Sprawlwatch on Eco-Compass

Mon Jan 31 15:50:53 CST 2000

Sprawl news.  See last article about roads.

>>> Alphonse MacDonald <ipress at igc.org>
01/29/00 01:32pm >>>
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Sprawl Watch 
Volume 1, Number 15 - January 25, 2000 
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Sprawl Watch is also available on the web at: 
http://www.sprawlwatch.org/newsletter.html 

This Week's Content: 

= = = State and Local News= = = = 
California
Land Use Law
The Fourteenth Annual UCLA Land Use Law
and Planning Conference will be 
held on Friday, January 28 at the Hotel
Intercontinental in Downtown Los 
Angeles. Featured speakers will include more
than 30 experts from 
government, building, development, education,
environmental consulting, 
and law. The Honorable Philip Angelides, State
Treasurer of California, 
will deliver the keynote address. This year's
conference will spotlight 
Smart Growth initiatives and also feature Peter
Douglas of the 
California Coastal Commission discussing
recent coastal environmental 
controversies.
http://nscp.snap.com/main/finance/news/story/0,234,nscp-73237834,00.html

Colorado
Affordable Housing 
The resort town of Snowmass Village, where
the average home costs $1.12 
million, is hoping to build 17 new employee
townhomes this summer. Few 
employees of Snowmass, one of four ski areas
owned by the Aspen Skiing 
Co., can afford to live in the town, including key
town workers. Town 
Council members hope the town's new excise
tax will help fund the 
housing.  The tax would be levied for the
privilege of building bigger 
homes than currently allowed.  If it doesn't
produce enough money to 
finance the employee housing, a bond question
would be placed on the 
ballot. (AP, 1/17/00)

Legislation
One growth-management bill was approved by
a Colorado House committee 
Monday, but three others died, and three more
bills are up Tuesday, 
January 25, in a Senate committee. So far, only
tax-cutting proposals 
exceed the number of growth bills introduced in
the 2000 Colorado 
Legislature. An estimated 40 to 50 measures
either have been introduced 
or are being drafted. 
http://www.denverpost.com/news/leg/leg0125b.htm

Indiana 
Farmland
American Farmland Trust will recognize
Indiana dairyman Mike Yoder as 
the winner of its $10,000 Steward of the Land
Award for his leadership 
in protecting farmland and demonstrating
environmentally sound farming 
practices. By forming a land trust in Elkhart
County, Ind., and creating 
farmland protection zoning where none existed,
Mike Yoder stood out as 
superior among a record number of nominees
from 34 states.  
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0118-136.htm

Maryland
Development and Schools
Charles County, Maryland's elected leaders
January 11 decreased the 
number of houses that may be built in the
rapidly growing jurisdiction, 
saying that they are determined not to let
students from new homes 
overwhelm public schools.  The action restricts
home building near 
crowded schools. The controls rank among the
most stringent yet placed 
on the residential growth that has spread
across Washington D.C.'s 
suburbs. (Washington Post, 1/12/00)

Farmland
East Coast dairy farmers say a precipitous
drop in milk prices has left 
many of them facing financial ruin. Beleaguered
dairy farmers from 
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and
Alabama set aside their chores 
Monday, January 17, to rally in the cold outside
the Maryland State 
House for fairness in milk pricing.  They were
joined by representatives 
of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, who
say preserving the 830 
dairy farms in Maryland is a key to curbing
urban sprawl and preserving 
open spaces. The number of Maryland dairy
farms is down from 1,140 in 
1991, according to the Maryland Farm Bureau.
(AP, 1/18/00)

Minnesota
Transportation and Affordable Housing
Gov. Jesse Ventura's administration took two
important steps last week.  
The first step was Ventura's plan to provide
more than $2 billion in new 
funding for highways and transit over the next
decade. Ventura's 
transportation funding plan would channel more
state resources into mass 
transit as a means of reducing highway
congestion and shaping regional 
growth. The administration's proposal would
earmark 100 percent of the 
revenues from the existing motor vehicle excise
tax for transportation 
-- some $535 million a year. The second
less-publicized decision was to 
allow the Metropolitan Council to get into the
business of public 
housing.  Exercising its powers as a housing
and redevelopment 
authority, the council voted to develop and
operate up to 300 affordable 
housing units dispersed throughout the metro
area for low-income 
families. (Pioneer Planet, 1/17/00)

New York
Legislative Reform
Governor Pataki announced the formation of a
cabinet-level "Quality 
Communities" task force, to be headed by
Lieutenant Governor Mary O. 
Donohue, to suggest changes in executive
actions, regulations and laws 
to promote "smart growth" strategies for NY
State. The task force will 
reportedly review local, state and federal
agency programs and actions 
to develop its recommendations, which are due
in one year. According to 
a release from the Governor's office, "The
Quality Communities Task 
Force will focus on redeveloping urban centers
and older suburbs, 
preserving open space and agricultural and
forest lands, protecting 
water and air resources and restoring and
protecting New York's 
waterfront areas in existing communities."  
http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/year00/jan21_2_00.htm

Pennsylvania
Cost of Sprawl
In an attempt to put a comprehensive price tag
on development, 10,000 
Friends of Pennsylvania released a 65-page
report, "The Costs of Sprawl 
in Pennsylvania," that says low-density,
unlimited and non-contiguous 
expansion outward that lacks integrated
land-use planning - the 
universal definition of sprawl - is driving up
taxes to support new 
schools and roads in the far-flung suburbs and
draining cities and 
first-generation suburbs of residents and public
funding for 
infrastructures there. The report says the
state's local governments 
could save more than $120 million a year
through more compact forms of 
development. And buyers could save as much
as 8 percent in home-purchase 
costs.
http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Jan/25/city/SSPRAWL25.htm

Virginia
Open Space
The speaker of the House of Delegates plans to
propose 1/18/00 that 
Virginia dramatically increase the amount of
money it spends to preserve 
open space with a goal of setting aside about
600,000 acres over the 
next seven years.  The plan calls for spending
$40 million a year over 
the next two years to buy land and pay
landowners who agree to preserve 
their property as open space. The plan would
dramatically increase the 
amount now budgeted -- $1.75 million - but it is
not as much as Maryland 
and other nearby states spend. (The
Washington Post, 1/18/00)  
http://www.washingtonpost.com

= = =National= = =
Population
The Census Bureau predicts the U.S.
population could double by 2100. The 
older segment would grow and minorities would
be a majority. By 
mid-century, the United States will have about
404 million people, and 
571 million by 2100, compared with today's 275
million. Census Bureau 
forecasters did not estimate which regions
would see the most growth, 
but some said the increase was sure to worsen
sprawl, traffic congestion 
and other urban ills. As in past projections, the
Census Bureau says the 
nation's population will age quickly, especially
as baby boomers reach 
their 60s over the next three decades. By 2100,
there will be more than 
5 million Americans who are at least 100 years
old; today, there are 
about 65,000.  (1/17/00)
http://www.phillynews.com:80/inquirer/2000/Jan/13/international/DOUBLE13.htm

= = =New Releases= = =                        
The Brookings Institution Center on Urban &
Metropolitan Policy in 
collaboration with the Joint Center for Housing
Studies of Harvard 
University released "Housing Heats Up: Home
Building Patterns in 
Metropolitan Areas."  The study looks at new
housing construction in 
America's 39 largest metropolitan areas during
recent periods of 
economic boom (1986), bust (1991), and revival
(1998). 
http://www.brookings.edu/urban

Two new studies show the tendency of highway
expansions to generate 
increased traffic loads.  One study, conducted
by the International 
Energy Agency in Paris analyzed 26 years of
data from every county in 
Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.  The
analysis concluded that 
about a third of the added road capacity on
main highways in the 
Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area was
used up by induced travel.  
The statewide results for Maryland and Virginia
found that fully 50 
percent of added capacity was used up by
induced traffic.  A second 
study conducted by former EPA transportation
analyst Robert Noland 
utilized 15 years of data from major American
metropolitan areas found 
that a 10 percent expansion in roads produced
a 2.8 percent rise in 
traffic.  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-01/13/220l-011300-idx.html

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