Fayette’s Growth Must be on Its Own Terms

Tuesday, July 06, 2010, Vol. 125, No. 129
The Memphis News

It would be easy to fall into the all-too-typical discussion that pits Fayette County development against Shelby County development.

The flight of Memphians who are voting with their taillights on their judgments about the quality of life in Memphis is a legitimate factor. Memphis leaders concerned about the city’s direction feel it’s a factor that can’t be ignored.

But the development of Fayette County must be about more than the misfortunes of Memphis; otherwise, it won’t last.

Planners and elected officials surveying Highway 64 are right to want to avoid the unfortunate precedents set along Germantown Parkway in particular. But even the most reasoned plan will be seriously tested by pressure from developers to build out what amounts to Oakland’s main street.

And it will be harder to say no to a poorly done strip mall of chain stores that follows the preferred development along Highway 64. That’s not a problem unique to Memphis.

Neither, apparently, is political corruption. And we know on this side of the county line there can be a connection between the two.

Maintaining a rural atmosphere as subdivisions continue to change the map of Fayette County will require a growth in local government services and a growth in local tax rates and fees.

Fayette County leaders want to keep some semblance of a rural atmosphere. However difficult that may prove to be when economic prosperity returns, it doesn’t mean one side of the county line withers while the other grows. A rural atmosphere is not for everyone, just as an urban atmosphere is not for everyone.

For all the talk about “communities of choice,” we could use more understanding of the concept of having different communities to choose from on both sides of the county line.