Here are some random thoughts about gas prices and the future of the City of Peoria that I wanted to throw out there for your consideration.

Gas prices are now $4.09 per gallon in Peoria. It’s not a record high, but it’s getting close.

Have the higher gas prices changed how much you drive? Do you consciously try to make fewer trips, or shorter trips in the car? I do. If it hasn’t made any difference to you yet, how high would gas prices need to go–or how long would they have to stay high–to force you to rethink your driving habits? Or to perhaps buy a more fuel-efficient car?

Or what about more drastic actions? How high would gas have to get before you decided to move closer to where you work? Or closer to where you shop for groceries?

In fact, how long before the demand for more efficient, mixed-use, compact neighborhoods rises enough to change residential development patterns in Peoria?

The fact is, the City of Peoria should be thinking about changing their development patterns right now. Well, yesterday, really. As you watch the digital numbers rise at blazing speed at the gas pump these days, have you ever thought about the tremendous cost of high gas prices to the City? All those police cars, fire trucks, city buses, school buses, snow plows, code enforcers, road maintenance vehicles, ambulances, garbage trucks, etc.? You know all those costs get passed on to you in the form of taxes and (ahem) “fees.”

And how about those infrastructure costs? The cost to maintain all the roads and bridges and, where they exist, sidewalks gets higher and higher per capita the bigger be get without growing in population. Yet instead of maintaining the streets we have and seeking to increase density there, we’re instead spending millions (in a combination of state, federal, and local money) to build an extension to Pioneer Parkway and an extension to Orange Prairie Road.

A 50-plus-square-mile sprawling city of 130,000 residents is only sustainable as long as gas is cheap and abundant and the population growth is proportionate to land area growth. It’s a fact that population growth has not kept up with our land growth. Now if gas ceases to be cheap and abundant, our city is really going to be in a world of hurt, as it is almost completely reliant on motor transportation.

The City supposedly has a sustainability commission. They were established in 2008, and a website went up in 2009. Have you ever heard anything about them since then? Has the City Council solicited their input on any of the road projects that have come before them? Has the Planning Commission solicited their opinion on any of the retail or residential developments that have come before them? Has the Planning & Growth Department solicited their opinion on any changes they’ve made recently to the Land Development Code or Zoning ordinance?

My guess is the Sustainability Commission gets about as much respect and consideration as the now-defunct Heart of Peoria Commission did. It’s there for window dressing.

The time is now to start planning for a sustainable city. The built environment doesn’t change overnight. It changes little by little, over many years. Let’s get serious and start planning–and becoming–a sustainable future for our City now.