Stemming the sprawl: townships, city feel pain of suburban flight

LIMA - Jim Turner wants land. He wants a big yard, a bigger house and a driveway he doesn't share with his neighbor. So he's preparing to trade in his Oakland Parkway home for something in the suburbs and when he does, he will be joining thousands who came before.

They used to call it urban sprawl or white flight, the migration that began almost half a century ago of middle- and working-class city dwellers into the suburbs. Locally, the trend peaked in the 1960s when hundreds of Lima families left the city and moved into the surrounding townships and villages. The trend has dimmed some in recent years, but the flow continues.

"The townships obviously have grown as people move out and we welcome that growth," said Larry Vandemark, an American Township trustee and owner of Prudential Vandemark Realty. "This isn't happening like it once was, but we still see people moving out."

The numbers tell the story, sort of. The county's population numbers haven't changed much in the past few decades. In the 1960 census, Allen County had 103,691 residents. By 2000, that number had grown by less than 5,000 people to 108,473. That number could be as low as 105,000 by now, according to Ohio Department of Development estimates. At the same time, the city of Lima saw a marked decline, dropping from more than 51,000 residents in 1960 to around 40,000 in 2000 and an estimated 38,000 in 2006.

"If you look at the state, and I think Allen County is a microcosm of the state, for the past 40 years there really hasn't been an increase in population. Basically we've just moved around," said Tim Stanford, owner of Yokum Realty.

Movin' on out

Nationally, the movement of people from the centralized cities to outlying neighborhoods and suburbs began shortly after World War II. The combination of growing families, increased wealth and the growing popularity of automobiles made it possible for families to find a home with a little land a few miles away from the bustling central city.

The great majority of those moving to the suburbs were white - thus the name white flight. That meant black families, many of whom had moved into the cities in search of work just a decade before, were left in the old neighborhoods. Racism and a fear of declining property values led more whites to leave the cities and within a couple of decades most metropolitan areas, including Lima, were geographically divided by race.

In more recent years the division has moved from one of race to class. Those who have the money to move out do, leaving those who can't behind.

"It's class that is the difference now. If they can afford to move out to the suburbs they follow the money and go. Those who can't afford to move out stay," said Tom Mazur, director of the Regional Planning Commission.

In recent years race has played less a role in the move to the suburbs, both city and township leaders say. The new reasons are almost as varied as those doing the moving. They want bigger lawns, safer streets, different schools or the type of home they just can't find in the city.

"Around here I think it has allowed people to develop the type of community they feel most comfortable in. In many cases they are looking for a type of housing not available in all parts of the city. Sometimes it's other things. I think all our school districts are good but we do draw people out looking for specific schools," Vandemark said.

For Turner, the decision is about land. The Youngstown native moved here to work in 2001 and married a year later. He and his wife bought their first home for just more than $60,000 and began their family. Now he's making a little more money, has a third child on the way, and is ready for a little more yard and a lot more room.

"More than anything we wanted another bathroom. The house we bought really, on paper, it doesn't have that much more room. But there's an extra bath-and-a-half and a basement we can actually use. It's not the size so much as it's how it's built," Turner said.

Amy Odum has heard that a lot. As the city's Community Development director, she is the one charged with stemming the flow of folks from town. But when it comes to finding people the house they want, she admits it's a tall order.

"It's simply a question of housing age. About 60 percent of housing in Lima was built before World War II. Things have changed significantly since then in terms of employment, family size and lifestyles. The homes we have now do not, for the most part, fit the needs of today's family," Odum said.

If finding the right home in the city is tough, building one is next to impossible. The great majority of property in the city is already in use. So short of tearing down old homes and rebuilding or annexing major parts of the neighboring townships, Lima has few options when it comes to building new.

"New building within the city of Lima virtually doesn't exist," Stanford said. "The problem is, how do you grow to better serve your residents when you're landlocked. What do you do when people have to move out of town to buy a house?"

"We have 12 square miles of land and no additional space to use to build housing. With the change in lifestyles and age demographics, the kind of housing required for many people is just not available," Odum said.

The strain on the townships

The flight to the suburbs has hurt the city, reducing income tax and leaving it with a costly abundance of dilapidated and vacant housing. But the city may not be the only one to suffer. Those people moving out to the townships want the same services they get from the city - water, sewer, streets and the rest - and that means spending money townships once populated with farms and factories are not accustomed to spending.

"It may not be tomorrow, but my gut feeling is in time it's going to hit them. You're going to see the weight of those services come down on them," Mazur said.

The problem townships and, to some degree, smaller villages such as Fort Shawnee and Elida face is the battle between density and dollars. In cities, homes are closer together allowing for more people to live in a smaller space. It takes less pipe and asphalt to provide needed services and you have a lot more people paying for them. But in townships, where homes are spread out and populations are lower, costs are higher and split between fewer people.

"We're not really growing, we're just spreading out thinner and thinner," Mazur said. "The density at which the townships are being built out will be much more costly in the long run. They don't have the tax base to support things like good roads programs. They try, but it's not there."

The other cost of sprawl is slightly less tangible. Increased drives to work mean more pollution. Bigger houses use more energy and resources. The addition of thousands of large roofs and paved drives mean increased strain on an already insufficient drainage system. And farm land is being eaten up by platted subdivisions at an alarming rate, Mazur said.

"That's part of the cost. We can only hope that farm ground in this county stays farm ground. They don't realize the cost of these subdivisions," Mazur said.

Understanding the costs - all the costs - would be a first step toward figuring out a way to avoid future problems, Mazur said. But so far, nobody has bothered to examine the real cost of services in the area.

"They need to see a cost of services analysis to show the townships and their residents what it really cost them. Show me where residents moving out into the townships is cost effective for the residents who are already out there. If they see the numbers maybe then they'll understand," Mazur said.

Assuming the numbers show what Mazur suspects - that townships will eventually be unable to pay for services - there are limited answers for what to do next. Mazur said it will force the entities to either work together or work with the city to reduce the duplication of services and cut costs.

"Sooner or later, if the economy deteriorates the way people suspect it will, they're going to have to work together. You're going to see a morphing of service," Mazur said. "Somehow they've got to figure out a way to work together to balance this out."