Trying times could be ahead for Kannapolis and the Rowan Cabarrus area, according to local residents and development consultants. The Kannapolis Independent Tribune has a long article that addresses some of the concerns that locals have over the new Biotech research campus and how they believe it will affect their lives. While city leaders say that the influx of nearly 40,000 jobs will create a "rising tide" that will help those outside of the research industry, locals fear that a rising tide of property prices will effecively evict them from their longtime home.

Having witnessed this sort of development in North Carolina first hand I can say that local residents are right to worry about an influx of people and money. Chances are good that a land rush is already in full swing around the Kannapolis area with developers staking claim to what they speculate are the most lucrative locations near the new campus. However over time this speculation will creep outward through older neighborhoods and rural countryside as the demand for housing and infrastructure steadily increases.

This growth can be a boon to families who hold large parcels of land and who plan to sell that land to fund retirement or to help defray the cost of medical care. However for those who live on fixed incomes and have little property the experience will be different. As property values increase and development accelerates the tax burden of owning property will increase as will the average cost of living. Blue collar folks in the Kannapolis area who were either laid off or retired will find it hard to survive on a fixed income in such an environment.

As the article states this could very well be the thing that forces longtime residents to relocate to another area. But it's unfair to blame it entirely on the research campus. For years the Concord Kannapolis area has experienced a great deal of growth simply due to the booming economic expansion in Charlotte. The research campus will likely only accelerate and already existing trend of redevelopment and economic development in the area.