DAYTON — Growing up, David Smith's world was Ayrshire and Holstein cows.
They were everywhere – at his family's dairy farm on Waterhouse Road, and in his neighbors' fields.
A half-century later, Smith, 74, misses the days when there were more cows than houses in town. "You used to see a field full of cows," he said. "Now you see a field full of houses."
He's not exaggerating. According to recent numbers by the U.S. Census Bureau, Dayton was the fastest-growing town in Maine among communities with populations over 1,000 people. Between 1990 and 2000, Dayton's population grew more than 50 percent to 1,805 people.
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Other York County towns with larger populations grew quickly, too. Arundel, Limerick, Waterboro and York saw growth rates ranging between 30 and 37 percent.
Dayton typifies the way rural York County has grown in the past decade. The migration of new residents from other states, along with the healthy economy, has turned once-independent agricultural communities like Dayton into suburban bedroom towns for nearby cities and made York the fastest-growing county in Maine.
But with the growth have come problems. The cheaper property taxes once sought by new rural residents have increased in order to pay for new school buildings, roads, police and public services. The demand for new homes eats away at open space and fields.
 York County lies on the New Hampshire border, and attracts new residents from other New England states, said Richard Sherwood, a policy development specialist with the State Planning Office.
The county added 22,155 people over the past decade, for a total population of 186,742, the census shows. That's a growth rate of 13.5 percent – more than three times the state's overall growth rate.
What's happening in Dayton is a case of classic suburbanization, Sherwood said.
"People would prefer to live in the country rather than dense settlements," he said. "The larger towns offer more services but, generally, the property taxes are lower and the land is cheaper in rural towns than in urban towns."
Dick and Nancy Sullivan moved to Murch Road in Dayton 1 1/2 years ago from Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. They said former President Bill Clinton's visits made the island too crowded, so they moved closer to their daughter in southern Maine.
The Sullivans, retirees, bought a home on 3 1/2 acres overlooking a nearly undeveloped field. There's plenty of room for their three vehicles and boat. The house is less than 15 miles away from the Maine Turnpike, Biddeford and Saco.
"We came here because we like the country, the people are nice, and we're only six miles out of the center of the city," Nancy Sullivan said.
The Sullivans now fear young families will discover Dayton's charms and further burden the overcrowded school. If taxes increase too much to cover school costs, Nancy Sullivan said the owners of large tracts of land might be forced to sell in order to pay their bills.
Local farmers have learned to diversify to survive. Harris Farm, Dayton's only remaining dairy farm, no longer sells milk wholesale. It sells its milk retail, in thick glass bottles reminiscent of those the milkman once delivered door-to-door. Customers also shop year-round for farm-raised beef and veal.
The family also started running a vegetable stand, a pumpkin-picking business in the fall and a cross-country skiing business in the winter that draws tourists from Portland to Boston.
"We had to change with the times," Rachel Harris said.
Residents recognized in the 1990s that they were in danger of losing their rural character, and tried to modify growth. A 1995 ordinance capping the number of building permits issued at 12 per year resulted in a rush on permits.
The cap was modified in 1997 to allow 18 permits a year, and other related restrictions have proved more successful, said Building Inspector Jim Roberts. Dayton issued a total of 225 building permits from 1990 through 2000.
Most of the homes built were starter homes that don't generate enough in property taxes to cover the cost of the services the occupants end up requiring, officials said.
As the number of homes and people in town grew, so did the number of students in the Dayton Consolidated School. This year, for the first time, the school started offering morning and afternoon kindergarten sessions.
Band, music, art and physical education classes juggle schedules to use the gym, and a third lunch period was squeezed into the day to accommodate all 207 students.
Two modular classrooms sit behind the K-6 school at the intersection of routes 35 and 5. Voters will be asked this spring to approve a $22,000 lease for a third, said Principal Constance Lambert.
The school district is applying to the state for money to build a $5 million addition to double the size of the school.
Other York County towns struggling to keep up with population growth have also experienced an increased demand for services, such as police coverage.
Many are not large enough for their own police department, and are patrolled by either the Maine State Police or a combination of state police and York County Sheriff's Department.
Requests for police help have increased along with the population, said Deputy Chief Maurice Ouellette of the York County Sheriff's Department.
Along with an increase in criminal mischief, harassment, burglary, criminal trespass and domestic complaints, there are more unusual problems that arise when someone from an urban area moves to a rural area, he said.
"The next thing, we get a call because a rooster is crowing at 5 in the morning," Ouellette said. "It's a unique problem because first, the farmer's been there all along and second, at 5 a.m., the guy is rudely awakened by a rooster."
While some in Dayton wouldn't mind seeing a decrease or leveling off of their town's population, residents say they expect the current growth trend to continue.
Yet the higher taxes and school costs haven't translated into increased interest in local politics.
Selectman Keith Harris said few residents – old or new – are coming forward to serve. David Smith, who has spent at least 40 years serving Dayton as a selectman, isn't running for another term, and said nobody has signed up to run in his place.
There were about three volunteers when the original call went out for people to serve on a school building committee, and approximately 100 residents showed up at the last town meeting. Officials say there is also little community participation in revising the town's comprehensive plan, which guides future growth.
Roberts, the building inspector, said he finds it ironic that the one issue generating participation and high turnout is the formation of the town's historical society.
"Everybody wants to know where the town's been, but they don't care where it's going," he said.
Staff Writer Grace Murphy can be contacted at 282-8228 or at: gmurphy@pressherald.com
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