Maryland is experimenting with a private initiative aimed

Maryland is experimenting with a private initiative aimed at reducing sprawl, now that the Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation program launched by Governor Parris Glendening in 1997 has lost momentum under his successor, Robert L. Ehrlich. The new initiative, “Reality Check Plus: Imagine Maryland,” is being led by the Baltimore District Council of the Urban Land Institute, the National Center for Smart Growth Education at the University of Maryland, and 1000 Friends of Maryland, with support from more than 130 other organizations across the state. In May and June the public participated in visioning exercises in four regions, indicating where employment and housing development should be focused through the year 2030. Participants achieved consensus on four goals: protect open spaces and natural resources, use existing infrastructure, concentrate growth near transit stations in existing urban areas, and balance the locations of jobs and housing. The hope is that the visioning will cause candidates for state and local offices in this November’s elections to pledge support to those aims. Gerrit-Jan Knaap of the National Center and Dru Schmidt-Perkins of 1000 Friends say that “although Maryland has adopted some of the most innovative land use policies in the country, there is limited evidence that these policies have significantly altered urban development trends.” Knaap and Schmidt-Perkins’ assessment of Maryland’s smart-growth efforts, including the new initiative, is presented in the July issue of Land Lines, a magazine of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (see www.lincolninst.edu). The Institute is supporting the new initiative.