“As large numbers of city residents move to suburbs for more affordable housing and better schools, suburbs hungry for growth have embraced endless housing developments and strip malls with little long range planning. But uncontrolled sprawl presents more than just an “open space” problem; it also affects our quality of life and the health of all our communities, wealthy and lower-income, urban, rural, and suburban. We pay for sprawl with longer commutes, higher taxes for infrastructure and public services, and fewer connections with our neighbors. States have found effective solutions for sprawl by bringing together unlikely allies: municipal and county officials; environmentalists and farmers; community leaders and business people.
"Urban sprawl consumes green spaces and overcrowds schools in the suburbs while at the same time depletes city and suburban resources. In recent years, state and local government officials-eager to attract lucrative jobs and build a healthy tax base-have contributed to the sprawl problem by subsidizing development in the suburban periphery. But as the quality of life indicators in their communities nosedive, many of these officials have begun to reexamine their development policies. Sprawl is more than just an 'open space' problem; it is also about the health of America’s communities."
--from the StateAction website
Questions to keep in mind: How does one define “urban sprawl”? Is there one definition? When was it first identified and/or defined? How has it affected the country nationwide? How has it affected Ventura? How is it affecting Ventura? What could be the result of further growth? What states have taken steps to control sprawl? How has Maryland’s Smart Growth program addressed the issue? How has it served as a model for managing urban sprawl? What has the Utah Growth Act of 1999 done to address the problem? What legislation has been introduced locally, statewide, and nationally to address the issue? How do zoning policies influence how sprawl is dealt with my local government? What patterns have been identified in terms of sprawl? Who in the past has been considered a key advocate for or against sprawl? How are tax revenues an issue as a result of sprawl? What specific actions like ACT 60, the Equal Educational Opportunity Act have influenced the effects of sprawl? How have federal housing policies been affected by the growth? What is the Federal Housing Administration? What has it done to address the concerns of those that oppose sprawl? What is the National Housing Act? What is the Vermont Forum on Sprawl? How did it address the issue? How is low-density residential and commercial settlements a result of sprawl? How does sprawl result in a fragmentation of powers over land among localities? How is transportation affected? Both privately and publicly? How does zoning affect school populations? Is zoning a form of segregation? How is the ecology of a given area affected by sprawl? How does it relate to pollution? Air pollution? Water pollution? Light pollution? Noise pollution? How does it alter the landscape and the wildlife found there?
