Sprawl Supporters

[Allan]

I'm assuming you live in the township, but in the city of Grand Blanc some developers are working on more urban projects, although NIMBYs are trying to fight them. I think G.B. (city and township) is going in the right direction - they are truly fighting sprawl. I don't think many other suburbs would go as far as halting all residential developement (A.K.A. sprawl in this case) for 18 months to stop the madness created by sprawl.

I do live in the township. However last week I found out at a meeting to plan new school buildings for our district that the 18 month moratorium the township put on building permits is actually illegal, and therefore won't survive past the end of this week.

"Fighting sprawl" be halting residential development is about the worst thing they could do.

The reason development was halted is that the sewer system can't handle any more sewerage, & every day there are more & more buildings being hooked up to it. The storm sewers are also very inadequate. And there is no money to upgrade the systems required if the area is going to continue to grow astronomically, seeing as how they are already at capacity. All the township has to do is to raise the water & sewer tap-in fees to help pay for the additional capacity required for the additional houses, but they won't do that because the last time they raised them, the developers took them to court.

And some stats on sprawl in Michigan from the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council....

Land-to-Population Growth Ratios:

Ann Arbor: 2 to 1

Lansing: 2 to 1

Kalamazoo: 2.5 to 1

Grand Rapids: 3 to 1

Flint: 7 to 1

Jackson: 10 to 1

Muskegon: 12 to 1

Detroit: 13 to 1

Saginaw: 14 to 1

Bay City: 27 to 1

On average, the state of Michigan develops its land 8 times faster than it's population grows.

By 2040, the amount of farmland will have decreased by 17%, the amount of developed area will be 178% more, the amount of wetlands will be 10% lower, & the amount of private forest land will have decreased by 8%.

By 2040, 17% of the state of Michigan will be developed land. If the trend continues, it will not take Michigan long to pass New Jersey as the most developed state, which has 26% of its land developed.

[G W North]

Those are some scary stats there.

[Recchia]

The points made about lot sizes are very true. In the northeast/rustbelt, our cities tend to be really dense, but our suburbs very non-dense, with huge lots for single family homes. In the newer cities, both the city and suburbs seem to be an in-between density of our cities/suburbs. LA's suburbs might be considered to be dense compared to Boston, or NYC suburbs. But the core cities in the northeast are much denser than LA, Phoenix, etc.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

I think there should just be a mix of urban and suburban cause not everyone wants a townhouse/apartment and not everyone wants a house either

[Charleston native]

I think there should just be a mix of urban and suburban cause not everyone wants a townhouse/apartment and not everyone wants a house either

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you! Some common sense here...I understand why some people here hate "sprawl", but I happen to like the suburbs because I want a house with an open yard and trees. The greatest thing about this country is that we can have a variety of types of areas to live in.

The biggest thing I don't like about sprawl is that in many places it is out of control and so fast. Many big neighborhoods are built in a matter of months, and yet the developers do nothing to alleviate the additional burdens on the current infrastructure. Then, states have to raise the taxes to build more roads, which in the end, affects the residents of the whole city. My solution is that if a developer wants to build a new neighborhood out of a forest, that's fine. However, they should be obligated to either contribute money to build new or widen existing roads and highways, or actually do the building or widening.

[Recchia]

The biggest thing I don't like about sprawl is that in many places it is out of control and so fast. Many big neighborhoods are built in a matter of months, and yet the developers do nothing to alleviate the additional burdens on the current infrastructure. Then, states have to raise the taxes to build more roads, which in the end, affects the residents of the whole city. My solution is that if a developer wants to build a new neighborhood out of a forest, that's fine. However, they should be obligated to either contribute money to build new or widen existing roads and highways, or actually do the building or widening.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree, developers should have to pay impact fees, and concurrency should be adopted so that development can be concentrated in areas that already have infrastructure laid out (and not Florida's idea of concurrency, which ended up just fueling sprawl). I do, however, think that there should be some guidelines or incentives to prevent developers from doing whatever they want wherever they want.

[SouthJersey7]

Sprawl is nothing but an anomaly, one that would not exist without years of government intervention in development and real estate. It is no more a product of the "free market" than the Soviet housing blocs.

[leets]

Perhaps this guy would not be so happy with sprawl if he had to pay the full true cost of HIS American dream.

Maybe he should pay the true cost of the highways needed to support the sprawl instead of sharing the cost with city residents who rarely use them.

Maybe he should pay the true cost of utilities to support thinly populated subdivisions. City residents pay the same utility rates even though the infrastructure required for the city is far less per capita than the suburbs.

Maybe he should pay the true cost of aiding the poor though public housing and other services which the sprawl communities dump on the city

Maybe he should pay the true cost of health problems stemming form additional pollution caused by the tremendous additional driving required in sprawl areas.

Funny how these pro sprawl so called American rights people wnat everyone else to pay for their American Dream!!