Sprawl threatens Kentucky county (activist alert!)

Welcome to Campbell County, Kentucky - my home county!

Folks like you and me work hard and play by the rules in Campbell County. (Notice I'm working the weekend.) But now we need to work harder to make the community sustainable again.

A decade ago, a much-needed moratorium was placed on suburban development in most of the southern half of the county. This was because the old sewer system couldn't handle the sprawl.

But last year, a new sewage plant finally opened, and now a whole new sewer system is nearing completion. This upgrade was long overdue. Up until just last year, the old system released 8,000,000 gallons of raw, poopy sewage into our environment annually. But the new system has been able to handle even this year's flooding rains. The new plant has also reduced the wafto-like stench produced by the old system.

But there's a downside to this blessing. In November, the new system also encouraged the outgoing regime of right-wing Gov. Ernie "Hey Bert" Fletcher to lift most of the moratorium (a fact the media largely ignored).

Inevitably some new buildings are going to be needed to replace worn structures or provide necessary services. But what the county doesn't need any more of is the type of spread-out, inefficient residential and commercial devleopment that has already marred the county.

There's several key reasons why big box retailers and subdivisions full of fall-apart mansions aren't needed. It creates erosion that causes older homes to be flooded. It eats up space needed for agriculture. It deeply impedes on our social fabric and way of life. It caters disproportionately to the financially secure, at the expense of the disadvantaged. It drives out small business for the benefit of Big Business. It wastes fuel by forcing folks to drive further out to stores and other firms (if they even have a car at all).

The negative effects are felt not only by the rural areas but also by the county's central cities.

Any new development of this sort should be opposed anywhere - especially in Campbell County, where we've already paid the price for the ravages of creeping exurbanism.

And it's never too late to oppose what hasn't yet been built.

Over the next 10 years, developers plan to build subdivisions containing at least 1,800 new homes in that part of the county. One subdivision alone is set to contain 900 houses.

How do we stop our communities from being spoiled by development? Tell your mayors, council members, judge-execs, and planning boards what you think. Make flyers and websites for folks in the area outlining the dangers of sprawl.

These acts are perfectly legal. Check the rules.

Cities or the county should set a sprawl limit and place a moratorium on development that isn't high-density and efficient.

The wisdom is in the land, people. Life shouldn't be about developers Making Money.

(Source: http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080608/NEWS0103/806080394)