Did you ever think about the amount of space in our communities that is devoted to parking? A lot. Next time you go to the store, note the size of the parking lot. Guaranteed, it is huge.
Americans are obsessed with our cars. We drive to work. Drive to the store for a gallon of milk. Drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Drive to the pizza place to pick up a pie for dinner. Drive, Drive, Drive.
In McHenry County, the average person has a commute of greater than half an hour each way, each d
ay, and the vast majority of those people drive. They drive alone in their cars to and from their jobs five days a week.
ay, and the vast majority of those people drive. They drive alone in their cars to and from their jobs five days a week. My husband and I are very average in that way. His commute is about 35 minutes each way, and mine is about 25. I manage to carpool once in a while with a co-worker, but not nearly as often as I should.
All this driving has consequences to the environment, generating carbon dioxide and other exhaust chemicals that contribute to air pollution. The reliance on the car has impacts on our health too. We don't walk as much as we should -- when was the last time you walked to the store? the library? to visit a friend? Are you carrying a few extra pounds? Do you drive to the gym for a work out?
But the rest of the world is very different.
My friend Kathy Bergan Schmidt sent me this article from the Milwaukee newspaper. The author lives in Spain, where he and his family DO NOT OWN A CAR. Get this, they walk. Walk to the store. Walk to the movies. Walk to visit friends. Their property taxes are also a fraction of what ours are.
I bring this up because the McHenry County board is reviewing a new land use plan for the county, and the draft that was given them by their planning commission proposes that tens of thousands of new residents move to areas that are currently farmland, and are far removed from jobs, schools and shopping. This type of development is commonly known as sprawl.
Studies by American Farmland Trust and others have shown that sprawl is expensive for communities. It is more expensive to provide services like school buses, fire protection, road maintenance, etc. to all those scattered homes. So, taxes increase to cover the costs -- taxes increase for everyone, not just the folks who live in sprawlville.
And the crazy thing is that there are rumors that some board members think that even more sprawl should be permitted.
Let's think about this:
more sprawl = more cars on the road
more sprawl = less walking, more driving
more sprawl = higher property taxes
Any questions?
2 comments:
I received a document from A-LAW today that outlined some of their concerns about the 2030 plan, and thought it would be timely to add some of them as a comment to my November 11th blog entry.
They start out by raising a concern that there was a Conflict of Interest on the County 2030 Planning Commission: "There is an inherent conflict of interest in a Land Use Planning Commission, where seven of the twelve make their living in some manner from development."
Further into the document, they raise some good points about the impact of the planned sprawl on the county:
"The plan does not do enough to protect water and agriculture. Accommodating an extra 96,602 persons ... has enabled the RPC development majority to set aside large parts of unincorporated county land for development speculation."
Further:
"The text of the Land Use Chapter puts agricultural land conversion at 28,000 acres or 43.75 square miles, an area almost as large as the county’s three largest cities combined! (Crystal Lake is about 23 square miles, Woodstock is about 10.7 square miles and McHenry is about 12.1 square miles. Together they equal 45.8 square miles.)"
Did you catch that -- 43.75 square miles planned for sprawl development! And it gets worse:
"These 28,000 lost acres are frequently located in sensitive recharge areas and prime farmland. Sensitive recharge areas and prime farmland areas must be set aside first and incoming population must be accommodated in other areas."
That last bit is the heart of the matter. What is the county planning for? New people moving here? Or, a sustainable future for the people who are already here - (sustainable in terms of land resources and in terms of the economy)?
The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.
Thanks
Post a Comment