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Suburban sprawl an irresistible force in US
Yayoo (Reuters) ^ | 26 January 2006 | Alan Elsner

Posted on 01/28/2006 1:50:56 PM PST by Lorianne

Across the United States, an unprecedented acceleration in suburban sprawl is prompting concerns about the environment, traffic, health and damage to rural communities, but opponents appear powerless to stop the process because of the economic development and profits it generates.

Sprawl, defined as the unplanned, uncontrolled expansion of urban areas beyond their fringes, has greatly accelerated over the past 25 years, spurred by low mortgage interest rates and aggressive developers.

According to the National Resources Inventory, about 34 million acres -- an area the size of Illinois -- were converted to developed uses between 1982 and 2001. Development in the 1990s averaged around 2.2. million acres a year, compared to 1.4 million

in the 1980s. By 2001, the total developed area in the lower 48 states was slightly more than 106 million acres.

In other words, around one-third of that total was paved over in the final two decades of the 20th century.

"In the realm of local government, growth is one of the most controversial issues, and we see no-growth or slow-growth groups becoming more sophisticated and powerful over time," said Richard Hall of the Maryland Department of Planning.

However, he said opposition tended to fade during economic downturns, when people became less concerned about the environment. Even when opponents succeeded in blocking a specific development, the net effect was often merely to move it to somewhere else.

"Some politicians have tried to do something but they have rarely succeeded in stemming the tide. Developers and realtors have developed a powerful political lobby," said Joel Hirschhorn, a former director of environment, energy and natural resources at the National Governors Association and author of "Sprawl Kills -- Better Living in Healthy Places."

STEERING DEVELOPMENT

"Smart growth" or "slow growth" advocates usually argue that development should be concentrated in existing urban or suburban areas instead of in new suburbs. Many states and counties have tried to protect open space by buying land and through zoning and other regulations.

Others try to provide incentives for farmers and foresters to remain on their land. None of these has had any measurable effect in slowing sprawl.

For Maryland Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (news, bio, voting record), a moment of truth came when he was flying over the Atlantic coastline close to his own congressional district and he saw in the distance what looked like a massive cemetery.

Gilchrest, a Republican who represents an area of northern Maryland alongside the Chesapeake Bay, looked closer and realized he was viewing a huge new suburban development that had sprung up seemingly overnight.

"I'm afraid our heritage is being arbitrarily and summarily discarded without the slightest thought of what we are losing." Gilchrest said in an interview.

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which comprises parts of seven northeastern states, some 128,000 acres of natural land are converted into suburbs every year and the rate more than doubled in the 1990s. The number of houses has expanded at more than twice the rate of population growth.

For centuries, Gilchrest said, his community survived through agriculture, forestry and harvesting the rich resources of the bay. But pollution is killing the bay; it no longer supports a sizeable oyster or crab industry. And farmland is fast being turned into clusters of vacation and retirement homes for residents of Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Opponents blame sprawl for a host of problems from traffic jams to bad air, polluted waterways, the destruction of traditional lifestyles and even asthma and obesity.

"Sprawl is killing people, some 300,000 premature deaths annually because of the sprawl sedentary lifestyle, and it is killing our natural environment, scenic vistas, biodiversity, rural towns and much more," said Hirschhorn.

But Robert Bruegmann, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor of architecture and urban planning, and author of "Sprawl: A Compact History" debunked many of these assertions.

SERVING THE MARKET

"What we call sprawl is the process of a lot of people being able to acquire what only the wealthiest people used to be able to have -- a single family home on land with private transportation," he said, echoing the argument of developers that they were merely catering to what the market demanded.

According to Bruegmann, densely populated cities were much unhealthier and worse for the environment than suburbs.

"Agriculture is often worse for the environment that suburbs while cities did a terrible job of protecting water quality," he said.

Still, citizens in some states are responding to politicians' calls to slow or halt sprawl. Last year, Democrat Timothy Kaine won election as governor of Virginia partly by promising a solution to the state's crowded highways.

In his first speech to the state assembly this month, Kaine proposed giving local governments more power to slow growth. "We cannot allow uncoordinated development to overwhelm our roads and infrastructure," he said.

In response, home builders and real estate agents immediately sent 200 of their members to the state capital of Richmond to lobby state representatives and remind them of the dangers of halting development.

Though there is little polling information, a Gallup survey in March 2001 found that 69 percent of Americans were worried about sprawl and the loss of green spaces.

But the economic forces behind sprawl are powerful. "It's hard for a farmer to turn down $100,000 an acre from a developer when he's not making a tenth of that from agriculture," Gilchrest said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: exurbs; kaine; landuse; smartgrowth; sprawl; suburbs; waaaaaa; zoning
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1 posted on 01/28/2006 1:50:58 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne
isn't 'agenda 21' supposed to solve this?

< sarcasm off >

2 posted on 01/28/2006 1:55:46 PM PST by madtier1
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To: Lorianne

When the kids move out of the house, they gotta move somewhere...


3 posted on 01/28/2006 1:56:12 PM PST by Alien Gunfighter (Got my scope ready, waiting for them to come over the hill)
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To: Lorianne

Farm towns get invaded by leftist yuppies all the time.

Small towns turn into big towns, and suddenly have crime and lousy schools to deal with.

Big towns turn into cities, creating ghettos and urban decadence existing side-by-side.


Where ever there is growth - taxes go up, culture is ruined, and values don't exist. And there is traffic. Lots and lots of traffic.


4 posted on 01/28/2006 1:58:29 PM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: Lorianne
The liberals hate liberty.
5 posted on 01/28/2006 1:58:44 PM PST by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: Lorianne
Though there is little polling information, a Gallup survey in March 2001 found that 69 percent of Americans were worried about sprawl and the loss of green spaces.

The same 69 percent would also vote to limit someone else's ability once they achieve "I've got mine" status.

6 posted on 01/28/2006 2:00:08 PM PST by Professional Engineer (Remembering Grissom, White and Chaffee)
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To: SteveMcKing

Exactly. I have said that numerous times, and been called a communist in return. People can say what will, it does not affect me.


7 posted on 01/28/2006 2:00:55 PM PST by SC33
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To: Professional Engineer

yep


8 posted on 01/28/2006 2:01:23 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: SteveMcKing

That sums it up pretty well. ;)


9 posted on 01/28/2006 2:01:48 PM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: Alien Gunfighter

The majority of pop. growth in the US is coming from immigration, predominantly illegal. Aside from illegal immigration, we have a fairly low birthrate, and in turn, a low pop. growth rate.


10 posted on 01/28/2006 2:02:37 PM PST by SC33
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To: Lorianne

Fear not. The states in the Rust Belt are becoming depopulated and the land will be reverted back to nature.


11 posted on 01/28/2006 2:05:12 PM PST by MinorityRepublican (everyone that doesn't like what America and President Bush has done for Iraq can all go to HELL)
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To: Lorianne

"Sprawl" is simply a pejorative, Luddite term for growth. It's been going on since the seventeenth century, and since the seventeenth century the same people have been bemoaning the same phenomenon. The Iroquois, the Cheyenne, the Greens, the Enviros... stand in the way of the American Juggernaut and see what happens. That screaming you hear is simply the sound of the greatest democracy the world has ever seen being born and hitting its stride. In a mere moment of history, the Old World aristocracy is gone and self-determination arrives.


12 posted on 01/28/2006 2:05:27 PM PST by Jack Hammer
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To: All
Sprawl is killing people, some 300,000 premature deaths annually because of the sprawl sedentary lifestyle

Where the heck do they get that statistic? Talk about hysterics!

13 posted on 01/28/2006 2:05:37 PM PST by jeffc
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To: SC33
If there is any divide at FR, it is not between South Parks and Christians, rather between the "borders, language, culture" crowd vs. those who would hire illegals in the name of laissez faire.
14 posted on 01/28/2006 2:06:16 PM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: SC33

You nailed it. The demands on our resources, social services, environment, and economy are being strained by legal and illegal immigration. If the Left was so concerned about the environment they'd stop immigration. But multicultural nirvana trumps all other values and goals.

STOP IMMIGRATION NOW!!!!


15 posted on 01/28/2006 2:07:09 PM PST by luvreagan
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To: Lorianne

Spwawl is the term used for "I got mine", now screw you, and everyone who might come after you.


16 posted on 01/28/2006 2:09:25 PM PST by xcamel (Exposing clandestine operations is treason. 13 knots make a noose.)
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To: Alien Gunfighter
When the kids move out of the house, they gotta move somewhere...

Duh. I'm sure the enviroweenies want me to stay at home with my parents. Then again, that's what most of them have been doing for years.

17 posted on 01/28/2006 2:11:35 PM PST by Clemenza (Divot: "You're Meshugah!" Bakshi: "I'm NOT Your Sugar!")
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To: Lorianne
Sprawl, defined as the unplanned, uncontrolled...

There it is! That's what it's all about! Control, control control! We should all have to ask the nice guvment where we can live! They're experts! We're stupid!

18 posted on 01/28/2006 2:12:27 PM PST by Da Bilge Troll (Defeatism is not a winning strategy!)
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To: Lorianne
Sprawl is really tough to deal with. On the one hand, it stretches resources, creates pollution, and is a big factor in the traffic headaches of major cities. On the other hand, if a person buys some land then they should be able to decide what to do with it (within reason). If they decide that they want to drive a car that gets 10/mpg for an hour and a half to and from work every day, then, questionable sense aside, they should be able to do that.

The only thing that I don't understand are the number of affluent young families that decide to move that far out, but then into one of those cookie-cutter "McMansion" deals. *Ugh*!

19 posted on 01/28/2006 2:12:44 PM PST by Zeroisanumber
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To: SC33; SteveMcKing
Good points, but keep in mind that whole regions of this country are becoming DEPOPULATED. Upstate New York, Central Pennsylvania, much of Michigan, West Virginia, etc. Detroit may revert to a state of nature, preferably as a national park, within my lifetime.

The problem is, everyone wants to live/work in certain regions of the country. All of the sprawl is concentrated in a few key areas that have registered continual economic growth.

BTW: People should have as many children as they can afford. I was heartened on recent trips to Utah and South Carolina to see several families with five kids, sometimes more. This contrasts with New York and Calipornia where the only folks with more than two kids are immigrants from the Middle East or Latin America.

20 posted on 01/28/2006 2:15:39 PM PST by Clemenza (Divot: "You're Meshugah!" Bakshi: "I'm NOT Your Sugar!")
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