When horses and sprawl collide

You’ve probably read a lot of stories about suburban sprawl and its negative impact on communities and the environment.

But you’ve probably never read a sprawl story like this one written by Erica Meltzer in the Arizona Star. The story takes a look at the clash between horse stables and new housing being built near rural areas in Arizona.

As housing seemingly stretches across the entire state, horse-related businesses are finding it more difficult to operate without garnering complaints from their residential neighbors. The problem works the other way, too: Stables often illegally cross over into the property lines of homeowners. Then there’s the smell: Homeowners don’t like the odor of horses wafting through their backyards.

It’s another example, and a good one, of what happens when residential construction sprawls out of control. Add horse-business/homeowner clashes to long commute times, mind-numbingly ugly strip malls, over-large homes and lot sizes that are environmentally irresponsible.

I know it’s impossible to fight sprawl. If homeowners want to live in the middle of former cornfields, that’s their right. It just doesn’t make much sense to me.