"It's too early to see a shift," said Douglas R. Porter, president of the Growth Management Institute, a nonprofit group based in Chevy Chase doing research and education. "It takes too many years for projects to work through the system."
But an unreleased November 2002 memo from Glendening's planners to the team of incoming Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) raised questions about the program's effectiveness.
The Maple Lawn Farms Community in Howard County is designated a smart-growth area suited for high-density development, but its density will be well below both what was originally projected and smart-growth norms.
(Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
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| | | | | | | | | | ______ Spreading Sprawl ______ • The Role of Government
County policies deflect growth rather than control it.
• The Price Commuters Pay
To live in housing they can afford, many people drive a long way to work.
• The Limits of Smart Growth
To planners, density is a good thing. But not to everyone.
______ Graphics ______ • How Far Will We Grow?
Satellite images show the expansive growth of the Washington area since 1986.
• Super-Commuters
Some residents are commuting roughly an hour or more to work.
• No Shift in Howard County
Rural areas have grown in lock step with growth areas in Howard County. ______ Multimedia ______ • Audio: Washington Post reporter Peter Whoriskey discusses the Post's series Washington-area sprawl.
______ Live Discussions ______ • Transcript: Washington Post reporter Peter Whoriskey discussion on area sprawl.
• Transcript: Gerrit Knaap of the University of Maryland Smart Growth Center fielded your questions. | | | | | | | |
_____Growth and Development_____
•
Washington's Road to Outward Growth (The Washington Post, Aug 9, 2004)
•
Space for Employers, Not for Homes (The Washington Post, Aug 8, 2004)
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Arrival of Metro Could Transform Tysons (The Washington Post, Aug 7, 2004)
•
Loudoun Looks at Settling Lawsuits (The Washington Post, Jul 27, 2004)
•
Md. Panel Backs Study Of Rte. 32 Widening (The Washington Post, Jul 22, 2004)
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More Stories
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"The rate at which farm and forest land is being developed has not slowed," the memo said. "Our current smart growth laws and programs may not be sufficient to overcome the many obstacles that have made sprawl the dominant form of development."
As they were leaving office, Glendening's planners wrote that "although it may be too early to expect measurable changes in most areas, it is not too soon to start looking."
They saw "only modest progress" in reining in sprawl, but they did not pin the blame on developers. Instead, the report cited the pressure of neighbors' opposition to smart-growth projects, citing the "electoral backlash against local candidates seen as too indiscriminately favorable to rampant growth."
"Local officials are often stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Harriet Tregoning, special secretary in the Office of Smart Growth under Glendening. "Even when they want to put density in the right places, people will say they're in the pocket of developers. And it's hard, given our track record over the last 60 years, to tell people, 'Trust me.' "
At the local government level, plans to build homes or businesses in smart-growth areas have routinely been diluted or rejected. A development deemed a growth area by planners in Baltimore County was originally intended to have more than 11,000 homes. But fewer than half that number will be built after opposition forced developers to reduce the number of apartments.
The Fairwood development, rising on 1,059 acres in a smart-growth area in Bowie, was whittled down amid local opposition to a density of about 1.7 homes per acre.
But opposition to denser development is hardly confined to Maryland. Residential and retail projects around Metro stations -- considered ideal locations for smart growth because they would encourage using mass transit -- have been killed or scaled back because of neighborhood opposition in Takoma Park, Tenleytown and East Falls Church, and a project by Federal Realty in Bethesda has been delayed for years.
Many other smart-growth possibilities are killed even before they get to a proposal because master plans do not permit enough density. In the Briarwood section of Fairfax County, a site viewed by planners as logical for more homes because it lies about a half-mile from the Vienna Metro station, the county plan forbids apartments and townhouses.
"The neighborhood said they wanted single-family detached homes there," said Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence), the Fairfax County supervisor for the area.
As a result, the developer is building at densities ranging from fewer than three homes per acre to slightly more than four homes per acre.
"It's a classic example," said Craig Havenner, president of Christopher Cos., the developer. "There is a housing shortage. But what might have been best for the region as a whole was not acceptable to the existing community."
Critics of smart growth contend that the basis for neighborhood opposition is elemental and immovable: Most Americans prefer fewer neighbors and won't willingly live in or tolerate the construction of denser neighborhoods.
