GARDEN CITY — While Garden City struggles to fund services for visitors and seasonal residents, the town's tourism and construction industries are booming.

But many worry rampant development will damage the town's allure, and some of the old-timers lament the loss of small-town ambiance.

Water usage, traffic, noise and pollution increase as more people visit and build homes around Bear Lake, said Claudia Cottle, executive director of Bear Lake Watch, a group determined to preserve and protect the lake. If towns like Garden City don't have controlled, orderly growth, Cottle said, the Bear Lake experience will be ruined for tourists and tourism-related businesses, she said.

"We have such a jewel in this place of paradise," she said. "If we destroy that, then obviously we kill the golden goose."

Bear Lake Watch boasts nearly 1,000 members, and the organization's president is Merlin Olsen, a former football star, sportscaster and actor who owns property near the lake. So far, Cottle said, developers and local governments have been responsive to the group's concerns.

But even the residents concerned about growth are benefiting from rapidly rising property values, said Nate Parry, a Garden City contractor who builds houses for Centerville-based Whisper Creek Log Homes.

"There is some resentment," he said. "But they sure love that equity in their home."

The average home in Garden City has appreciated nearly 63 percent over the past five years, according to the Rich County assessor.

But homes in desirable locations, like near the lake or in the foothills, are going for much more, said Brian Carver, regional planner for the Bear River Association of Governments.

"Some lots in the foothills are going for a quarter-million with a little cabin — and that's on a dirt road," Carver said.

Parry said Whisper Creek has already sold at least 25 log homes this year. And at a recent Parade of Homes sponsored by the Bear Lake Home Builders Association, about 2,200 people paid $10 each to view 11 houses ranging in cost from $350,000 to $1 million.

Even the town's mayor, Ken Hansen, is a real estate developer. He said the building boom has reduced the area's unemployment rate to almost zero.

"Things have never been this good in Garden City before," Hansen said.

So far this year, 70 building permits have been issued in Garden City. Last year, 102 were issued — nearly a 150 percent increase over 2001. Although the town's year-round population is increasing at a rate of 1.8 percent a year, the number of building permits is increasing at nearly 30 percent a year.