Head count

Fairfield County reversed a two-year decline in population, adding just over 1,000 residents between July 2006 and July 2007, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The county had 895,000 residents as of last July, about 800 fewer than its record high in 2004; and 12,450 more than it had in April 2000 following the most recent census.

The Census Bureau publishes annual revisions based on statistical models that showed declines in Fairfield County”™s residential base in 2005 and 2006. Policymakers and business people feared the trend highlighted a chink in the county”™s otherwise formidable economic engine: absurdly expensive housing costs that discouraged young professionals from accepting jobs here. According to University of New Haven researchers, since 1990 Connecticut”™s population between the ages of 25 and 34 has dropped 30 percent.

In 2006, in just 15 Connecticut municipalities the median resident”™s income qualified that person to purchase a median-price home in that locale, according to David Fink, policy director of the Partnership for Strong Communities. Since 2000, he added, Connecticut housing prices have risen more than 70 percent.

Partnership for Strong Communities hopes to find a way to increase Connecticut”™s residential construction by half to 15,000 units annually.

Fink cites Bethel and Darien as examples of towns statewide that have successfully developed affordable, mixed-income neighborhoods. He proposes the state create “incentive housing zones” that would allow towns to control the location, number and appearance of residential clusters.

With similar goals in mind, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has argued for additional funding to promote “responsible growth” projects that concentrate residential housing near rail stations and commercial zones.

 

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Last month, a task force adopted a formal definition of responsible growth and recommended municipal zoning regulations be adjusted to reflect its precepts, which include:

Ӣ redeveloping existing properties before building new ones in undeveloped areas;

Ӣ revitalizing cities to take advantage of their existing infrastructure;

”¢ supporting developments that are “compact” and reflective of village-style centers;

Ӣ supporting job opportunities in such areas; and

Ӣ expanding land conservation efforts;

The task force”™s members included Joe McGee, vice president of the Business Council of Fairfield County; and Natalie Ketcham, a selectman from Redding. Steve Soler, whose Georgetown Land Development Corp. is redeveloping a 55-acre former mill site in Redding, testified to the committee.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton is leading a separate blue-ribbon commission on housing and economic development, created by the Connecticut General Assembly.

Fairfield County continues to trail its neighboring counties in growth. Westchester County, N.Y., added 3,000 residents over the intervening year, giving it 951,300 total; while New Haven County added 2,000 to up its population to 845,500.

Excluding Louisiana parishes that are recovering displaced residents following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the fastest-growing county in the nation was Pinal County, Ariz., at 11.5 percent; remarkably, Maricopa County, Ariz. added 102,000 residents in the course of a year, making it the top numerical gainer.

Since 2000, Maricopa County has added 808,000 residents; measured by percentage growth, Kendall County, Ill. is the fastest growing in the nation with population growth of 78 percent during that period.