In a democracy, the will of the people is sometimes going to frustrate common sense.

I think that's what we saw happen Wednesday night in East Hempfield Township.

The supervisors voted 5-0 to pull the plug on a forward-looking development concept known as traditional neighborhood design or TND.

They did so after residents came out in force last month to urge rejection of seemingly any growth-management concept with a whiff of creativity about it.

Lots of people in East Hempfield like their plot of dirt in their copycat subdivision and think life can't get any better.

That's fine, except too many refuse to see that replication of a lifestyle symbolized by cathedral ceilings and Lawn Doctor is not sustainable.

Go on putting a house on every half acre and a Wawa at each intersection, and at some point we run out of land.

As tragic as the disappearance of Lancaster County's farming landscape and economy would be, there's another downside to sprawling on and on in conventional suburban patterns.

Fear won out

Because suburbanites must jump into cars to make any trip beyond getting the mail, they contribute to time-robbing congestion, global warming and our nation's Achilles' heel: dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

There's even evidence suburbia is making us chubby.

Traditional neighborhood design could be an antidote to the perpetuation of suburban dysfunction.

The idea is to create places that have the ambiance of a small town with a mix of homes, shops and offices along a pleasing, walkable streetscape.

Think downtown Lititz, but without a state highway running through it, and you get some idea of the charming possibilities.

But to hear some East Hempfield residents talk, TND would undermine civilization as we know it.

They associate a TND with an influx of strangers who don't make enough for a home on a half-acre lot. And those strangers will bring along their kids. And those kids will have to be educated. And that will cost money.

And some of those strangers might — yikes! — commit crimes.

Residents whipped each other into such a frenzy of fear that they stampeded the East Hempfield supervisors into rejecting a concept worth considering and refining, and they did so before the voices of reason could clear their throats.

The irrational nature of some of the objections was reflected by supervisor Heidi Wheaton when she said, "I see this TND as destroying our quality of life that we enjoy here." You'd think Darth Vader's Death Star had pulled into Earth orbit.

Lesson learned?

So what now for the prospects of smart growth in Lancaster County? Will it remain just a noble idea enshrined in planning documents municipal leaders retreat from anytime the natives grow restless?

"That's how these things sometimes go," said county planning director and TND supporter James Cowhey the day after the vote. "But in the discussions I've had this morning, folks are determined to make sure we're getting the message out why more efficient use of land is needed for the future of Lancaster County."

Mark Stivers, East Hempfield's planning director, said his marching orders are to start work on new zoning and subdivision ordinances that achieve the goals of a TND — denser development, walkable neighborhoods, mixed uses — without actually having a TND.

If that's, in fact, what happens, then Wednesday's vote won't represent a total loss, said Richard Jackson, president of Coalition for Smart Growth.

Also coming out of the East Hempfield experience is a lesson on what's needed to combat the forces of the status quo.

From this setback smart growth advocates might obtain a clearer lay of the land.

E-mail: jhawkes@lnpnews.com