Planning Amid the Splendor

One thing worse than urban sprawl is rural sprawl. And it’s particularly lamentable when it occurs in an area of spectacular natural beauty like the mountains of California.

The pattern is sadly familiar. People move to an area for its wild or scenic setting and its serenity. Local governments, often dominated by independent-minded business people, resist strong planning and zoning as an invasion of property rights. Growth accelerates helter-skelter. Soon, chain stores pop up on the edge of town. Fast-food places, supermarkets and acres of parking lots follow. The old core withers and historic buildings are razed. Finally, people who moved in for the natural beauty and the lifestyle find the beauty has been despoiled and the lifestyle degraded. They move on to the next beauty spot and the pattern repeats.

Rural towns and small cities may decry this type of development, but they usually fail to initiate good planning until it is too late. The Sierra Nevada is especially susceptible because of strong population growth in recent years. Cash-strapped communities are forced to scramble to meet the demand for public services. Often they recognize the need for sound planning but don’t know how to go about it.

Today, a blueprint is available. And this document comes not from a planning bureaucracy or environmental group but from the business people themselves: the Sierra Business Council, more than 450 businesses ranging from the edge of the Mojave Desert to north of Lake Tahoe. Its message is that strong land-use controls do not have to come at the sacrifice of business freedom or profits.

Modern communications and a diversified economic base allow rural mountain communities to plan their futures from a basis of economic strength rather than backwater desperation. Guiding principles include maintenance of natural beauty, revitalization of downtown cores and community involvement in the planning effort.

The 115-page document concludes: “Effective land-use planning is the best investment we can make in our own financial security.” It is tailored to the Sierra Nevada, but every community in California could benefit from its message.