Influx of city dwellers in Western vacation towns triggers growing pains; new initiative aims to help local officials

When the pandemic hit, towns that rely heavily on tourist revenue had some of the highest infection rates in the nation. But now, such communities are facing a different issue: people looking to move away from big cities. 

"Now, many gateway communities are facing an entirely new problem: a flood of remote workers fleeing big cities to ride out the pandemic, perhaps permanently. Like oil discovery led to western boomtowns, the pandemic has led to the rise of 'Zoom Towns'—and with this so-called amenity migration comes a variety of challenges," Lisa Potter reports for science website Phys.org.

Towns suddenly inundated with new residents could experience problems such as skyrocketing housing costs and overcrowded schools, and local authorities may lack the capacity to deal with the new residents. A newly published paper in the Journal of the American Planning Association outlines such challenges in depth, gleaned from a 2018 survey of public officials in more than 1,200 Western communities, Potter reports.

"In an effort to help gateway communities and the regions around them plan for and respond to covid-19 and planning pressures, [researchers] have launched the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Initiative based at Utah State University in the Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. The GNAR Initiative will begin hosting a webinar series on amenity migration beginning Oct. 15."

The influx underlines the importance of quality broadband access in rural areas, since its availability could lure new residents to towns that need new blood badly.