In a survey used to update Clayton’s strategic growth plan, residents said they supported large-lot subdivisions away from other land uses, such as retail and industry. We have to wonder when those people were surveyed.

Given the price of gasoline today, we’d just as soon live fairly close to the grocery store, other shops and restaurants. No doubt, people who live in Flowers Plantation like the nearby Food Lion with its surrounding stores. By the way, Flowers is close also to an elementary school, a day-care center and a handful of employers, including Caterpillar.

Town leaders should like the thinking behind Flowers Plantation too. Self-contained communities take some pressure off of road-building needs. Sure, N.C. 42 East is clogged during the morning and evening commute. But other hours of the day, it’s easy to navigate because folks in Flowers don’t have to get on the highway to get a gallon of milk or a takeout pizza.

We don’t know what other developers think of Flowers Plantation, although Fred Smith, the man behind Riverwood Athletic Club, certainly thinks like Becky Flowers, the woman behind the development that carries her family name. Let’s assume the price of gasoline will continue to climb and that families, when searching for a home, will want to know where the nearest grocery store and other essential needs are. If so, more developers might embrace so-called planned-unit developments.

Don’t get us wrong; we’re not suggesting that town leaders ignore the sentiments of the residents surveyed. What we are saying is that housing preferences change as the economy changes and that the marketplace, not government, is best suited to sense those changes and capitalize on them.