Poverty with a View
Bill Cowan
years and I graduated from NAU in 1970 so I have been
an observer of Flagstaff since the population was
around 6,500 folks - most of whom knew each other.
I believe that Flagstaff has a unique history. The
population seems to double every ten years or so.
That means you have roughly half the folks in town who
know little of the history or have lived to see the
changes - and certainly a very small minority who were
actually born here. You add to that mix the number of
government employees, Forest Service, USGS, State,
County, City and University and you get some anomalies
in direction. I say this because they get a paycheck
that has nothing materially to do with what they
actually accomplish. This is not necessarily a
criticism of what they do but I don't think government
employees tend to think of costs the same way that
others do.
As an individual who has been in the local
construction industry for going on 40 years I can tell
you that one of the reasons for how expensive housing
is, is that Coconino County has grown into one of the
most highly regulated Environments in which to build
anywhere in the U. S.. The loads you are expected to
design for are so high the county has to adopt special
supplementary codes because they are not in any of the
national Uniform Building Code Books.
Our family owns a house that was built at Mormon Lake
in 1928. My mother bought that home in 1950. There
is no way that home could be built in Coconino County
today though it has served us well for 57 years. I
built a home in Munds Park in 1978 which complied with
all the regulations then in place. That home has
served me well for going on 30 years but that home too
could not be built today. All things being equal and
adjusting for inflation I would judge that housing
costs 30% more here then it did then, and currently 15
to 20% higher then it costs to build in Yavapai County
or in Navajo County.
You don't understand those issues if you have only
lived here 10 years.
For the last 25 years Coconino County has had some of
the most expensive subdivision regulations in the
state. This has done nothing but nurture land splits
instead of logical subdivisions and land in those
subdivisions tends to be higher then elsewhere. This
is in part because of the limited amount of land, but
it is also because of the tremendous costs associated
with meeting the regulations. Long time subdivisions
like Coconino which is in the City of Flagstaff or
Cheshire would not be allowed today. No straight
streets are allowed. This alone increases the
engineering costs unbelievably.
So you get what you get. Voters who don't understand
what it all means. Legislators who depend on a staff
that often has an agenda without a single certified
engineer on their staff, and more new folks coming all
the time.
Sounds like a recipe for Poverty with a View and I can
assure you it was much better to live in Flagstaff in
1967 then it is now.
Thanks,
Bill Cowan
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