Time to strikedeal on growth

On Thursday Douglas County commissioners will discuss the county's future involvement in the legal proceedings surrounding the Sustainable Growth Initiative.

Initiative supporters are calling for the county to stop spending public money fighting the county's electorate.

Detractors will no doubt pressure the county to stay in the game.

Either way, the people of Douglas County will end up losing out as they continue to wonder whether the growth cap will be approved, something that will affect every homeowner living here.

Rather than seeing this as a victory or a defeat, we would suggest that perhaps it is time to negotiate an end to the battle.

It has been three years since District Judge Michael Gibbons ruled against the initiative. There is no reason to believe there will be another three years before the issue comes up for another ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court.

During that time, growth will be determined by the marketplace, not the people of Douglas County or their representatives.

Rather than struggle in court for the better part of a decade, perhaps the people would be better served by a negotiation that sets a reasonable growth limit.

It has long been our contention that no one is served by unregulated growth. Realtors don't sell houses here by running pictures of housing tracts. It is the green fields and beautiful landscapes that make the Carson Valley such a desirable place to live.

Crowded highways and stretched services are not the sort of things people look for when they seek a new place to live.

Continuing to battle this issue in court makes initiative proponents look stubborn and opponents look greedy. We believe these appellations do nothing to solve the problem.

There are reasonable people on both sides of this issue and now is the time to begin negotiating a settlement that works for both sides and for the future of Carson Valley.