THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503180105
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Chesapeake's own version of the great chicken-or-egg question continues.
Which comes first? New residents, new houses, new neighborhoods? Or the roads, schools, utilities and public services needed to support the larger population?
It's a circular argument that has kept developers and city officials chasing their tails for a long, long time.
The latest contribution to the debate takes the form of a letter from the mouthpiece of the Tidewater Builders Association, gently raising the specter of a lawsuit if the city prevents developers from building homes in areas where there are no services for them.
Last month the City Council blocked construction of homes in the Washington Woods development because the sewerage system there is not adequate to meet the new demand. The move sent a signal to the business community that the council is serious about taking control of growth before it overwhelms the city's infrastructure.
The builders' position is that the houses come first and the roads and schools and utility lines can catch up later. It's a philosophy that has served the developers well in the past, but the rest of us poorly.
The chicken or the egg? Houses or infrastructure? All the time spent arguing over which comes first is time that could be spent discussing how we can have both in a more timely, intelligent and profitable way. by CNB