AG19801110 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~ ~ ~, UNITED STATES DEP~.RTMENT OF COMMERCE ~ ;-~"-: ' I Office of Federal Statistical Pollc~ and Standards I O~Lober 8, 1980 Honorable W.G. (Hill) Hefner House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear ~tr. Hefner: This office and the Federal Committee on Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA's) have developed new standards for designating and defining metropolitan statistical areas in the 1980's. The standard metropolitan statistical area is designed as a statistical standard for use by all Federal agencies in the pre- sentation of data on metropolitan areas. For your information, t am enclosing several copies of a pamphlet which contains the new official standards, as well as related documents. I am writing to seek your assistance in the application of Section 6 of these standards to a potential new S~ in your congressional district. Based upon a check of the preliminary 1980 census dat~, it appears that Salisbury-Corcocd ~orth Carolina, is a3most certain to oualify as an SMSA on the basis of a Concord urhanxze~-area o~ a~e~8-~50,O00 population. Ca a~ and Rowan counties wsuld comprise the new area. However SMSA's whose'~ ..... cltzee are wxghzn 25 miles of each ether ah~ which have a specified level of intereommuting are subject to examination under Section 6 (see p. 39 of the enclosed pamphlet). As you know, Concord is 20 miles from Charlotte. In 1970 Cabarrus County had substaintial commuting interchange with the Charlotte-Gastonia S~.~A (14.52 percent), although Rowan County's was much less (3.48 percent). These data indicate that the requirements of Section 6 would probably be met if there were also support from local opinion for a combination of the two areas. Where local opinion is called for in the standards, it is always obtained through the appropriate congressional delegation. For this reason, I am writing to request your assistance in determining local opinion on this issue. In making this determination, you may want to contact local governmental officiala, as well as business and other community representatives in the two counties. If support exists then the Federal Committee would consider a request to combine the two areas into a single SMSA. If local opinion does not support a merger, then Salisbury-Concord would remain a separate SMSA, with the title Salisbury-Concord, NC. If a merger with the Charlotte area were supported, the title would be Chartotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC. One additional factor could affect the titling of the area. There is also a potential new SMSA in Rock Hill, SC comprising York County. It is possible that this area would also qualify for combination with the Charlotte-Gastonia~ NC SMSA. In the event that both Rock Hill and Salisbury-Concord were to favor a combination with the Charlotte area, Salisbury and Concord would not be repre- sented in the area title, because three city names is the maximum permitted and both Salisbury and Concord are smaller than Gastonia and Rock Hill. Hence~ the title would be Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill.