ELK GROVE
Sacramento County city is nation’s fastest-growing
Census confirms status — police, builders, schools try to keep up
Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
(06-21) 04:00 PDT Elk Grove — Satjit Thind and his wife’s decision to buy a home in this booming city south of Sacramento is already paying dividends. Moving from Galt, a more rural town 12 miles away, Thind has seen the value of their home go up $20,000 in the two months since they made their purchase.
The Web site designer who works out of his home left the Bay Area two years ago because the couple couldn’t afford housing there, and the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that they aren’t alone.
Elk Grove was the fastest growing city in the United States from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, according to numbers being released today. The city moved up one notch from the previous 12-month period, surpassing Port St. Lucie, Fla., which is now ranked third.
Elk Grove was a sleepy agricultural area with a population of 50,000 just 15 years ago and became a city six years ago. Its population now has ballooned to more than 112,000, growing a whopping 12 percent in just one year.
The Central Valley is poised for even more growth. The state Department of Finance expects the region’s population to increase 104 percent from 2000 to 2040. This growth comes while some Bay Area cities are losing population. Census figures to be released today show Fremont’s population down 0.7 percent, Berkeley’s down 0.6 percent and Oakland shrinking 0.5 percent.
Along with the housing developments, Elk Grove has seen an increase in businesses, retail outlets and restaurants, as well as a surging school population, more crime and complaints about how well the stratospheric growth has been managed.
The development can be seen off every exit leading into Elk Grove from Highway 99. New housing developments with cookie-cutter designs and little landscaping stretch for miles while the main roads are lined with big box stores, strip malls, restaurants and office parks. Even City Hall is in an office park indistinguishable from the buildings around it except for the large city seal on the building.
Doug Goto, manager of an Elk Grove Home Depot, said business has boomed since his store opened in 2001.
“Newer homes need paint, window blinds, appliances and landscaping,” he said. “Homes that were built in the 1980s and ’90s are now going through updates.”
Goto has lived in Elk Grove for 15 years and said the city has expanded to the point of being indistinguishable from Sacramento.
“There used to be a buffer. This used to be a rural area and there was a detachment from Sacramento,” he said. “Now it’s exploded and just blends right in with south Sacramento.”
City officials pride themselves on having planned for the growth. New developments pay fees to offset the costs of new infrastructure, such as sewers and parks.
“The city council has implemented a progressive growth management strategy that ensures that new development can be accommodated and will only occur as new infrastructure is built,” city manager John Danielson said.
But some longtime residents don’t believe the city has done enough to curb the population explosion.
“This is not the place I intended to live when I moved here,” said Juanita Hufalar, who moved to Elk Grove 15 years ago when the town was still more rural than residential.
Hufalar said the change happened quickly as transplants from the Bay Area and southern California moved in seeking bigger houses at affordable prices.
“I wish the growth had been more controlled,” she said.
Tyra Williams and her family are one of the transplants. Williams, 17, said her family moved from Richmond six months ago because it’s cheaper to live in Elk Grove. Her mother commutes to Concord for her job.
Williams said her high school is on the verge of being crowded but isn’t too bad yet. She also appreciates the diversity but did have one complaint.
“It’s too hot,” she said on an afternoon when the mercury was approaching 100 degrees.
Susan Buder agrees. “The weather sucks,” she said. Buder moved from Marin five years ago to be close to family. “Like going from heaven to hell,” she said. But she was able to buy three houses in Elk Grove after selling in Marin. Even though home prices are stabilizing, she said the growth in the area seems to continue unabated.
The Elk Grove school district, which also encompasses other parts of Sacramento County, has seen explosive growth as the community has boomed. There are now in excess of 60,000 children in the schools, with a growth rate that was hitting 3,000 a year for 10 years, said Constantine Baranoff, an associate superintendent for the school district.
That growth — which led to four new schools per year being opened on average — has slowed, though. The district took in only 1,800 new students this year and is anticipating just 760 more next year. With the growth has come diversity — there are 80 languages spoken in Elk Grove schools and just 34 percent of the students are white.
All those students do more than just fill up classrooms, though, Elk Grove Police Chief Bob Simmons said.
“The kids and summer months creates a whole other set of enforcement problems,” he said. “There are a lot of issues with teenage drivers, accidents and kids committing different levels of crime.”
Overall, Simmons said the “crime rate has grown consistent with the population growth.”
The Elk Grove Police Department is brand new. The city used to contract from the county for its police protection but created its own force of 112 sworn officers in the past year.
E-mail Lynda Gledhill at lgledhill@sfchronicle.com.
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