While many congressmen discuss the problems associated with urban decay, Ed Fallon has a different concern — urban sprawl.

In a special interview held Wednesday morning, Fallon, (D) state representative for the 70th District, voiced his opinions about a problem he feels is now all too common in the American Farm Belt.

Fallon is president of a special commission committee that addresses problems associated with urban sprawl.

He said he feels more people are becoming sympathetic about the need to develop in the urban area.

Urban sprawl, Fallon said, is a development that is not compact and uses many resources, both in terms of land and human-made resources.

Fallon, who lives in downtown Des Moines, said the city has lost 16,000 people in the last 20 years due to the great migration to farmland and the suburbs.

Fallon said people’s personal preference of the countryside is a major problem in getting developers to look to the city.

“People have always wanted to move on to the next frontier,” Fallon said. “This is frontier country. Decades ago, when the neighbors got too close, within two or three miles, we’d just move on to the next countryside.”

Fallon said although this trend is inherently American, it has become more of a problem within the last 50 years, after the World World II G.I. Bill encouraged Americans to relocate to suburbia.

“People want it both ways,” Fallon said. “They want to have the beautiful country home but be able to commute to the city within 15 or 20 minutes.”

Fallon said this trend cannot afford to continue.

“That’s just not happening anymore,” Fallon said. “We’re getting to the point where land cannot be treated as an unlimited resource. We’ve got to start using our land more wisely and carefully.”

Fallon said there are currently 5,500 vacant lots in Des Moines that could be used for development. He said the large amount of empty space helps explain the 16,000 people who left Des Moines.

Fallon said there are numerous tax incentives that encourage development on farmland instead of looking to develop in an urban area. This is just one of the issues Fallon would like to see addressed in the near future.

“You could improve the quality of urban life immensely by encouraging developers to develop within the urban core,” Fallon said.

Fallon said developing in the countryside is more “marketable than developing in the urban area.” He also cited legalities such as the title of the land as one of the reasons more developers choose to develop in the suburbs.

“I think it’s very easy and appealing and affordable for people to move out of Des Moines into the suburbs,” Fallon said. “A developer will find it a lot cheaper to go out and develop a piece of farmland instead of dealing with rehabilitating older building and vacant lots [in the cities].”

Iowa is just beginning to see a “serious problem with this trend,” Fallon said. Last year, Polk County lost 4,000 farming acres to development. Fallon said the majority of the farmers he has spoken with are frustrated about the rapid development that occurs along their land.

“Some farmers would say ‘This is great, my land is now worth $8,000 an acre, and I’m going to sell and get out,'” Fallon said. He stressed for a lot of farmers, that simply is not the case.

Fallon said he is aware of cases in which golf courses are built next to farms and the farmer has to constantly worry about his cattle going on the course.

He also cited other incidents in which farmers sometimes have to combine in the middle of the night while their suburban neighbors expect quiet after 10 p.m.