I think that being under or over built is relative and depends on who you talk to. The environmentalist thinks that Montana could use some more open space, while a developer or economist could see packing 3-5 million more people into SD County. If we are so over-built, why are organizations like SCAG and SANDAG predicting massive increases in population at least until 2030? Why does CalTrans have plans to potentially widen I-5 to as many as 8 or even 10 lanes on each side?
I don’t have hard data at this point, but I believe that there is more than plenty of open space and “room” to develop and create more housing in SD County…tons of it in fact. A huge reason why people are leaving SD is because it is so freaking expensive to live here and wages are average at best! Huge rent and mortgage payments go without saying. $3.50 gas is another big factor because you MUST have a car in order to make it out here! Smog, hot weather (inland), traffic, etc…these also help explain the exodus.
The influx of (legal) population is due IMHO to opportunity and weather, in that order. But when wages are stagnant and transplants can only afford to live an apartment in the hotter inland towns, if that, why not go to a cheaper state?
