An Honorable Distinction?

Davis County has recently received the honorable distinction of being the county that is ranked first in the entire United States for homes with 4 bedrooms or more.

Of course, to those of us who have witnessed the explosive growth and encroachment of Davis County suburbs, this comes as no surprise. Huge McMansions are crammed together on what was once open farmland, coming closer and closer to the important wetlands of the Great Salt Lake.

Sure, Utah families are some of the largest in the nation, but according to the article "In much of the country, the growth in big houses is fueled by suburban homebuyers seeking luxury, rather than big families needing space." I wonder if this is true in Utah? I have only one personal example:

My sister and her husband are currently on home #3 in Davis County with four or more bedrooms. They have made a habit of building large homes, staying a few years, selling, and building an even larger home somewhere else. This for their family of 4. Certainly they do not have a need for 4 plus bedrooms. I wonder how many other families are following the same path?

The McMansion trend is destructive not only environmentally but in terms of building communities. They are thrown up haphazardly with little thought for infrastructure, they encourage isolation by their design, and they suck up energy and water in a West that is struggling for both.