Sprawl control and “smart growth” emerged as mainstream

Sprawl control and “smart growth” emerged as mainstream issues in the November elections, when initiatives limiting state funding for sprawl and implementing urban growth boundaries were approved by voters. In preelection barnstorming speeches for Democratic candidates, Vice President Al Gore focused on spending highway dollars to serve city development instead of sprawl, reports Neal Pierce, syndicated columnist. Maryland’s Governor Parris Glendening, author of pioneering “smart growth” legislation to steer state road and school funding away from sprawl development, was reelected by a substantial margin. Grassroots growth control coalitions, like Save Our Agricultural Resources (SOAR) in California, are also proving influential. SOAR promoted successful urban growth boundary (UGB) and farmland protection initiatives in four San Francisco Bay localities, bringing the number of UGBs in the Bay area to 15. In Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, the coalition’s efforts resulted in four out of five localities approving UGBs. Even failed attempts to limit growth have inspired reevaluation of sprawl. In Arizona, a UGB initiative was turned down, but the Arizona legislature passed an alternative bill, the “Growing Smarter Act,” which sets up a commission for citizens and developers to work out long-term growth management guidelines — the first serious review of growth practices in Arizona history.