The times they are a-changing, as Bob Dylan once sang, but that doesn’t mean everybody has to like it.

For instance, Butler County residents recently learned the county has been officially designated as an urban county by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development because the county population has grown past 200,000.

Mostly what this means is the county can now deal directly with HUD for Community Development Block Grants and HOME funds used to pay for water and sewer improvements and housing rehabilitation. The urban designation means the county can gain access to an additional $1.4 million in federal funding.

It’s doubtful everyone is happy about either the designation or how the additional CDBG money is being handled. Nine municipalities out of 57 have already opted out of the program. Some of those declining said they were given too little time to make a decision about joining the program. Other municipalities cited concerns about language included in the agreement or gathering economic information about their residents.

The new designation for Butler County is just one sign of the changes that are worrisome to some longtime residents.

The traffic congestion and continued growth of the Cranberry/Adams township area is the subject of TV campaign ads in the race for the state House’s 12th District. A proposed data center in Forward Township has been the cause of a contentious meetings between residents, developers and township officials.

The county’s population has grown by 9.2% since 2010 and that growth brings the need for roads, new subdivisions and sewers.

For now, rapid growth is concentrated along the I-79 and Route 228 corridors in Cranberry, Lancaster, Jackson and Middlesex townships. Across the southwestern portion of the county, pastures, fields and woods are being converted to housing developments and retail strips,

It’s a cliché that the only thing constant is change, but that is the future the county is confronting.

County residents would do well to attend their township and authority meetings, keep up with the news and reach out to elected officials so as not to be blindsided by the next change that is surely coming.

— EF