said, that they were going to choose the other route [Plan B]. I’m glad we finally heard something [from NCDOT] so that we can quit guessing. Now we can go on and plan for the future and the betterment of our business.”
Business owner and local food activist Christy Shi played a key role in building support for the Barbees. When she heard about NCDOT’s plans, she quickly created a website as a hub for information about the issue, arranged speakers for the public hearing, and encouraged people to contact NCDOT with letters, phone calls, and emails.

Ms. Shi was impressed by the way so many people worked together on the Barbees’ behalf. Almost all of the correspondence sent to NCDOT had a positive tone that supported the Barbees, not a negative slant that criticized NCDOT. “Everyone was so polite,” Ms. Shi said. “It was like activism, southern style.”

Ms. Shi noted that some news coverage portraying this issue merely as a David-vs.-Goliath story about “saving the farm” misses the real point. She said, “the story isn’t as much about road realignment as it is about the community support. I think it’s more of a community figuring out a way to work with powers beyond their control. I think that is a really cool message” for people trying to create change.

Barry Moose, a regional engineer for NCDOT, echoed Ms. Shi’s comments. This case has been “a good example of the public involvement process working. That’s why we have public meetings. That’s why we encourage people to attend so that we can hear their sentiments.”

NCDOT is slated to begin buying right-of-way for the construction project in April of 2010 with plans to begin construction in January 2012.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Oct. 2, 2009, “Barbees optimistic DOT will alter plan for road through farm.”

Sept. 30, 2009, “State DOT plots a road through Barbee Farms.”