Lincoln fastest-growing city in 2005

Placer County's population took another jump upward this past year, with Lincoln continuing to lead the way for cities with a state-leading percentage gain, new state Depart-ment of Finance figures show.Statistics released this week show Placer County was the fifth fastest-growing county on a percentage basis last year - growing 2.6 percent while increasing from 308,431 to 316,508 people.Lincoln led the state as the fastest-growing city on a percentage basis - jumping from 27,408 to 33,589 residents to post a 22.6 percent gain. Placer Population: Lincoln leads the wayThe city of Lincoln in Placer County experienced the state's fastest growth rate in 2005 at 22.6 percent, increasing its population to 33,589 by the start of the year. California's largest city - Los Angeles - had the largest numeric increase of 41,357. Los Angeles added 12,680 housing units and has a total population of 3.98 million. In theory, it could reach 4 million this year. Over the past six years, since the 2000 census, the top four fastest growing cities have been Lincoln (199.8 percent), Murrieta and Beaumont in Riverside County (109.9 and 103.3 percent respectively), and Brentwood in Contra Costa County (96.9 percent). Of 478 California cities, 357 gained population, eight (including Auburn), experienced no change, and the remaining 113 (including Colfax and Rocklin) lost population. California's county populations range this year from a low of 1,241 in Alpine County (east of Sacramento on the Nevada border) to more than 10.2 million in Los Angeles. The ranking of the state's 10 most populated counties remains the same as a year ago: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Clara, Alameda, Sacramento, Contra Costa and Fresno. All but Fresno have one million residents. Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the nation, accounts for more than 27 percent of the state's population. Only seven states have more population than Los Angeles County. Almost half of the state resides in four counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino. Yuba (3.6 percent), Riverside (3.4 percent) and Imperial (3.1 percent) counties each grew by three percent or more during 2005. Placer - at 2.6 percent - was among eight that had growth rates of more than two percent. - Gus Thomson, from state Department of Finance information.Beaumont in Riverside County finished second, growing by 21.1 percent.Lincoln was also one of the fastest-growing cities with less than a 300,000 population in terms of actual numbers - adding 6,181 residents for a ninth ranking in the state. Temecula, with a population of 93,923, ranked first in the state for smaller cities, adding 12,002 residents.Lincoln Councilman Primo Santini said that Lincoln's torrid growth rate - which has increased the city's population by 200 percent in less than six years - is set to slow this year as the number of houses being built cools.The Lincoln Community Development Department is estimating from 1,500 to 1,700 houses being built in 2006. A total of 2,900 were built last year. Santini said a slowdown in the local, state and national economies has had an impact."The big picture is that home ownership in the United States is at an all-time high, although California lags behind because houses are more expensive," Santini said.Lincoln has been ranked for several years as one of the more affordable communities in the region to buy a house but Santini said that with median values in the high-$400,000s, the gap has closed."We're still slightly behind Roseville and Rocklin but the gap is pretty much not a factor," Santini said. "Lincoln is more a part of the South Placer region."Lincoln has found room for growth by annexing surrounding farmland that has subsequently been developed. Santini added that the current General Plan provides limits to continuing growth, with buildout coming when the population reaches 53,000.In the less populated foothills, Auburn was one of eight cities in the state that had zero growth in 2005. The increase in Auburn's population was negligible, with an increase to 12,975 residents from 12,972.Supervisor Jim Holmes, whose district takes in Auburn and stretches south as far as Rocklin, said that with the foothills topography increasing building costs and an absence of open, industrially zoned land, there's little in the future to increase the population through a leap in building activity."I don't see any major project coming in," Holmes said. He added that smaller developments like 118 homes on the old Bohemia lumber site off Highway 49 in North Auburn are the only ones in the foreseeable future.The unincorporated area of Placer County, which includes North Auburn, Ophir and Newcastle, grew by 0.3 percent, from 105,702 to 106,064. Several projects in different stages of the county's approval process could swell those numbers in years to come, including Bickford Ranch in the Loomis area.Two Placer County cities experienced a net loss of residents. Colfax was down 0.8 percent - dropping from 1,840 residents to 1,825. Rocklin fell by 0.1 percent, ending up with 50,920 residents.Loomis increased its population 2.3 percent - to 6,480 from 6,335. Roseville grew 1.4 percent, to 104,655 from 103,185.Nevada County's population topped the 100,000 level for the first time last year. Resident numbers increased 0.6 percent, from 99,510 to 100,066. Grass Valley's population decreased 0.4 percent from 13,079 to 13,1031. Nevada City increased its resident base 0.6 percent, ending the year with a population of 3,088. Truckee had a growth spurt, increasing 1.1 percent from 15,746 to 15,915.El Dorado County's growth was in the unincorporated area, including El Dorado Hills. The increase in population was 1.6 percent - from 173,511 to 176,204.Placerville and South Lake Tahoe both saw losses in population while the balance of the county grew 2.1 percent, from 139,505 to 142,439.- Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.