ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.

The modern paradox of growth was the elephant in the room at last Tuesday night’s Dorr Township Planning Commission meeting.

This paradox is a two-stage process, the first being local government’s encouragement of growth and then being reluctant to allow it because of fears of urban sprawl.

It wasn’t that long ago, two years, that a special citizens’ roads committee was hailed for its successful efforts to get a three-mill request approved by voters to improve and pave roads in Dorr Township. I certainly was one of those who saluted Chairwoman Carolyn Sandel and her colleagues for spearheading the campaign and outlining carefully just what the added millage would buy.

The first major project approved was the paving of 144th Avenue, which indeed needed it sorely. Committee members explained that plans already were in place to widen and pave 18th Street north of 142nd Avenue, so nearby and intersecting 144th would be an important artery that needed to be upgraded.

One consequence of that improvement was a local resident asking the Planning Commission this week to allow him to split his land for perhaps another residence along 144th. What he asked for was perfectly in line with the township’s master plan and his rezoning request was permitted, but on an agonizing 4-3 vote.

The paving of 144th has made growth and development along that east-west corridor more attractive to people who live and there and to prospective business interests. So it should surprise no one that someone wants to do something about that.

Interestingly, three people in the audience, immediately after the 4-3 decision, promised they would make similar requests before the commission soon as a result. Ironically, two of those people came to the meeting to oppose the rezoning.

So commission members, many of whom were very supportive of fixing and paving Dorr Township’s roads, were placed in an awkward position of dealing with its consequences. And therein lies the growth paradox. It will have effects in the future, which cannot be stopped, but can be managed.