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Our General Assembly just killed a bill which would have required Colorado cities and counties in excess of a certain size to set up master plans to channel growth.
That was somewhat surprising, since it was sponsored by a Republican, Sen. Bryan Sullivant of Breckenridge. He warned that if the GOP-dominated legislature doesn't act to control growth, then we will see initiatives from the public that developers might hate even more than his bill.
Chaffee County has been enduring a fair amount of growth lately, and the county, along with several municipal governments, has been working on a master plan.
The philosophy of the plan is to direct growth toward areas that are already developed, since it's cheaper to provide services -- everything from utilities to road-plowing and law-enforcement -- to places that are close to town.
That sounds fine in theory, but after drinking way too much local brew one evening with a friend who builds houses here, I can see why it won't work.
Philosophically, I agree with you,
he said.
But there's absolutely no market, or at least no
profitable market, for that kind of housing -- relatively
small houses on small lots, close to town.
Remember, the mines and quarries are closed and the
railroad is pulling out. There isn't any decent
blue-collar work here to speak of. The typical in-migrant
these days is retired with a comfortable income, or has
figured out some way to run a profitable business from the
boondocks. They've got some serious money, at least by
local standards.
And they want to live in 5,000-square-foot houses on
35-acre parcels, as far back into the woods as they can
get. That's where the market is here. And if I don't
build houses for them, somebody else will.
If the county were actually able to stop such
development, there would be extensive and expensive
lawsuits. And even if the county succeeded, my friend
pointed out, then I'd be laying off carpenters. My
subcontractors, the electricians and plumbers, would also
be laying people off. The county would have just shut down
a bunch of blue-collar jobs. Tell me how that's going to
help the working stiff.
I couldn't. Although I often read about the virtues of planning, I have yet to read of a place where it works. That is, find me a somewhat rural county anywhere in the West, under assault from the People of Money, that adopted a plan and was thereby able to maintain the quality of life that its residents wanted to preserve when they adopted the plan.
Until somebody shows me a plan that has succeeded, I remain dubious about the merits of planning. It doesn't work, but it does enrich consultants and lawyers, which may explains why the County Master Plan has joined the Lost Dutchman, the Seven Cities of Cibola and the Rio Buenaventura in the tragic mythology of the American West.
Even things that appear to work really don't. Boulder adopted a growth-control ordinance once upon a time. It did control residential development there, but its businesses continued to expand. They needed employees, who commuted from nearby towns like Longmont and Lafayette.
So those places got Boulder's residential growth, and Boulder got traffic and parking problems. And when Boulder more recently tried for some affordable housing, they turned into real-estate speculations.
A further complication to planning is that many modern
jurisdictions do try to run government like a
business.
A business wants to maximize income and
minimize costs.
Mere inhabitants -- that is, the citizens that the local government is supposed to act on behalf of -- cost money. The fewer of those, the better, since that means lowered expenditures for schools, parks, police, etc.
Income results from property and sales taxes, especially the sales taxes generated by big box retailers. Cities want these, and the big-box operators will play them against each other to get the best deal.
In other words, no matter how deftly Salida might plan to put business downtown, it won't matter because Poncha Springs, only five miles away, could offer the big-box a sweet deal and a highway location. Salida could either beat the offer, or get most of the associated costs while Poncha enjoyed the revenue.
So we have municipal governments engaged in cut-throat
commercial competition against each other. And if one of
those cities had a plan -- well, how long would that plan
stay in place if it were under constant attack as
something that is costing our city millions in revenue
each year, which means it is raising your taxes and
mine.
The legislature is considering another look at Sullivant's proposal with an interim committee study this summer. The first thing they should look at is not whether cities and counties should be forced to adopt plans, but whether such plans have ever worked, anywhere.
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