The effects of constitutional limits on local government don't end with education. In the state's urban counties, sprawl has run amok. In Calhoun County, lack of zoning power is a problem, officials say, because with the impending redevelopment of former Fort McClellan, the region is on the brink of an economic resurgence. Without zoning power, growth in the county will be haphazard, officials say, as has already happened in the sprawling communities of Saks, Alexandria, Choccolocco, DeArmanville and White Plains. In 10 years, if we have a big mess here, we're going to be stuck with a big mess.
Officials can already point to myriad examples of the absence of planning.
A cell phone tower pops up on the mile stretch of Coleman Road that loops from Anniston out into the county and back again. The Platinum Club, a strip club, opens right in the middle of a residential neighborhood on Anniston's border. A businessman tries to open a pet cemetery and crematorium in the community of Nances Creek. The commission is powerless to stop it. But this time, community outrage sends the businessman packing.