I just don't get it

Where I live is a suburban area. People have moved out of the city to get away from the clogged streets and bad air, and all the other crappy things associated with city living. Some people thrive on that stuff. me.... well, not so much. I live here only for the moment, and cause I have to. Given a choice, I'd be out in the middle of the country, living off the farm, growing all my own food. Including my meat and milk, and all that other good stuff. But I don't live there and I have to deal with this crappy place. Lots of my friends love it here, everything is close, not too expensive compared to other places in the US. But!!!! And it's a big BUT, you HAVE to drive EVERYWHERE!! The stupid city planners have no clue what the heck they are doing! It's all about building, building, building, go, go, go, go, have to put crap up as fast as you can, kill all the trees. Sorry, went off on a tangent there. I just get so blasted mad at the idiocy. I mean, really, is it so bad to have green space around? i just saw a sign for 14 acres zoned MHD, I'm guessing that is multi housing development. The 14 acres are currently covered in trees and grasses. The thing is, all the little townships all have different zoning laws and regulations, and no one has a comprehensive plan as to go about the development. It's cheaper here, and in most other places to develop raw land than it is to redevelop or renovate. WHY??!!!!! What a waste, the infrastructure is already there, but the townships or counties make it impossible to recycle old buildings. If I was a developer I would pick the cheaper place to build too, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Part of my ranting about this is that this year there is a lake in the area that is being drained and dredged. It USED to be 75 acres and 12 feet deep. It isn't anymore. The lake has lost over 15 acres in size and the average depth is less than 6feet. The lake has shrunk because of all the sediment that has been washed into it. Uh, do we see a problem here? Yes, they are going to dredge is and it will look all nice and pretty and people can go out canoeing or fishing or whatever on the lake, BUT, since they haven't fixed the stupid cause/problem in the first place, in another 15 years they are going to have to do it again. UH, DUH!!!!! Hellllllllloooooooooooo, is anyone getting this? The project is costing the county and the federal government, cause the Army Corps of Engineers is doing it and paying half or something, millions of dollars. Millions!!! And yet, if they would have thought about it before they probably could have saved a few bucks by planning a little better. I understand that the area needs businesses and that's the only way you get money, from taxes. But come on, there has got to be a better way that building on every last stinking piece of green space that we have left. Leave the 14 acres, leave the 15 acres, LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!! jeez. There are empty houses all over this town, I'm sure someone will find a house they like from the ones that are all empty. Ya really don't need to build new ones that few people can afford anyway. The EPA has enacted the MS4 for smaller areas. It's the municipal separate storm sewer system. Phase I was started in 1990 and large cities had to treat there storm water before it was released into a receiving body. In 1999 Phase II was started. Want to know why? Because Phase I wasn't enough. The amount of crap that was going into lakes and rivers wasn't going down. Phase II is for smaller municipalities and areas outside a city center. So part of this MS4 Phase II thing is to reduce the amount of runoff from storms, and to treat what does run off. Uh, okay, so if we want to REDUCE runoff, don't you think we should, um, NOT put anymore pavement in the area? As I mentioned before you have to drive everywhere in this town, there are no sidewalks, so if someone where to build a new development or store the amount of pavement would increase. Which increases runoff, and a whole host of other issues. I've had enough of this topic for now. I'll let you in on another rant in a while :) Have a great New Year!