The best route to the future?

The pace of growth and the fate of Lewisville-Clemmons Road top the list of issues in the race for three seats on the Clemmons Village Council.

The race features three incumbents -- Mary Cameron, Al Harbury and Chris Jones, and three challengers -- Sharon Coburn, Jack Ingle Jr. and Darrell Roark.

Cameron, 66, has been on the council for 16 years. She said this election gives voters a chance to decide between two different paths for Clemmons' growth. She said she believes that Clemmons is on a positive path and that it is a great place to live that can only get better.

"I see a lot of things coming down the road I'm excited about," she said.

The other path supports slower growth, she said.

She said there are problems that need to be dealt with, such as traffic issues along Lewisville-Clemmons Road, and she said that the council should work with business owners to come up with creative solutions.

An interim plan for improving the road calls for adding a median between Interstate 40 and Stadium Drive. Cameron said she would support that only if it could be shown that it improved safety without limiting access to businesses too much.

Coburn, 39, is making her first run for public office. She said she would support a median as an interim fix.

"It would help traffic flow and keep people safe," she said.

Coburn said she has been involved in village-planning issues in the last several years and is running because she feels she could be more effective if she was a council member.

She said that the council's biggest issue will be the recommendations from citizens involved with developing the comprehensive plan, which is expected to be completed early next year.

The council will have much influence over how that plan is implemented, and Coburn said that past councils have not done a good job following earlier guidelines, such as the Clemmons Area Development Guide.

Harbury, 78, is running for his second term on the council. He said he sees a lack of a sense of community and a lack of spirit in Clemmons, and believes that the council can take steps to turn that around.

"I think the place needs uplifting," he said.

He said that the business district south of I-40 needs work because it is facing obsolescence as businesses move north of the interstate. He said he would like the village to apply for grant money to build sidewalks and perhaps add landscaping to the area.

Ingle, 62, is a commercial real-estate broker who has served five years on the village's planning board, including the last two as chairman. This is his first run for public office.

Ingle said he would like to see more managed growth in the village, which is estimated to have grown about 20 percent over the last 10 years.

"I think we need to look at the services we need to provide," he said.

Ingle has been the planning board's liaison to the comprehensive-plan steering committee. He said he would work to keep the tax rate the same. Any spending on comprehensive-plan projects should go to a public vote in a referendum, he said.

Jones, 68, has been on the council for 12 years. He said the next council will have a big responsibility in reviewing and setting priorities for the comprehensive plan when it is completed.

"The council has to say, ‘Which direction do we want to go?'" he said. He said he preferred to keep taxes low and would look to bond measures as a possible way to pay for larger projects, if they are approved.

He said he would need to see the details of any proposed median on Lewisville-Clemmons Road before he could determine whether it would be a good idea. He said that the village might be able to buy some right of way from businesses on the road and then reduce the number of curb cuts.

Roark, 59, said he decided to run as a way of paying back the community for the support he got when his house burned down in 2006.

He said he supports slower growth in the village and maintaining the current tax rate.

He said he knows several people in Clemmons who have lost jobs who would be hurt if taxes increased.

"We have everything in Clemmons that anybody could want," he said.

Harbury was a founder of the Pro-Active Citizens of Clemmons and was one of four candidates endorsed by the group in 2007. All four won their races, including Mayor John Bost. Coburn is also a past president of the group.

The group is not making endorsements for the 2009 campaign, Coburn said.

A seventh council candidate, Christopher Shandra, dropped out of the race last month and will not be on the ballot.

Bost is running for re-election unopposed.

Council members serve four-year terms, except for the lowest vote-getter, who serves for two.

pgarber@wsjournal.com


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