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GROWTH 09-26-99
Where do we GROW from here?
Influx of people reshapes our lives
John Dodge, The Olympian Originally published September 26, 1999
The forces of growth are hard at work in South Sound, shaping the quality of our lives and the lives of those who will follow.
We see the many faces of growth all around us. We curse it in traffic jams that add 15 minutes to our evening commute. We blame it when the vacant lot next door is bulldozed to make way for another new home or mini-mart.
Conversely, we applaud growth in the form of new jobs or a new seafood restaurant on the waterfront. We are heartened by the addition since 1970 of more than 100 churches in our community. We are enriched by the ethnic diversity that growth brings to South Sound.
Growth is not an easy topic to wrap your arms around. It doesn't lend itself to a simplistic slogan, whether it be "Growth is good" or "Growth is bad."
The one inarguable fact is the steady, inexorable rate of growth here in South Sound, slightly faster than the state average and noticeable to all.
It took more than 130 years after white settlers arrived for Thurston County to reach a population of 100,000. It took less than 25 more years to top 200,000 -- it happened this year. Flash forward 15 years to a potential population of 300,000.
One hundred thousand more people. That's more than two Olympia-sized cities.
The same pattern on a smaller scale is unfolding in Mason County. The county population could approach 65,000 by 2015, a gain of nearly 20,000, or nearly three Shelton-sized cities in 20 years.
A community that isn't growing is dying, growth advocates say. Who are we to say there should be limits to how many people get to enjoy life in South Sound? Growth limits would lead to higher housing costs and an elitist community, they contend.
Others see growth as the devil incarnate -- clogging our streets with traffic, fouling our air with pollution, crowding our schools and forcing our taxes higher and higher to pay for what -- more growth.
Then there's the silent majority, which ranges from ambivalent to wary about the rate of growth in South Sound.
Growth is a hot-button issue debated in our homes, offices and city halls. "Question Growth" bumper stickers appear on cars. Growth is a major issue in city council races.
The Olympian hosted two focus groups last spring to find out what residents in Thurston and Mason counties had to say about their rapidly growing communities.
More than 80 percent of the participants said growth could still be managed without undermining the quality of life here.
"I lived all over the United States and other parts of the world and this is the best place I've ever found," says Bill Brandenberg, a Rochester resident since 1976.
But these same people voice an uneasiness about traffic and urban sprawl.
"I'm sorry to see the rural, open spaces going away," says Lacey resident Sharon Brown.
To the north, residents in public forums and scientific polls voice a growing malaise over growth. The traffic congestion is numbing. The smog blocks views of Mount Rainier on an otherwise sunny day. Once fertile farmland is lost to corporate and commercial sprawl.
A 1997 survey of residents of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties said theirs was a less desirable place to live than it was five years before. More than two of every three respondents thought it would be even less desirable in another 10 or 20 years.
Is this a harbinger of things to come in South Sound?
In the months ahead, The Olympian, with the help of readers and community leaders, will try to answer this question and others.
We will examine the effects of growth on community life -- transportation, schools, housing, the environment, the economy, public safety and recreation.
We begin our project today with an in-depth look at how and where we are growing.
We explore the workings of the 1990 state Growth Management Act, which encourages people to live in urban areas close to work and schools to preserve farms, forests and natural areas.
While it's too soon to pass judgment on the growth law, it hasn't changed the desire of many people to live outside the cities.
If the trend were to continue, sprawl, traffic congestion, air pollution and loss of open space will continue, counter to the intentions of growth management.
What the Growth Management Act does is encourage a change in lifestyle that has yet to be accepted by the homebuyer or general public, says Subir Mukerjee, director of Olympia's Community Planning and Development Department.
"That can take years to change," he says.
The Olympian Copyright 2000 back to main GROWTH 09-26-99 index
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