Jul. 25--In a recession, attracting new jobs to the region naturally becomes a top priority.

So it's no surprise that a recent poll shows employment is the public's No. 1 local concern, with education not far behind. Education is an essential ingredient of job creation.

But the regional poll also shows that residents of the Tampa Bay area understand that smart planning and preservation of key natural areas are necessary if economic growth is to bring lasting improvement. The recent drought and the restrictions on sprinkling lawns and washing cars provided a painful lesson in the consequences of growth that outpaces the resources needed to support it.

Residents not only put a high priority on protecting water resources, they also want to concentrate growth to minimize additional loss of wetlands.

The poll, done in June for One Bay by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, found almost no support in the seven-county region for continued development of low-density suburbs. It also found that we aren't too worried about the cost of living (inflation is low), crime (which is under control), or housing choices (with a surplus of houses on the market.)

What worries us is water: 81 percent of the 1,100 people interviewed say drinking water resources must be preserved. Policymakers should understand the message that although the region does need jobs, folks don't want wetlands filled in or recharge areas paved over.

The survey is part of One Bay's effort to picture the future most people would prefer for the urban area. The One Bay group includes the Tampa Bay Partnership Regional Research & Education Foundation, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the Urban Land Institute Tampa Bay District Council.

The vision beginning to emerge is not the sprawling pattern that has developed in the past few decades.

Of four choices offered for growth, low-density suburbia scores lowest. The highest support -- 35 percent -- is for directing growth into mixed-used communities near downtown centers.

Also scoring well with about 28 percent support is building along transportation corridors and redeveloping existing communities, an approach not substantially different from the most popular one. Only about 19 percent favor more apartments and high-rise condominiums, and 12 percent prefer more suburban growth. Six percent aren't sure.

The results confirm public support for managing growth, that is, for refusing to allow growth anywhere at any price.

The survey also indicates the public understands something the Legislature doesn't. Growth doesn't always pay for itself, because the taxes from new subdivisions don't soon cover all the public costs of the infrastructure the new residents immediately need.

A state formula designed to limit increases in local property tax revenue to the sum of wage growth plus new construction could eventually cause additional shortfalls where new roads, libraries, parks and other services are needed right away.

Hillsborough County, for example, had seen healthy increases in population growth and tax revenue until the recession began, but the cumulative effect of more rooftops has been a backlog in services, especially roads and transit, and, depending on the weather, water.

The public is sending a clear message through the One Bay survey than we can and must do better.

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