Nevada had three of the nation's 10 fastest-growing counties between 2004 and 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week.
Lyon and Storey counties, both neighbors of Washoe County and Carson City, and Southern Nevada's Nye County had population increases of more than 7 percent, according to an annual estimate released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
It was the fourth year in a row that Lyon County was the fastest growing county in Nevada. Of all of the nation's 3,141 counties, Lyon County was third fastest growing. The U.S. Census Bureau released an analysis of the growth of counties with a population of 10,000 or more and Lyon County ranked second in per-capita growth among counties that size.
Clark County, which held the title of Nevada's fastest-growing county for several years before Lyon County, dropped to the fifth-fastest growing county in the state in the census figures. White Pine County was the fourth fastest growing in Nevada and 46th nationally.
More than six of every 10 new Lyon County residents between July 2004 and July 2005 moved into Fernley, according to estimates by State Demographer Jeff Hardcastle. Fernley has grown by 4.3 percent or more each year going back to 1996, Hardcastle said.
Fernley used to grow because it was a bedroom community to Reno, Hardcastle said. Now its growth is because of industrial parks being developed in Fernley and in Storey County, Hardcastle said.
Fernley Mayor David Stix Jr. said evidence of Fernley's booming population includes more retail development and projects by the Nevada Department of Transportation to deal with increased traffic. NDOT is building a traffic roundabout in Fernley and is widening U.S. 50 Alternate.
"I grew up here," Stix said. "It used to be you could pull up onto virtually any road without looking. But those days are over."
Dick Jackson operates the Fernley insurance business his father started during World War II on Fernley's main street. As little as a few years ago, the traffic on the street was calm during the middle of the day, Jackson said.
"Now they're backed up in the middle of the day as far as you can see," Jackson said. And traffic is also backed up onto Interstate 80 as far as a mile in late afternoon and early evening as workers return home, Jackson said.
And the sleepy farm town where he used to harvest hay as a boy has turned into a driver's nightmare as it takes as much as 25 minutes to drive two miles across town through all the traffic, he said.
"There's no one really to blame for the traffic problems," Jackson said. "I think the growth is there and the city can't build the infrastructure to keep up with it."
Another example of the growth: As recently as a few years ago, there were only two insurance agencies in Fernley, Jackson said. Now there's eight or nine.
Jackson says he sees two types of newcomer walk in to buy insurance. The young families are one type.
"They're 27-year-old married couples with two kids, two jobs and two jet skis," he said. They're attracted to Fernley because housing prices are too high in the Truckee Meadows.
The others are older couples, usually from California, age 51 to 65, whose youngest child is usually in college. They sold their home for a million dollars or close to it. "They can come to Fernley and buy a bigger, nicer house for $300,000 or $400,000," Jackson said.
The growth in Fernley is strong enough that Washoe Health Systems, which owns Washoe Medical Center, decided to more than double its facility in Fernley from 3,600 square feet to 7,500 square feet, said Walter Davis, Washoe Health Systems vice president. The new facility, which opens May 15, can expand another 7,500 square feet after that.
Davis said they noticed they began to run out of space at the current Fernley facility about two years ago and decided to look for a place to expand. The number of physicians at the primary and urgent care facility in Fernley will increase from one to three, he said.
Wade Development of Reno is developing the 5,000-acre industrial park in Fernley called Crossroads Commerce Center. It already has developed about 500 acres and brought about 3,500 jobs so far, said Patty Wade-Snyder, president of Wade Development.
"We're just getting started," Wade-Snyder said.
She thinks the growth will continue in Fernley for the next 10 to 15 years in large part because there's a lot of businesses that can move there from California and still do business in that state.
"We call them the California refugees," Wade-Snyder said. "They're looking for less red tape. They're looking for a better business environment and less traffic."
While industry is driving Fernley growth, growth in the Dayton area is driven by its more affordable housing, Wade-Snyder said. Wade Development also have a housing development in that area.
"Everyone knows Fernley is growing rapidly, but the whole Highway 50 corridor from Dayton to Silver Springs is exploding as well," said Lyon County Manager Donna Kristaponis.
There's actually five population centers in the 2,400 square miles of Lyon County, Kristaponis said: Fernley, Dayton, Silver Springs, Yerington and Smith Valley. That makes it more expensive to deliver services. Many of the other rapidly growing counties in the nation have done this before, but it's all new for Lyon County, Kristaponis said.
"It's an advantage, because we learn from the mistakes of the others and hopefully can try to do it better," Kristaponis said. "It's a disadvantage because everything is so much more expensive than it used to be."