TCSCC Issue: Population Growth and in-migration
Economic growth coupled with the quality of life have resulted in booming
population growth in many areas of the Cascadia coastal region.
In the United States growth has been the greatest in the south and west areas of
the States including the Cascadia region. Since 1990 Washington State has
grown 18.3%, Oregon 16.7% and California 11.2 %. The majority of this growth
has been in urban areas which tend to be on the coast.
In British Columbia population has been increasing by more than 100,000 people
each year. Demographers believe that in only ten years, the population could
exceed 4.7 million, up from 3.9 million today. Eighty percent of the population
increase will be in urban areas, mostly in the Lower Mainland, on the east coast
of Vancouver Island and in the Okanogan Valley.
Similar growth is projected for the United States portion of the Cascadia region.
For example, in 1999 the Puget Sound portion of the Puget Sound and Georgia
Basin was home to nearly 3.9 million people – double the population of the 1960s
and is expected to reach 5 million people by 2020. (this is somewhat of a repeat
from paragraph 2)
Potential opportunities associated with population growth and
inmigration.
Growth can benefit coastal communities if it is directed in a way that respects
what is important to the communities: clean air, clean water, protected open
space and unique natural areas, affordable housing. Growth can mean more
and better jobs and increased and diverse cultural opportunities.
Potential challenges associated with population growth and
inmigration.
Growing populations mean growing stress on the coastal environment - more
housing, more roads, more schools, shopping centers, and factories for more
people. This growth in turn produces more pollution, runoff from streets and
parking lots, sediment from construction, effluent from factories. The very
attributes that attract people to the coastal region are threatened by this
increased growth.
In a book entitled Better, not Bigger, Eugene Fodor of Eugene, Oregon identified
the following factors negatively affected by growth: air quality, water quality,
water quantity, noise, mobility, fish and wildlife habitat, scenery and open space,
cost of living, especially housing costs, crime and public safety, freedom and
democracy, and community. Although these factors affect an entire region, not
just the coastal area, many of them are most visible in the coastal area.
Useful Links
Tools to deal with growth include principles referred to as “smart growth”. Smart
growth refers to land use and development practices that enhance the quality of
life in communities and preserve ecological integrity. Smart growth practices also
aim to limit the sprawl of urban centers by using tools such as urban containment
boundaries.
There are a number of websites on smart growth.
Some of these explain the principles of smart growth and some belong to
organizations that are promoting smart growth:
http://www.smartgrowth.bc.ca/ ; http://www.smartgrowth.org/ ;
www.smartgrowthamerica.com/
http://www.1000friends.org/Smart%20growth%20overview%202001.htm;
http://www.agoregon.org/growth/population.asp
http://smartgrowth.wa.gov/
Others offer criticism of smart growth:
http://www.publicpurpose.com/pp-wtimes.htm
http://i2i.org/SuptDocs/Enviro/SmartGrowth.htm;
http://www.demographia.com/dm-nahb9804.htm
British Columbia growth strategies are described in the website for the
provincial government’s growth strategies office
http://www.marh.gov.bc.ca/GROWTH/ and at a University of Victoria website:
http://www.law.uvic.ca/~elp/smrtgrw.htm.