Douglas a retirement hot spot by any name

When bizjournals.com named the Gardnerville Ranchos the hottest retirement area in the United States, they included all Douglas County residents in their calculations.

In a story written by G. Scott Thomas, the Web site claims the senior population in Gardnerville Ranchos has increased by 45 percent between 2000 and 2005, nine times the national growth rate. An estimated 19 percent of the residents are 65 and older and the number of seniors increased faster than the number of children, according to the article.

Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District Manager Bob Spellberg said he learned the district was selected by bizjournals.com from the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce.

On Friday, Spellberg testified in front of the Governmental Affairs committee of the Legislature about the Ranchos.

"We gave them one of our fliers and included it in our testimony," he said. "They wanted to know a little bit from different areas of the state. I'm proud and the district's proud of where we live."

Spellberg was invited to testify by Douglas County's lobbyist, Mary Walker.

Spellberg pointed out that the total 2005 population of the Ranchos listed by the Web site is way off at 47,017.

The Gardnerville Ranchos had a little more than 11,000 residents in the 2000 Census and approached build-out with only a few smaller developments around the edges in the last five years.

The reason for the discrepancy is that according to the federal government, the Gardnerville Ranchos and Douglas County are interchangeable when it comes to micropolitan areas.

According to the State and Metropolitan Data Book: 2006, downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the Gardnerville Ranchos and Douglas County have been listed as the same since 1990.

Since the source for all of the factors included in the bizjournals.com study is the U.S. Census Bureau the article appears to refer to the entire county.

The Record-Courier has made an attempt to contact bizjournals.com via e-mail.

The Gardnerville Ranchos is Douglas County's largest single community, located south of Gardnerville. However, it is rarely listed on maps of the state.