Sprawl development
One of the main goals of the GMA law concerns sprawl:
- Reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land into sprawling, low-density development.
The GMA act requires that cities and counties coordinate with one another in comprehensive land use planning. The goal is to encourage development in urban areas where adequate public facilities and services exist or can be provided in an efficient manner.
Typically, sprawl expands urban uses into rural areas, resource lands, and habitat areas.
Sprawl requires residents to drive long distances. The street network is poorly connected, further lengthening driving distances. It increases congestion because everyone must use the same streets to get anywhere.
Sprawl contributes to the migration of high income taxpayers and firms from central cities to suburbs. This weakens the tax base of cities, which can increase taxes.
(As downtown Vancouver vividly demonstrates, with sprawl inner cities must remedy deteriorating physical conditions and abandoned buildings. That requires enormous public investment to overcome.)
Sprawl discourages walking and biking and lacks well-defined, thriving activity centers. This results in a loss of sense of community.
Sprawl results in inefficient and ineffective resource utilization. Service providers must provide a more complex infrastructure for consumers in outlying areas.
So, service levels for existing and compact communities are diminished. These current consumers either have to pay higher taxes to maintain current service levels and/or accept decreased levels of service.
As policy and decision-makers, the Board of County Commissioners have the fiduciary, accountability, and stewardship responsibilities to preserve and protect our financial, infrastructure, and natural resources for current and future generations.
How are they doing?
As stakeholders, we have the responsibility to demand accountability. We must insist on a reasonable balance between growth and quality of life, and between the quantity of land consumed and the taxpayer costs.
Would you agree that our hope for a healthy community depends on bringing sprawl to a crawl?
|
