In terms of the “cows don’t go to school” argument, I’ll repeat Dennis Rooker’s response that it is bogus economics. The question you have to ask yourself is what happens when that land is finally developed? Sure, it may have sat out there for twenty years as open space under land-use, but suddenly developing it all at once causes a huge tax burden and makes planning near impossible. If it had been gradually subdivided over twenty years the cost to the public would be far less, since roads and other infrastructure woudfl be expanded gradually. Instead, developers wait until the market is at the highest point of demand (while being subsidized by taxpayers to do it) then create a situation where overnight the county has to pay for more roads, schools, water and fire services. This is effectively what is happening with Buscuit Run. So… the end result is that cows and “unused farmland” don’t save the county money when the ultimate plan is to put families on it that will drive cars and have kids that do go to school.