Boomburbs: suburbs on steroids

The nation’s fastest-growing suburban centers also provide opportunities for new urbanist development. The populations of Irving and Plano, both suburbs of Dallas, have grown by 7,211 percent and 5,909 percent respectively since census figures were first collected four to five decades ago. This according to a new FannieMae Foundation report based on the 2000 census, “Boomburbs: The Emergence of Large, Fast-Growing Suburban Cities in the US.” The report defines “boomburbs” as suburbs with populations of more than 100,000 that have experienced double-digit population growth rates in the ten-year periods between since 1950. When rates are averaged across all boomburbs over the decades, Phoenix, at nine percent, scored the fastest annualized growth rate (AGR) for a southwestern metropolitan area. Dallas and Las Vegas both exceeded seven per cent AGR, and the four Florida boomburbs experienced a 5.6 percent average AGR. The report states that while late 19th and early 20th century satellite cities developed urban cores as they grew, boomburbs remain essentially suburban in character, perhaps the ultimate symbol of postwar metropolitan sprawl. Boomburbs include most of the elements of a city — housing, retail, office space — but consume large tracts of land, are loosely configured, and lack a center. Most of these boomburbs are located in the Southwest, typically along an interstate highway, and are often products of master-planned community development and the need to form large water districts. Public lands in the west are often transferred to developers in large blocks, while eastern builders piece together their land from smaller, privately-owned parcels. Although boomburbs are subject to significant sprawl-related problems, their enormous size and potential to cooperate with other municipalities may also mean easier participation in regional planning. Many boomburbs now have the population, land mass and economic assets to make them real places, but their amorphous form limits them to, as urban historian Robert Fishman said, “a hopeless jumble of housing, industry, commerce and agricultural uses.” nu opportunities Some new urbanists are finding advantages in these booming cities without centers: In Lakewood, a boomburb of Denver that is now the fourth largest city in Colorado with 144,000 residents, the declining Villa Italia Mall will soon be transformed into an urban center. Belmar, the most intense new urbanist mall redevelopment to date, will begin construction in the first quarter of 2002 on 100 acres. The commercial viability of the site, along with the support of the city, attracted developers Mark Falcone and Will Fleissig of Continuum Partners. The new center will include 1,400 residences, 1 million square feet of retail and entertainment, and 1 million square feet of offices at build-out (see July/August 2001 New Urban News). Continuum Partners has also broken ground on Bradburn, an 112-acre TND In Westminster, also listed as a boomburb of Denver. Westminster has a population of 100,940, up 629 percent since 1960. This is the first project to use the City of Westminster’s new optional TND guidelines. The ease of approval and cooperation from the city has sparked interest from other developers, who are watching the progress closely. Home and apartment builders are moving forward, and construction of the first two retail buildings is scheduled for March of 2002. Plano, Texas, 20 miles north of Dallas, has a population of 222,030, an increase of 5,909 percent since 1960. Thirty-six thousand employees work in Legacy, one of Plano’s sprawling corporate parks. The 150-acre new urbanist Legacy Town Center is a welcome attempt to bring urban amenities to these employees. A total of 300,000 square feet of retail is planned, and many of the 400 apartments built during phase 1 are already occupied (see January/February 2001 New Urban News). Meanwhile, other NU projects are located in fast-growing suburbs that do not have enough population to qualify for boomburb status. These include Cherry Hill Village in Canton Township, Michigan; Hercules Waterfront in Hercules, California; Craig Ranch, in McKinney, Texas; and North Richland Hills Town Center in North Richland Hills, Texas (see “Second generation New Urbanism” starting on page 1 of in this issue). The full report can be downloaded from www.fanniemaefoundation.org. _census_notes_6.shtml.