Planners optimistic Allen County’s population will grow

LIMA - It was only a few years ago when Thomas Mazur and Jim Greer each drove an hour and a half each day - each way - to work in Lima.

At the time, both of the geographers had too many ties to Toledo to move here. They drove separately to their jobs at the Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission, and they paid the gas prices to commute.

But that was before gas prices peaked at more than $4 a gallon, and food prices climbed to new heights.

"I went from spending $10 a day to $10 a week in gas," Greer said, explaining the financial benefits of his move to Delphos a little more than four years ago. "That's when gas was much less expensive."

Now that Mazur, executive director of the planning commission, lives in Allen County, he believes others will soon following suit - not necessarily because they want to, but because they can't afford not to.

Preliminary U.S. Census Bureau data released last week showed Allen County's population declined by 3,200 people in the last several years.

What makes the data interesting, and to an extent encouraging, Mazur said, is the number of workers who arrive in swarms each day from surrounding communities.

With more than 13,000 people driving to Allen County each day for the employment base here, many will find it economically unrealistic to pay for a $4 gallon of gas and make the drive when the cost compares to rent for some.

"There are pressures to relocate for people driving back and forth," Greer said, explaining that he paid $200 a month to drive to Lima when gas prices were nearly half what they are now. "No one's raises are going to keep up with gas prices. ... You don't get reimbursed for commuting. ... And, you can't write it off for your taxes."

Greer and Mazur said that, if 10 percent of the commuter population relocated to Lima, it would counter the nonprison population decline in Allen County from 2000 to 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Mazur calls this large group of people the "commuter shed."

In figures drawn up by the regional planning commission, two counties house around 7,000 residents who work full time in Allen County: Putnam and Auglaize counties.

Auglaize County has the most, with around 3,928 people driving to Lima each day. Putnam County has the second-largest number of full-time workers in Lima, with an estimated 3,186.

Van Wert County offers 1,947 workers, followed by Hardin (1,495) and Hancock (1,074). Logan, Mercer and Shelby counties have less than 500 people driving here for work, with Paulding County offering an estimated 116 workers here.

"It's cheaper to live here than drive back and forth," Mazur said. "The commuter shed is going to shrink. ... I am fairly confident people are going to move to Allen County, or move much closer, and that's going to impact a sizeable part of the population. It will take time, slowly, as gas prices rise, but it will impact a portion of the population."