Rural character should be preserved

sept. 13, 2005

Spectrum\Jarel Vinduska

The Sept. 4 Frontiersman contained a story about the Meadow Lakes comprehensive plan. My home area on Lazy Mountain is also grappling with producing a plan for our area, so it's interesting to see how others are progressing.

It is nice to hear that Meadow Lakes residents desire to preserve their rural lifestyle. Respondents to Lazy Mountain survey were also 95 percent in favor of keeping our area rural. However, the big question is, how do you accomplish this with increasing economic pressure to divide the land into smaller pieces?

Certainly with an ever-increasing population, having no plan is a recipe for disaster. Meadow Lakes hopes that a 2.5-acre minimum lot size will be the answer to preserving rural character.

People will disagree as to what human carrying capacity the land can accommodate and still be considered rural. Personally, I don't think that a home on every 2.5 acres even comes close. A population of that density demands sewer, water, gas, paved roads, etc. Of course, these services require higher taxes. This starts a chain reaction that forces people to sell larger properties because they can't afford the taxes and other assessments.

Rural character is synonymous with open space - space for native vegetation and wildlife, space for watershed protection, clean air, farms, livestock, uncluttered roads and landscapes. Space is needed for all the reasons people want to live in rural areas.

Most importantly, space is needed for freedom, because a close neighbor might not be willing to tolerate land uses that might be considered obnoxious - like gunfire, barking dogs or even how you build your house. Personal freedom is always lost in direct proportion to increased population density.

I believe that many people don't fully understand the ramifications of crowding. They know they like rural character, but because of short-term thinking or financial bias, they often don't realize how less desirable their area will be when the surrounding undeveloped properties are fully occupied.

A comprehensive plan by definition is a vision for the future of an area. If our stated goal is to preserve the rural lifestyle we enjoy, we need to think more long term than our society is accustomed to.

Historically, limiting lot size seldom accomplishes the intended result, either because the lot size is way too small to start with or the size is reduced later in response to political pressure. We need to slow urban sprawl by allowing high-density home sites in planned urban areas. We should protect rural areas by low-density planning.

Low density should not be looked at as a mechanism to shut people out. It's just recognizing the reality that there is a limit on the number of people who can occupy a rural area and still maintain the quality of life that attracted people there in the first place.

Conservation development and lot clustering are development techniques that apply to the protection of rural areas or the preservation of open space. These techniques appear to be working well in other parts of the country.

In conservation development, the potential yields of lots in a given parcel to be subdivided are determined by the planned density permitted in the area. Features on the site such as good farmland soil, wetlands, stream or wildlife corridors or steep slopes are preserved as open space, while development is clustered in areas that are less destructive to develop.

The advantage of this concept for developers is less cost for infrastructure due to shorter access roads, power lines and condensed service areas. The developer may have fewer lots to sell because of density restrictions, but the properties would be more valuable. Potential buyers would recognize the value and security provided by adjoining deeded greenspace that would be part of their subdivision.

I think it would be irresponsible to ignore the numerous examples of areas that have been ruined because of similar rapid, unplanned growth like we are experiencing. In fact, many of us are refugees from such areas. We need to be open to any ideas that would help protect what we have here. There are not many places left like this Valley.