Columnist Susan Snyder: Growth is talk of the town

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 4:46 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

WEEKEND EDITION

Feb. 7 - 8, 2004

It could be one of the smartest statements to tumble from a politician's mouth:

"Change is certain. Progress is not," Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid said Monday as he unveiled plans for a task force to address growth management options.

Words to live by, and we do -- every day. The Las Vegas Valley does nothing but change.

For the better? That's the million-dollar question.

The answer? It depends.

It depends on whether you're the guy who bought a house 10 years ago and hoped to live in a rural area, or you're the guy building his family's first home right next door.

It depends on whether you value the prospect of cutting your work commute time in half because a new employer is building an office park in your neighborhood, or you value the natural view the office park will obscure.

It depends on how often you want to wash your car or how far you want to drive to a grocery store. It depends on whether you came here to work or to retire.

The county task force will be composed of an unknown number of as-yet unchosen individuals, who are to be selected by the end of the month and begin meeting in March. Town meetings with residents are to follow in the plan proposed by Reid and fellow county commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Mark James.

Growth and how to live with it is the discussion du jour for the West. A similar, albeit more comprehensive and complicated, long-range planning effort has been ongoing along Utah's Wasatch Front since 1997.

The Envision Utah effort seeks to balance economic growth and quality of life for residents of the 90 cities and towns stretching from Brigham City to Provo. The area encompasses 25 percent of the state's land and 80 percent of its population.

Sound familiar?

"It could have easily been another study that ended up on the shelves," Steve Holbrook, Envision Utah executive director, said last week. "But implementation was always at the forefront -- even though it wasn't clear at first how that might take place."

Residents showed them how it would happen. A core group from different viewpoints met first then scheduled town meetings, similar to what the Clark County group has proposed.

Envision Utah also used a complex computer model to calculate what various development choices and patterns would cost in terms of impacts on the economy, air quality, water use, traffic and other issues.

"They could see, 'If I choose this, then I get these consequences,' " Holbrook said. "People have a much easier time coming together when you look at a situation for real. Give them a practical problem to solve. Don't just talk about philosophies. Talk about the problems they actually have and the choices around them."

Envision Utah's task force dealt with specifics and fashioned an overall vision of the Wasatch Front. There still are controversies, but there also is a concrete way of identifying the trade-offs.

Most importantly, there is ongoing dialogue about the consequences of people's choices.

Can growth mean changes for the better?

It depends.

But we certainly won't know unless we start -- and keep -- talking.