Slow Death Of A Small Town

The other night I attended a planning and zoning meeting for the town of New Harmony. I have had a phobia of attending such meetings ever since serving as mayor of the town of Kamas for a couple of terms and later spending time being beat up in their meetings. I was abused mostly by people that as mayor I had appointed when I tried to provide some 'affordable' housing for the community. I got beat up so badly by my 'friends and neighbors' that I finally vowed I would never go to another such meeting.

So I relented, and attended this meeting primarily to show interest in what is going on in the valley. I am not a resident of New Harmony; I live outside the city limits, consequently I have no voice in the town's policy nor do I get to vote for their elected officials. The meeting was a work session where they were reviewing their regulations to see if changes needed to be made. I applaud these people for their work, which is often thankless and often times even maligned.

In the course of the meeting, reference was made to the Town's Capital Improvements Plan and a copy of the document was made available for our review. I spent some time looking it over. I was interested because I was involved in preparing and updating a similar document for the town of Kamas. Prior to looking at this document I knew that 'town policy' was primarily anti-growth. I guess I didn't know just how 'anti' it really was until I looked at the plan.

I won't spend a lot of time in the details, suffice it to say that when a town requires five acres of land for a new building lot, and impact fees that would choke a Belgian draft horse, they really don't want or expect growth. Unless you have in excess of a million bucks burning a hole in your pocket, don't plan to come to New Harmony.

So what's the problem? New Harmony is a nice town. We all like it the way it is so why change it? If we can keep it small we will avoid lots of problems faced by our growing neighbors. We will have lots of open space, clean air and no traffic congestion. Crime will be limited to ATVs roaming the streets and an occasional rolling stop through a rare stop sign. No kids loitering in the mall, no gangs, no drugs and no low-life taggers spraying graffiti on buildings and cars.

Sounds pretty good doesn't it? Yes it does, but what do you see when you dig a little deeper? What do you find when you peel back that shallow layer of selfish thinking and isolationism? Do we really want a community of rich absent residents and retirees? I find that New Harmony is dying. It might be a very slow death, but yes, it is dying. I don't know if anyone has bothered to check, but I estimate the average age of a New Harmony resident is over 65. If you take out the only sub-division ever allowed in town (which many curse as the worse thing to ever happen) the average age probably increases to 75. Unless you enjoy watching something die, if it is going to survive, New Harmony badly needs a transfusion. It needs new blood!

If you are still reading at this point, you are probably either getting red in the face or you agree that there is a problem. At the risk of being too long winded, I want to expound a little further. Obviously when people die, the make room for others. Hence, one would assume that there would be an automatic renewal going on. Look at what is really happening. Nearly every home that comes up for sale in New Harmony is purchased by a folks that are retiring and want a quiet place to spend their declining years. I mean no offense, most of these are great people. I am one myself. But that is not new blood. It's just old blood moving to a new location.

In my opinion, there are two main barriers to young people moving to New Harmony. The first is the commute. With soaring fuel prices, an economic hurdle is added to the time factor and a 30 minute commute becomes quite undesirable, especially when you think you need to run your children to the city to every extracurricular event that occurs. This is all relative however; people still don't mind a 60 to 90 minute commute just so they don't have to live in the Salt Lake Valley. Add to that the cost of trying to buy or build a home here, and the barrier becomes insurmountable for most. Young people just starting out, or those with young families, just can't pay the price.

Is there a solution? I bet you thought I would never get to it. Trouble is, I don't know. I kind of doubt it, but my hope keeps me writing. My mind says that the solution to the problem is to become growth friendly. There I've said it. You can start throwing the rotten fruit and vegetables you have been saving. Undesirable as it sounds, to keep from dying New Harmony needs to grow. New Harmony needs some quarter-acre lots that can be reasonable purchased and built upon. It needs impact fees that are adequate, but not exorbitant. It needs a city staff and government that will welcome those who want to develop such opportunities, and welcome those who want to live here.

Could such a radical change really ever happen? Yes it could, but it has to start in the hearts and minds of those in positions of influence. It has to spread to those who follow them, and to those who through lazy indifference don't care.

How can you change the heart, mind and attitude of those who so firmly believe they are right? I don't know. Perhaps they are really right and I am wrong. Maybe I am the one that needs converting. Perhaps we will just have to let New Harmony die, and see if when it is dead and buried in our beautiful cemetery, something new and better will spring up to take its place.

The opinion expressed herein is the sole responsibility of the author. Please don't blame his wife and family. If have an opinion on the matter, for or against, especially if you are from this area, I would like to hear your comments.