December 2001.Originally published under series title: Agricultural and resource policy report, APR 01-09

Seidl, Andrew

English

Seidl, Andrew, author

Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, publisher

Mountain Scholar (Digital Collections of Colorado and Wyoming)

  December 2001 Land Use and Planning Report, No.  9                                                                                                             Page 1 December 2001 LUPR 01-09 Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1172 http://dare.colostate.edu/pubs • Growth in population does not necessarily improve human welfare; development does.  • Growth in population does not necessarily        increase per capita consumption of natural       resources; sprawl does.  • Informed growth maximizes the positive and mini-mizes the negative aspects of growth.  Introduction In the 1999-2000 Colorado legislative session some two-dozen pieces of legislation related to growth man-agement were proposed. Depending upon who is  counting, two relatively minor considerations passed. In August 2000, polls indicated that two of three Colo-radoans supported Amendment 24: Voter Approval of Growth. On November 7, 2000 Amendment 24 was defeated at the ballot box by about two of three voting Coloradoans (1,193,432 to 516,947). Does this imply that issues of growth are no longer of concern to Colo-radoans? Not likely. On November 28, 2000 Governor Bill Owens announced a growth management plan with strong similarities to Amendment 24 to be crafted for potential consideration in the next session of the Colorado legislature.  In this brief article some of the common costs and benefits of growth are discussed with special consid-eration to families and communities. Growth is distin-guished from development and from sprawl. Finally, general strategies to maximize the positive aspects of growth while minimizing its negative attributes are discussed.  What is growth? Growth is an increase in size. In this context, growth is an increase in population driven by relatively favorable economic conditions in Colorado. Growth should not be confused with development or with sprawl. Growth in population does not necessarily imply an improve-ment in human welfare: that is called development. Growth in population does not necessarily imply an increase in per capita consumption of natural           resources, including land: that is called sprawl. Growth creates both opportunities and challenges for families and communities. Some of the benefits and costs of growth are easily quantified (e.g., miles driven, cost of community services) and some are not (e.g., cultural diversity, choice, air quality). Some are directly ob-served in the market place (e.g., jobs, income) and some are not (e.g., rural lifestyle, family dynamics, volunteerism).  INFORMED GROWTH FOR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES  Andrew Seidl 1  1   Assistant Professor and Extension Economist—Public Policy, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO, 80523-1172. T: 970-491-7071. E: Andrew.Seidl@colostate.edu. F: 970-491-2067.   Extension programs are available to all without discrimination.   December 2001 Land Use and Planning Report, No.  9                                                                                                             Page 2 Colorado is the fifth fastest growing state in the coun-try. Six of the ten fastest growing counties in the United States are found in Colorado. Strong local eco-nomic conditions and our abundant and unique natural resource base drive Colorado’s remarkable population growth. Colorado ranks second (to Washington D.C.) in the number of residents with a college education. Money magazine ranks Denver its fifth best city for doing business in 2000. Population growth in Colorado is driven by increases in high tech service jobs, second homes, telecommuters, and retirees. Our natural amenities coupled with the business climate are what bring this growth to the state.  What can be good about growth? Population growth can be associated with improve-ments in a number of measures of family and community welfare. Such improvements may include: greater cultural and demographic diversity, more and better employment opportunities, higher average in-come and wealth, better and more variety of public services (e.g., parks, schools, libraries, recreational facilities, roads, sewers, telecommunications, transpor-tation, government programs, fire and police protec-tion), better and more variety of private services (e.g., retail establishments, health care, religious and social organizations), and lower average tax burden.  What can be bad about growth? Population growth can also be associated with a dete-rioration of a number of measures of family and com-munity welfare. Growth can spur deterioration in the natural resource base, including water, air and land. If deterioration in the natural resource base is propor-tional to the rate of increase in population, then neither the existing population nor newcomers are living within the regenerative capacity of their resources. If the deterioration occurs at a greater rate than the      increase in population, then newcomers are using more resources than current residents. This is a case of sprawl. For example, population growth may imply more people driving on local roads, more traffic con-gestion, more accidents, more road repair expenses and more air pollution. If each person is also driving more miles, or these measures increase by more than the rate of population increase, it is likely that sprawling growth is the culprit.  Sprawling growth can also directly influence human relationships at different levels. More time spent driv-ing implies fewer hours for other pursuits including:   work, recreation, sleep, time with family, and volun-teer activities. The children of parents squandering more time commuting may spend more time in day care facilities than they might otherwise spend, affect-ing family relationships. Parents expending more time commuting may invest less time nurturing relation-ships with their neighbors and community. People working in one community and living in another will have less time and affinity to volunteer as soccer coaches, library assistants, and mentors where they live. Engaged, vibrant communities are created and nurtured through the investment of time, skill, energy and money by their residents. Bedroom communities and neighborhoods, typical of sprawl, are more likely to lack features of healthy communities.  Informed Growth: What can we do to maximize the good and mini-mize the bad aspects of growth? Growth that simply pays for itself should be consid-ered neutral to new and current residents alike. Growth that more than compensates for itself should be       encouraged and growth that does not should be dis-couraged. That is, the tax burden each resident bears for providing a given level of services should not    increase with population growth. When growth implies increases in the average affluence of residents and by taking advantage of economies of scale in public ser-vice provision, it could be hoped that the tax burden per resident would decrease for a given level of ser-vices or that more services could be provided for the same tax burden.  However, as has been described above, the level of taxes and services are not the only, or perhaps even the most important, implications of growth affecting fami-lies and communities affected by growth. In order to plan for informed growth, families must take into     account the full costs and benefits of change in their communities. Increases in choice and opportunity must be weighed against increases in resource use, air pollu-tion and time spent in automobiles. Such accounting will increase the likelihood that carefully planned ma-trices of higher density, largely self-sustaining and less automobile dependent neighborhoods embracing pub-lic values for natural amenities and human services as well as private property rights will create more desir-able communities than will sprawling growth driven by short term financial gain now commonly encountered on Colorado’s landscape.  

December 2001 Land use and planning report, no. 9

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December 2001 Land use and planning report, no. 9

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