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HERE's a question for you: "What is the most important and unique thing about the region where you live that contributes to your and your families' quality of life?"
Mason-Dixon Polling & Research posed that question two weeks ago to 300 residents of six Piedmont localities--the cities of Fredericksburg and Charlottesville and the counties of Spotsylvania, Orange, Culpeper and Albemarle.
The answer chosen by 47 percent of the respondents from a list of five categories was the small town and rural setting of where they live.
Another 31 percent chose the region's natural resources, environment and natural beauty.
So, if the results of the poll reflect reality, a total of 77 percent of residents believe the region's long-standing character--its towns, farms, rivers and woodlands--is integral to the quality of their lives.
The other categories were schools/education (15 percent); economy/jobs/economic development opportunities (2 percent); and cultural, shopping and entertainment opportunities (1 percent).
Unfortunately, the region's character is destroyed daily as population growth spawns ill-planned housing and commercial developments.
Corridors of sprawl fan out from cities and towns. Farms disappear, and tracts of woodland along highways fall like dominoes. As a result, traffic gets heavier, air dirtier and the pace of life faster and more frustrating.
Quality of life, in other words, declines.
I occasionally hear from people who like the changes.
Daily I hear complaints.
Are there still some local and state politicians aware of the rising wave of discontent? If so, their chances of re-election might improve if they read the poll results.
Voters were asked: "How important a factor will a candidate's position on growth, land use and curbing sprawl be in your decision on whom you vote for in the next local and statewide election?"
Ninety-two percent of the respondents in the Fredericksburg-to-Charlottesville region said it would be an important factor. Eight percent said growth issues would not be an important issue for them.
No other region had a higher percentage of people saying growth issues will be an important consideration the next time they walk into the voting booth. Statewide, 81 percent of those telephoned said growth would be an important issue.
The Mason-Dixon firm regularly conducts polls in Virginia for a variety of clients, including politicians, newspapers and corporations. The Jan. 14-21 poll about quality of life and growth was commissioned by three groups: the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Virginians are becoming less satisfied with their lives, said Mason-Dixon's Larry Harris at a State Capitol press conference on Tuesday.
The 300 people telephoned in the Central Piedmont were among the total of 1,194 Virginians questioned on the issue. Of those, 77 percent said they are satisfied with the quality of their lives. When the polling firm asked the same question two years ago, 86 percent were satisfied.
Sprawl, traffic and a decline in the environment are the main complaints.
Statewide, 43 percent of voters polled said those three factors are causing a decline in their quality of life.
In the region stretching from Fredericksburg to Charlottesville, however, the figure was 66 percent. It was 85 percent in Northern Virginia--the direction from which growth sprawls down into the Fredericksburg area.
Consequently, Fredericksburg-area residents are likely to suffer further declines in the quality of their lives.
At some point, Harris said, that dissatisfaction will spark choices voters make in local and statewide elections. "Is this going to be the year when they start connecting the dots and start expressing themselves in the voting booth?" he asks.
Slow-growth candidates in some localities already are replacing politicians who fail to understand the attitudinal change in Virginia, Harris said. That has happened in Fredericksburg and in Stafford and Spotsylvania counties.
In the Fredericksburg-to-Charlottesville region, 89 percent of voters telephoned said they are either very concerned or concerned about the impact of land-use policies in their region or county. The statewide figure was 80 percent.
Those polled were also asked: "If current growth and land-use policies continue over the next five years, would you say the quality of life in your region/county will improve, deteriorate or stay about the same?"
"Deteriorate," said 75 percent of those polled in the Fredericksburg-to-Charlottesville region. Only 6 percent said current growth policies will improve their quality of life.
Statewide, 58 percent said current growth policies will result in a deterioration. Ten percent thought current policies will lead to an improvement.
The poll results indicate that Virginians want the state General Assembly to provide local governments with more growth-management tools. Seventy-seven percent said lawmakers should adopt so-called "smart growth" legislation.
There apparently will be little or no progress in that regard during the current session of the Virginia General Assembly. Efforts by some legislators--including Sens. John Chichester and Edd Houck--are being shuffled over to various state commissions that talk but can't do anything.
Houck and Chichester are in touch with voters--77 percent of whom in the Fredericksburg-to-Charlottesville region said they are less likely to vote for any candidate who opposes growth-management legislation.
LARRY EVANS can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; by fax at 373-8455; by phone at 374-5409; or by e-mail at levans@freelancestar.com.