Wednesday, April 14, 2004
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Wednesday, April 14, 2004 |
Slow growth has arrived in FayetteBy J. FRANK LYNCH Slow growth has arrived in Fayette County, according to the latest population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fayette was one of the nation’s top 10 counties in skyrocketing growth rates. A decade later, Fayette’s growth rate of 8.4 percent over the 39 month period from April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2003 places it among the slowest growing of all metro Atlanta’s second-tier counties. Only Rockdale County, with a growth rate of 6.9 percent, expanded slower than Fayette. As of July 1 of last year, Fayette’s population was estimated at 98,914, just 7,651 more people than were counted on April 1, 2000. Brian Cardoza, executive director of the Fayette County Development Authority for just seven months, confessed seeing such “slow growth” numbers in a close-in metro Atlanta county is unusual, but suggested it’s the result of years of long-range, slow-growth planning on the part of county leadership. “I’m a little handicapped in knowing what is considered growth in this community, but I know in the past there has been a slow-growth attitude and this shows it’s working,” said Cardoza. “If you listen to the traffic reports in the morning, where is it coming from? West out of Douglas, north out of Forsyth.” “Our goal here is to grow at a manageable pace each year and to keep the industrial and employment growth here at a rate that will keep jobs here and prevent those kinds of commutes,” Cardoza said. Coweta County, meanwhile, continued to surpass Fayette in numbers of residents, growing to 101,395 people. That’s an increase of 12,180 since 2000, or 13.7 percent. And Henry County, where development shows no signs slowing, reached another milestone when it grew to 150,003, according to the Census. Since April 1, 2000, Henry has added 30,662 people, more than four times the number of newcomers to Fayette. Of Fayette’s increase, 6,455 were believed added through net migration, defined as new residents moving into the county, the majority from neighboring states, the Census reported. Just 730 newcomers to Fayette since 2000 have come via immigration. Since April 1, 2000 there have been 1,773 deaths in Fayette County, but another 2,905 births for a net natural increase of 1,132. In the bigger picture, half of the nation’s 10 fastest-growing counties between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2003, were located in Georgia, according to census tabulations released last week. Another 15 Georgia counties ranked among the top 100 in growth nationwide since the last Census count, including neighboring Coweta and nearby Henry. But Fayette County didn’t come anywhere close to making the list of Georgia’s fastest growing counties, much less the fastest growing in the nation, according to the Census figures. According to the estimates, the fastest growing counties in Georgia were Chattahoochee, Forsyth, Henry, Newton and Paulding, all with growth rates above 20 percent. Next were Texas (12 counties) and Florida (nine counties). Douglas, Colo. (near Denver), ranked No. 3 in growth at 27.1 percent. Rockwell, Texas (near Dallas), fourth with a rate of 26.8 percent; Flagler, Fla. (just north of Daytona Beach), seventh with 24.8 percent; and Kendall, Ill. (in the Chicago area), 10th at 22 percent, rounded out the top 10. Los Angeles, Calif., continued to be the most populous county in the nation, with 9.9 million residents. It also gained the most residents with an increase of 352,000 over the 39-month period. Among the highlights: • Of the 100 fastest-growing counties, 60 were located in the South, 20 in the West, 18 in the Midwest and two in the Northeast. • Of the 100 most populous counties, 32 were located in the South, 27 in the Northeast, 25 in the West and 16 in the Midwest. • Fulton remained Georgia’s most populous county with 818,322, ranking 58th nationwide. But DeKalb and Gwinnett are now literally tied neck-and-neck for No. 2 in the state, with fewer than 1,000 residents separating the two. The Census said DeKalb had 674,334 people on July 1 of last year, while Gwinnett was estimated at 674,335. • Along with Coweta County, both Douglas County and Paulding County also broke the 100,000 mark for Georgia counties, the Census reported. As of last year, Douglas had 102,015 residents, while Paulding, a fast-growing suburb north of Douglas and west of Cobb County, counted 100,071. To further shed light on Georgia’s remarkable rankings, the Census also reported that: • Twenty states did not have any counties that made the list of the 100 most populous. • Twenty-one states did not have any counties among the 100 fastest-growing. • While Georgia’s growth in recent years has appeared concentrated in metro Atlanta, counties in every region of the state exhibited some type of marked population growth, as reflected by those that made the top 20 nationally: Chattahoochee County near Columbus, home to the huge Ft. Benning Army base (29.9 percent, 2nd nationally); Lee County, a suburb of Albany (14.8 percent growth, 51st nationwide); Effingham County (13.8 percent growth, 65th nationally) and Bryan County (12.5 percent growth, 89th nationally), regions of the state exhibited some type of marked increases, the Census numbers suggest.
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