Free Republic

<p>Any local planner can tell you: The vision of a better community - the plan on paper - is one thing; the reality on the streets is entirely another.</p> <p>Ten years ago, when Sacramento County officials were putting together a new general plan, they came up with what they considered a revolutionary scheme for reducing sprawl and cutting congestion.</p>

<p>The Elk Grove City Council hadn't found itself in such a situation before.</p> <p>The housing proposal before it wasn't a typical Elk Grove single-family subdivision, but an array of town houses and attached single-family clusters. Neighbors (saying they preferred a large office complex on the land, but also fearful of what would happen to their property values) said this was too much housing (about 250 units on 18 acres) for the land, which sits smack on Bighorn Boulevard just south of Laguna Boulevard. Yet this wasn't too much housing at all. For land on a busy street that is within walking distance of future offices, existing stores, a movie complex and possibly some day a light rail line, this is precisely the kind of compact, affordable style of ownership housing that makes sense.</p>