And now, one from the grassy knoll.

With all due respect to LancoYokel, whose writing I generally like, I have three words in response to this:

Urban growth boundary.

When I was putting together last weekend’s Harrisburg Pike piece, I was looking a few things up in the library and came across the term. Hm. Shot an e-mail to Lancaster County’s chief transportation planner Dave Royer: How much of the Harrisburg Pike corridor is within the county’s urban growth boundary?

His reply: All of it.

So, again, Hm. Urban growth boundary - why, what could those words mean?

Could they mean what they imply - that future urbanized growth, or quasi-urban growth, is supposed to take place within those boundaries?

Why - that’s exactly what the term means.

Here’s a story from 1993 - why, that’s 15 years ago! - right as the county adopted these strange things called “urban growth boundaries”:

Inside the boundaries, the plan says, development should occur at an average density of four or five houses an acre. Most schools, churches, stores, offices and factories should be inside those borders. And there should be ample recreational space.

Now, all of this said, much development has taken place outside the boundaries; it hasn’t solved our sprawl issues. But the point is that areas like the Harrisburg Pike corridor were specifically designated as the place where high-density development was supposed to go.

Of course when the county first implemented these things back in the early ’90s no one was paying a whole lot of attention. It all seemed grand in theory, sure, urban growth boundaries, la la la, who knows what that means and who cares. But then, as always, the rubber meets the road and we have second thoughts. Hey, sure, urban growth boundaries sounded like a great idea at the time - but you know what happens? You get urban growth! And who wants that?

But beyond that is the insinuation - always bubbling just below the surface - that this is all a conspiracy of the moneyed interests - High, to be specific. That Dale High is manipulating me and all of Lancaster Newspapers, manipulating the individual municipalities, manipulaing the Lancaster County Planning Commission itself. Also, possibly the weather.

Can you believe it? He’s dared to propose a high-density use along a corridor that it supposed to accommodate, you know, high density uses. The nerve!

And the insinuation being that the entire Harrisburg Pike Corridor study is merely cover for getting Dale High what he wants.

Right. Because, see, nowhere in this analysis is it possible that maybe High and everyone else developing along Harrisburg Pike know - unlike the critics - that the corridor lies within the urban growth boundary. And nowhere in this analysis is it possible that these developers formulated their plans specifically on the basis of this, figuring - hey, this corridor is designated for high-density uses. This is where the county supposedly wants it to go. So that’s what we’ll propose, and that’s where we’ll propose it.

No. Quite the opposite: To build quasi-urban development within the confines of the urban growth boundary is irresponsible. Greedy. Detrimental. Nevermind that it fits with what the county itself, 15 years ago, stipulated for the corridor - it doesn’t fit with that “we the people” decided, just a few months ago.

The Harrisburg Pike study, as stated in the story, is not intended as a referendum on specific projects. That said - it’s pretty clear that those who helped generate the report, which includes members of the public, realize that the type of development now proposed along the corridor is likely to be the type of development that ultimately does take place.

But if you - John Q. Public - believe that neither High nor anyone else should be permitted to build high-density developmentswithin the confines of the urban growth boundary, then don’t waste your time opposing these projects piecemeal. Go to the source; attend th next meeting of the Lancaster County Planning Commission, stand up and proclaim that urban growth boundaries are a terrible thing because they permit urban growth!

And the planners will say: Duh.

But don’t worry. It’s just the invisible hand of Dale High, doing its usual thing.