Rural America's new problem: handling sprawl

One reason for the lack of interest: The Joplin area has not felt the downside of sprawl.

"We haven't lost a lot of prime agricultural land," says Troy Bolander, planning and community development specialist for Joplin. The region also doesn't suffer from traffic jams. "We haven't seen the negative effects at this point."

But here and there, problems are starting to percolate to the surface. Literally.

Because county government has virtually no planning function, the county health department stepped in three years ago with a minimum 0.9-acre lot-size rule for new homes with septic systems. The idea: Smaller lots don't have the capacity to filter waste, which could lead to polluted streams, tainted ground water, and potential public-health problems. (For new developments with seven or more homes, state environmental officials also set minimum lot sizes.)

The health department has seen its costs and personnel triple in the past decade to handle septic-system issues. Now, county officials are considering whether to increase the minimum lot size because as more people move into unincorporated areas, the bigger the population at risk from existing faulty septic systems.

The dynamic works differently in Missouri cities and towns. Typically, they do some planning, and to entice developers to abide by the extra rules, they offer a key benefit: sewer systems. Developers like sewers because it frees them from lot-size requirements for septic systems, which means they can pack more houses on the land.

But when such developments are annexed, the burden can fall heavily - especially on smaller rural communities. Take Oronogo, north of Joplin. During the '90s, its population skyrocketed 64 percent (to 976 residents), and median household income nearly doubled.

The community has declared an informal moratorium on new development and annexation because of infrastructure limits. The wastewater treatment system it shares with two other communities has reached capacity, and it faces a $2.6 million bill to expand its water system. Just the first phase of the water expansion would nearly double residents' monthly water bills, the community's consulting engineering firm estimates.

Now a local developer is talking about a new annexation, which would require running a sewer line one mile to his Country Cardinal Estates. Extending the sewer line would cost roughly $50 a foot, although developers typically shoulder the cost.

Developers argue that they're not encouraging sprawl, but simply meeting an important demand for choice in housing. "People do like to be out of the city," says Dave Morton, the developer of Country Cardinal Estates and several other nearby projects. "We're offering 2-1/2-, 3-acre tracts so you don't have overpopulation."

It's not clear how Oronogo officials would react to Mr. Morton's proposal to annex his development a mile away. But "a lot of people along here would vote against it," says Bill Cook, who moved into his new home in Country Cardinal Estates a year ago to escape the taxes and inefficiency of Oronogo. "Out here you've got county stuff," he says, before roaring off in his SUV past a trailer park and a cow munching on hay.

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