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Smart Growth Goes South
The concept of ``smart growth," involving concentrations of development, decreased reliance on the automobile, and an emphasis on environmental values, is embodied in Maryland law as a means of accommodating a growing population while containing sprawl. Now, in a bracing series of articles, real estate consultant Christopher Leinberger shows how the principles of smart growth can successfully replace disorderly development in South Florida. Without ``draconian restrictions," the author says that real estate professionals and politicians in the region can ``level the playing field" by making conventional development pay its own way—not be subsidized by taxpayers. The outcome: a region that is ``economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable."
A study commissioned by the South Carolina legislature foresees that more than one million people will be added to the state's population over the next 20 years and that the cost of providing public services (sewers, water, schools) just for these new people would be $33 billion if conventional development patterns persist. Shifting to a ``smart growth" strategy and thus making better use of existing infrastructure, the study says, could save $2.7 billion of this.
The Leinberger report was posted on the Internet by the Florida Sustainable Communities Center, http://sustainable.state.fl.us:/fdi/fscc/news/ state/growth1.htm . In South Carolina contact Michelle Loy at the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, Tel. (843) 723-8035. URL: http://www.scccl.org. |
