Urban Sprawl
Two recent stories about different approaches to urban growth provide a good opportunity to review the options. The first comes from the Walla Walla Union-Bullitin which reports this conflict of opinion:
[O]wners in the area who receive utilities had to agree to approve annexation when they got the utilities.According to the city, properties that receive utilities account for 77 percent of the property value in that area.
Several audience members said they didn’t remember signing such agreements. ...
Others said it seemed unfair for the city to consider using those agreements to annex the area if residents oppose it.
While the Tacoma News-Tribune reports on the 10th Anniversary of University Place:
Truth is, many of the things that help define the city today didn’t exist. There were no bright flowers lining downtown streets, no roundabouts or medians in neighborhoods. There was no annual volunteer appreciation banquet or summer concert series at Curran Apple Orchard. ... “It was a nice suburban community, but it had its downsides because we were unincorporated,” said Goucher, 59. She’s lived in University Place for three decades.
In summary, people don’t mind building up their own area, but hate to be subsumed into a pre-existing power structure. Weird, then, that “15 cities have incorporated in Washington since 1990. All are in Pierce, King or Spokane counties.” Yakima has been growing, Walla Walla has been growing, Thurston County has grown traffic snarls – where are their entrepreneurial communities?
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