Growth Controls, Smart Growth, and Zoning

1
Growth Controls, Smart Growth, and Zoning

• Chapter 15

2
Urban Sustainability

• No standard definition of term
• Concepts often include
• Growth Component
• Distribution Component
• Environmental Component

3
Property Rights and Ownership

• Right of use
• Right of exclusion
• Right of transfer
• Private property rights vs Greatest good
• How is a social mandate defined?
• Who defines itrent seekers?

4
Controlling Growth

• Standard State Zoning Enabling Act(1922)
• Land-use controls and zoning
• Fight negative externalities? Probably not.
• Fiscal zoning development must guarantee an
  amount of tax revenue to cover increased costs
• XXX people move to a new neighborhood.
• Excess capacity?
• Utilities, schools, police patrols, fire
  stations, roads.

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How to achieve fiscal zoning?

• Minimum lot size
• Does not guarantee of size of house
• Provides green space
• Reduces density
• Encourages urban sprawl

6
Exclusionary zoning

• Excludes land uses that disrupt the homogeneity.
• Subtle discrimination against minorities.
• Increases costs (and prices) of new housing
• If intention of zoning is not proved to be
  discriminatory or racist, such zoning is allowed
  even with a negative impact on ethnic minorities.

7
Eminent Domain

• Historically used to build roads, bridges,
  canals, military bases, national parks.
• Currently also used to replace small businesses
  and residences with private facilities that
  enlarge the municipal tax base (June 2005).

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Impact of land use controls

• Land market
• Restrict supply of landincreased price (37)
• Industrial ZoningWaiting for Godot!
• Decreases efficiency of land markets unless it
  imitates competitive market (but if it doeswhy
  tolerate the bureaucracy?)
• Not intergenerationally equitable

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Impact of land use controls

• Housing Market
• Decrease supply prices and contract rents
  increase
• Increase cost to comply with codes
• Fewer housing starts (45)
• Barriers to entry housing monopolies

10
Impact of land use controls

• Spillover effects
• Demand for land in nearby communities increases
  as families are forced to relocate
• Encourage leapfrogging
• Encourage urban sprawl
• Worsen congestion
• Defies spatial equityimposes negative
  externalities on nearby jurisdictions
  (congestion, etc.)

11
Controlled Growth

• Supposed problems with urban sprawl
• Encroaches on agricultural land
• Increased cost of public services in sparsely
  populated areas
• Commutes increase reliance on fossil fuels
• Suburbs drains life from center city.

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Evidence Green spaces

• In 2001, total space of urban areas in the U.S.
  (including parks, golf courses, and parcels of 10
  acres or less contiguous to urban areas) fit into
  the state of Nebraska.
• Cropland has decreased because of advances in
  agricultural productivity.
• Land-use planning has failed to protect
  environment and failed to curb development.
  Compact cities arent green.

13
Evidence Public service provision

• Helen Ladd (1992) lowest cost of public service
  provision is in counties with density fewer than
  250 people per square mile.
• When density is greater than 1,250 persons per
  square mile, costs increase by 334.82 per
  capita, (13 because of public safety.)

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Evidence Commutes

• No correlation between energy consumption and
  urban form except density causes greater fuel
  consumption
• People prefer private carsshorter commutes in
  congested areasmore pollution.
• Suburban locations of residences and firms reduce
  commuting distance and energy consumption

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Evidence Sprawl suffocates city centers

• Residents prefer living in the burbs rather than
  the town cramming that results in rabbit hutches
  on postage stamps
• Surveys show 80 of American households prefer
  single-family homes to the excitement and
  diversity of an urban center.

16
Evidence Sprawl suffocates city centers

• Intergenerational equity and spatial equity
  concerns
• Whose utility are the planners who support smart
  growth maximizing?

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Alternatives to smart growth

• What market failure requires such government
  intervention?
• Brueckner Positive externalities from seeing
  green spaces and red barns near the town? Then
  create more parks!
• Mills Increase gasoline tax to 2.50 instead of
  40--but Europes high gas tax has not prevented
  sprawl! Maybe congestion tolls
• Graves Urban sprawl caused by insufficient
  provision of public goods by existing cities.