Community Is the Alternative to Sprawl

Moving toward Sustainability in Santa Fe County
By Kathy Holian, Santa Fe County Commissioner-elect, District 4


We are facing challenging times, with fossil fuel prices soaring, global warming already starting to be felt, and the threat of oil and gas drilling looming, right here in Santa Fe County. I ran for County Commissioner because I believe that solutions to many of our growing challenges can be accomplished right here at the local level, provided that we work together as a community.

Land use decisions and building code ordinances have great impact on our use -- or misuse -- of water, energy, and other resources. For too long, "planning" decisions made without paying attention to consequences have led to suburban sprawl in Santa Fe County. Sprawl has an insidious impact on quality of life in a variety of ways: it always leads to more use of fossil fuels for transportation; there are few opportunities for efficient use (or re-use) of water; it can cause environmental degradation; often, valuable agricultural land is converted to subdivisions; and, of great interest to anyone paying taxes, construction and maintenance of infrastructure -- notably roads -- always cost more, with older, established areas having to subsidize any new development.

The solution to sprawl is good, comprehensive, regional planning. Plans that encourage clustered community centers, with ecologically-sensitive areas set aside as open space, lead to many possibilities for a more sustainable and enriched lifestyle. A compact development can incorporate water and wastewater treatment systems that encourage maximal water catchment as well as re-use of treated effluent for landscaping and community gardens. A community business center can employ people who live nearby. Every community ought to have -- at the very least -- a grocery store. Moreover, large, contiguous open spaces nearby can provide for physical and spiritual nourishment of the residents.

By focusing on planning for clustered communities, we are really relearning how to organize our lives in a way that our forbears took for granted. A hundred years ago, people lived together in small towns that contained all the services that people needed. In fact, even when I was a child in the Fifties, I remember that every neighborhood had a grocery store. Due to decades of cheap fossil-fuel-based energy, we have redesigned our living arrangements into far-flung suburbs, so that multiple car trips are required every day. We can't afford this way of life any more.

There will be many rewards for changing to a more community-based lifestyle. Most importantly, we will start to feel that we really belong to our community. In addition, changes in the way we structure our communities can substantially reduce our energy use. Ultimately, if every American uses less fossil fuel, ecologically sensitive -- not to mention beautiful -- areas like the Galisteo Basin can be protected from becoming sacrifice zones for our oil addiction.

We need to get started right away on moving toward sustainability in Santa Fe County. If we put the decision off too long, the hill we need to climb will only get steeper.

This article appeared in High Desert News, The San Marcos Association, Fall 2008, p. 5.