In any discussion of growth, we need to know what we are talking about. And that would mean we need to look at some numbers. Here’s something I found at Wikipedia – the online encyclopedia regarding growth in the Eastern Panhandle:
The Eastern Panhandle is West Virginia’s fastest growing region in terms of population and housing growth. In July 2005, the United States Census Bureau released a list of the top 100 counties according to housing growth. Berkeley County grew 3.95 percent, from 36,365 housing units in 2003 to 37,802 units in 2004. That growth rate was 86th in the nation among the 3,141 United States counties. Jefferson County was not far behind at 88th in the nation. It grew 3.94 percent from 19,381 housing units in 2003 to 20,144 units in 2004.
These data are now almost 5 years old. It seems like so long ago, doesn’t it? Here are some relevant growth statistics for Jefferson County as they compare to our neighboring counties that can begin to put things in perspective. During the period of 2000-2008, the population of Jefferson grew by 20.5%. Here’s how we compared to neighboring counties: Berkeley grew much faster at 31.39%, so did Loudon County at 64.4%, Washington County MD grew at a rate of 10.2% and Frederick County MD grew at 15.6%. Population growth in Jefferson County has not been as robust as its neighboring counties in West Virginia and Virginia and comes off a smaller base. Further, it is becoming apparent that due to economic conditions, that growth has stalled. As is stated on page 12 of the Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan, “population forecasting is in inexact science”.
The current economic conditions have brought population growth in our current to a virtual standstill and I believe that it isn’t going to be resuming at a significant pace any time soon. Real estate sales in the county have languished for nearly two years, although in recent months there have been some signs of life. Tom Harding provides great information on this in the Shepherdstown Observer. The backlog of unsold homes has come down, but prices remain depressed and it still takes an average of over 3 months to sell a home.
Now that growth has come to a standstill – we try to think of ways to rekindle that growth. When the economy was growing rapidly and Jefferson County was experiencing its share of that growth, we worried that we couldn’t control it. Growth is organic, we cannot control it; we can only do our best to ensure that we have the right policies in place to let it happen when the conditions are right, and then to make the best of it when it happens.
Elliot Simon
Growth
In any discussion of growth, we need to know what we are talking about. And that would mean we need to look at some numbers. Here’s something I found at Wikipedia – the online encyclopedia regarding growth in the Eastern Panhandle:
The Eastern Panhandle is West Virginia’s fastest growing region in terms of population and housing growth. In July 2005, the United States Census Bureau released a list of the top 100 counties according to housing growth. Berkeley County grew 3.95 percent, from 36,365 housing units in 2003 to 37,802 units in 2004. That growth rate was 86th in the nation among the 3,141 United States counties. Jefferson County was not far behind at 88th in the nation. It grew 3.94 percent from 19,381 housing units in 2003 to 20,144 units in 2004.
These data are now almost 5 years old. It seems like so long ago, doesn’t it? Here are some relevant growth statistics for Jefferson County as they compare to our neighboring counties that can begin to put things in perspective. During the period of 2000-2008, the population of Jefferson grew by 20.5%. Here’s how we compared to neighboring counties: Berkeley grew much faster at 31.39%, so did Loudon County at 64.4%, Washington County MD grew at a rate of 10.2% and Frederick County MD grew at 15.6%. Population growth in Jefferson County has not been as robust as its neighboring counties in West Virginia and Virginia and comes off a smaller base. Further, it is becoming apparent that due to economic conditions, that growth has stalled. As is stated on page 12 of the Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan, “population forecasting is in inexact science”.
The current economic conditions have brought population growth in our current to a virtual standstill and I believe that it isn’t going to be resuming at a significant pace any time soon. Real estate sales in the county have languished for nearly two years, although in recent months there have been some signs of life. Tom Harding provides great information on this in the Shepherdstown Observer. The backlog of unsold homes has come down, but prices remain depressed and it still takes an average of over 3 months to sell a home.
Now that growth has come to a standstill – we try to think of ways to rekindle that growth. When the economy was growing rapidly and Jefferson County was experiencing its share of that growth, we worried that we couldn’t control it. Growth is organic, we cannot control it; we can only do our best to ensure that we have the right policies in place to let it happen when the conditions are right, and then to make the best of it when it happens.