growth shapers the land use impacts of infrastructure investments

[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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1976
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on Environmental Qun"L

Other CEQ Land Use Publications

Available at
U.S. Government Printing Office:

Untaxing Open Space An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Differential
Assessment of Firms and Open Space
Executive Summary
Analysis
by the Regional Science Research Institute, 1976
Recreation on'Water Supply Reservoirs: A Handbook for Increased Use, by
Urban Systems Research and Engineering, Inc., 1975
The Delaware River Basin-An Environmental Assessment of Three Centuries
of Change, 1975
Land Use (Reprinted from the Fifth Annual Report of the Council on Environ-
mental Quality), 1974
Potential Onshore Effects of Oil and Gas Production on the Atlantic and Gulf
of Alaska Outer Continental Shelf, Volume IV of OCS Oil and Gas-An
Environmental Assessment, by Resource Planning Associates, Inc., and
David M. Dornbusch & Co., 1974
The Costs of Sprawl:. Environmental and Economic Costs of Alternative De-
velopment Patterns at the Urban Fringe
Executive Summary
Detailed Cost Analysis
Literature Review and Bibliography
prepared for CEQ, HUD, and EPA by Real Estate Research Corporation, 1974
The Taking Issue-An Analysis of the Constitutional Limits of Land Use
Control, by Fred Bosselman, David Callies, and John Banta, 1973

The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control-Summary Report, by Fred Bossel-
man and David Callies, 1971

Available at
National Technical Information Service
U.S. Department of Commerce:

Interceptor Sewers and Suburban Sprawl
Volume 1: Analysis
Volume 2: Case Studies
by Urban Systems Research and Engineering, Inc., 1974
Recreational Properties: An Analysis of the Markets for Privately Owned
Recreational Lots and Leisure Homes, by Richard L. Ragatz Associates,
Inc., 1974
Total Urban Water Pollution Loads: The Impact of Storm Water, by Enviro Con-
trol, Inc., 1974
Potential Onshore Effects of Deepwater Oil Terminal-Related Industrial
Development
Volume 1: Executive Summary
Volume II: Mid-Atlantic Region and Maine
Volume III: Gulf Coast Region
Volume IV: Appendices
by Arthur D. Little, Inc., 1973
Land Use Change and Environmental Quality in Urban Areas: Some Com-
parative Studies (Denver, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Baltimore, River-
side/San Bernardino), by Earth Satellite Corporation, 1973

In Preparation:

Leisure homes and recreational properties
Land use impacts of federal taxes
Energy consumption and land use
Land use inside cities
Costs of metropolitan development patterns

The Growth Shapers

The Land Use Impacts of Infrastructure Investments

Prepared for the Council on Environmental Quality
by Urban Systems Research & Engineering, Inc.
May 1976

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Preface

As part of its continuing analysis
of land use issues, the Council on Envi-
ronmental Quality is pleased to publish
this handbook on the land use impacts of
infrastructure investments.
As documented in another recent
CEQ-funded study, The Costs of Sprawl,
the pattern of land development has a
substantial impact on the resulting envi-
rom-nental, economic, natural resource,
and social costs. And as has been pointed
out in. numerous publications, including
the chapter on land use in our 1974
Annual Report, public works investments
are major determinants of land use
patterns.
This is an issue the CEQ believes
should be given much greater attention,
particularly in terms of those investments
substantially subsidized by the Federal
Government. Federal monies fund 90
percent of interstate highway construc-
tion, up to 80 percent of mass transit
investments, 75 percent of the cost of
interceptor sewers and treatment plants,
and 70 percent of non-interstate high-
ways. All of these, as pointed out in this
handbook, have substantial impacts on
the location, pattern, timing, and density
of development. We believe that these
impacts should be recognized by project
planners, local officials, and the con-
cerned public, and that they should be
carefully analyzed in the impact state-
ments and other environmental analyses
prepared for the projects. This handbook
and other research CEQ is sponsoring on
secondary effects is designed to help
attain this goal.

Russell W. Peterson

Chairman
Council on Environmental Quality

Contents

Introduction
1. The Problem 8
The Impacts of Induced Development 8
Infrastructure Investments and Land
Use Changes 18
Estimating What Development Will
Occur 22
Controlling the Impacts of Induced
Development
2. Highways
Defining the Impact Area 31
The Supply of Developable Land 33
Demand for Development 34
Forecasting Secondary Effects 35
The Resulting Impacts 37
Controlling the Effects 37
Further Sources 38
3. Mass Transit 40
Defining the Impact Area 42
The Supply of Developable Land 42
Demand for Development 43
Forecasting Secondary Effects 44
The Resulting Impacts 45
Controlling the Effects 46
Further Sources 46
4. Sewers 48
Defining the Impact Area 51
The Supply of Developable Land 52
Demand for Development 53
Forecasting Secondary Effects 53
The Resulting Impacts 54
Controlling the Effects 55
Further Sources 57
5. Other Infrastructure Investments 58
Airports 59
Industrial and Commercial Centers 61
Recreation and Entertainment
Facilities 63
Mining and Energy Facilities 64
Dams and Flood Control Facilities 66
Further Sources 67
Appendix 68
General Data and Research Sources 68
Bibliography 70

Introduction

This book examines the major role defeat long term community goals.
which many public facilities, termed Schools and municipal services must be
"infrastructure" investments, play in the hastily provided, and local tax rates are
local development process. It covers such forced up. Haphazard, ill-planned sub-
facilities as water and wastewater sys- divisions and shopping centers degrade
tems, power supplies, highway and sec- the local environment.
ondary road networks, mass transit sys- The last quarter of this century is
tems, and airports. Such investments likely to see continued urban growth and
affect local growth by influencing the continued suburbanization converting
location and costs of new construction, rural land to residential subdivisions.
and can have a- powerful effect on the But new trends are emerging. Changing
density, timing, andlamount of new consumer, preferences, rising housing
development.
prices, and national resource shortages
For example' the@ route of ..a new -.-are. encouraging the development of
highw ay may lie hear a tract-of open more clustered. and higher density com-
farmland, putting that farmland within munities. It is important that infrastruc-
commuting distance of a city. The land ture investments be designed to enhance
soon becomes developed with single the positive features of new trends in
family housing because the new highway development. At the least, local decision-
makes it into a suitable residential loca- makers should be aware of the land use
tion. Similarly, a sewer built on unde- implications of their infrastructure in-
veloped land relieves developers of the vestment decisions, and the economic
costs of providing wastewater treatment, and environmental impacts likely to
and makes housing cheaper to build. follow.
Subdivisions are laid out near the new The link between infrastructure in-
sewer because potential builders' profits vestments and land use changes has long
are higher there. In both cases, growth been recognized in a general way, but
seems to be created by the installation of little has been done to control the design
new infrastructure; actually, the infra- and location of new infrastructure. In-
structure merely concentrates growth stead, the tactic has been to attempt to
which might otherwise have been located reduce the negative impacts of un-
elsewhere in the region. planned growth with tools such as zon-
The careful design and construction ing, subdivision controls, and local
of infrastructure can help achieve well planning. These techniques often fail,
organized, environmentally sound urban particularly when land use is changing
growth. However, infrastructure plan- rapidly, as it often does following con-
ners do notusually consider the land use struction of new infrastructure. Chang-
effects of the investments. As a result, ing the design of the infrastructure itself
its construction often leads to unplanned can be an effective additional control
land use changes that can result in major method, reinforcing the effectiveness
economic and environmental impacts. of the other land use controls.
The pace and pattern of develop- I This handbook is intended to im-
ment greatly affect a community's ability prove understanding of the link between
to accommodate growth without strain. infrastructure and land use. Local elected
Rapid, unplanned growth is often eco- officials need to know what land use
nomically inefficient and environmen- changes an infrastructure investment
tally destructive. Development may will provoke in their community, and
occur at densities and in locations which what the impacts of these changes will

BOW

6ER

ICE

be. Designers of the investments must be
concerned with the secondary impacts of
their facilities. Developers should look at
induced land use, both-to see the real
advantages of the infrastructure invest-
ment to them, and to help minimize the
adverse impacts of their projects.
This book will provide the concepts
and practical suggestions for making
these decisions. Chapter 1 discusses the
general interactions of infrastructure and
land use, provides a practical framework
for forecasting these interactions, and
describes methods for controlling sec-
ondary effects. Chapters 2, 3, and 4,
apply this framework to the analysis of
three important types of public invest-
ments: highways, mass transit facilities,
and sewers. Finally, Chapter 5 broadens
the perspective of the book to include
consideration of airports, major employ-
ment centers, recreational areas, flood
control dams, and other developments
which can also have powerful local land
use effects.

The Problem

The use of land is perhaps the most mental impacts on communities. The im-
basic of all environmental issues. Sound pacts vary according to how much devel-
land use is fundamental both to preserv- opment occurs, the spatial pattern and
ing stable ecosystems and to controlling density in which it emerges, the speed at
pollution, and even if such environmen- which it progresses, and the natural
tal issues seem remote to the daily prob- characteristics of the site. This section
lems of local governments, officials rec- first reviews the major impacts associated
ognize the fundamental economic and with new residential development, with
social importance of proper land use. particular attention to its distribution and
The construction of new highways, pattern, and then comments on commer-
mass transit lines, sewers, and other cial and industrial development.
infrastructure can have a powerful effect
on local land use. For example, most Economic Impacts of Residential
people are familiar with how the Inter- Development
state Highway System has speeded
urban growth in the suburbs. The eco- Economic impacts of development
nomic and environmental impacts of are separated into costs that are privately
development induced by new infra- bome and costs paid by the government.
structure are of growing concern on all The private costs of development depend
levels of government, for the direct local priniarfly on the type of dwelling unit
benefits provided by infrastructure may and the amount of amenities provided by
be seriously reduced or even out- the developer. In general, single-family
weighed by indirect impacts resulting housing is much more expensive in its
from changes in local land use. capital and operating costs than multi-
These impacts are extensive and family housing. But, except for the prob-
often significant. Most represent real lem of whether 'the community will con-
costs to the community - costs that may tain sufficient medium and low cost
be reduced by proper land use controls housing, the private costs of different
and by infrastructure planning. Others development types do not concern mu-
may not be felt directly by the commu- nicipal governments - consumers have
nities in which the growth occurs, but every right to pay for the amenities they
they are felt somewhere, and the respon- desire.
sibility for abating them remains Local governments do, however,
important. have a legitimate concern regarding the
In the following pages, the impacts public costs and revenue generated by a
of land use changes resulting from infra- new development, and may wish to con-
structure investments will be discussed. trol the amount, location, or pattern of
This will form a background for later development, so that it does not severely
parts of the book, which consider the strain municipal finances.
process by which land use changes occur A recent study of the average costs
and procedures for forecasting land use of different development patterns
changes associated with particular infra- showed that sprawl development - the
structure investments. low density unplanned "suburbia"'
familiar across the country - is signifi-
The Impacts of Induced Development
(opposite) Adapted from ne Costs of Sprawl by Real Estate
Research Corporation, subsequently referred to as RERC. (All
Unplanned development can have illustrations are by Urban Systems Research and Engineering,
8 serious economic, social, and environ- Inc., unless otherwise noted.)

COMMUNITY PRO`rOTYPES - LEGEND
. . ........
w
. .... ... . .

VACANT LAND
kl

::!tz;@ X

PUBLIC FACILITIES

13 u
13 13
COMMERCIAL LAND

L 0
i Ij

L
I RECREATION AND
OPEN SPACE
zlz,

F5 SCHOOLS

. ..........

SINGLE FAMILY CONVENTIONAL

q
.............

............

SINGLE FAMILY CLUSTERED
Fl

i i;@.. P,
TOWNHOUSES CLUSTERED

...............
CL
WALK-UP APARTMENTS
40F

..........

.. ...... .

HIGH RISE APARTMENTS

..............
..........
...............

.. ........
T k
.. .........

. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . ... . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . .. . . . . . . . . .

2000 1000 0 2000 FEET

PUBLIC COSTS OF DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS PER CAPITA EXPENDITURES BY MUNICIPAL SIZE

8 PER YEAR
100
CAPITAL COS S OPERATING & MAINTENANCE
(9 1000) IS )00/ YEAR)

12 ........

it
LIS ARIES
to ... ...
X..
SEWERAGE
9
X." LAND GENERAL
GOVERNMENT
J@Jjjff SANI.TI.N
OPEN SPACE,
PUBLIC MCILITIES, . .......
VICES 50-
16
OR SERVI

STREETS & ROADS
FIRE
4

o 3
UTILITIES POLICE

... ...... .......

0
_jOO 100-200 20
LESS THAN 50 50 0
POPULATION (THOUSANDS)

cantly more expensive to service than costs as communities grow. It addresses
compact, planned development. Patterns only average costs associated with dif-
of development are defined by factors ferent development patterns in a fixed-
such as the number of units per acre, the population community.
mix of land uses, and the design and lay- The evidence on how public costs
out of construction. The Costs of Sprawl are affected by population growth is con-
computed the component costs of ar- flicting. It seems to depend very much
ranging 10,000 units of suburban housing on the particular characteristics of both
in six different patterns, of which three the community involved and the growth
representative examples are shown that occurs. For large communities, sev-
on the previous page. eral studies have indicated that most per
Each pattern serves the same number of capita service costs rise rather than fall as
people and has the same amount of com- the communities get larger. The graph
mercial space. The study simulated con- above, developed from 1970-71 U.S.
ditions on the developing urban fringe, Census data, shows how per capita costs
and the "high density" option is not very change with overall community size.
high - it includes single-family homes, There is no clear indication why this
no building has more than six stories, trend exists, but it does suggest that, for
and the average density is three dwelling whatever the reason, as communities
units per gross acre. become urbanized, their service costs per
Average public cost breakdowns of capita will rise.
the study are shown above. It is dear that For smaller communities, on the
most of the cost difference between com- other hand, average costs may fall with
munity types is taken up in greater street further development as facilities become
and road costs for low density develop- used to capacity. One police car or fire
ment, but all costs except the capital cost station may be able to handle more
of land are uniformly higher as develop- left ) Source: RERC
ment is spread out. (above) Source I: Adapted from material in Fiscal Impacts of
The Costs of Sprawl does not deal Land Development by Thomas Muller, published by the Urban
10 with changes in per capita public service Institute.

Large amounts of growth occurred years. The town is planning to close five
in Lexington, Massachusetts, in the of its older schools by 1980, partially
1950's, when Route 128 was made into because of declining birth rates, but also
a major circumferential highway. Sev- as a result of changing age structure.
eral schools were built for the children
of new residents. Now the population
is getting older, new construction has.
slowed as the town becomes fulll and
the schools are emptying. In 196 0,21
percent of the population was in the
child bearing years between 25 and
40; in 1970, this had dropped.,to @k7.
percent.
The figure on the following p' age
shows what this has done to elementary
school enrollments over the past 20

people without reducing service quality, high public costs, since utility lines,
while splitting the costs over the larger streets, and services must be extended
population. With extensive growth, long distances through vacant land. Even
however, the additional people are likely if the intervening land is ultimately filled
to require new schools, fire houses, in, the community must bear unneces-
police stations, and the like, and tax rates sarily high service costs in the interim.
are likely to rise. Existing residents may It also finds itself locked into sprawled
wind up paying more money for the out low density development patterns
same level of service they received before for the long term, with all its implications
because they are paying for facilities built for higher public service costs.
to serve future populations. If development occurs at a rapid
New development may bring in resi- rate, as is often the case where infra-
dents of a different socio-economic status structure changes are made in a region
than existing residents with resulting with strong economic growth, another
benefits and costs. A common example group of economic impacts may be felt.
is where a new highway turns a rural In an area where a great deal of single-
community into an affluent suburb of a family housing is built over a short time,
metropolitan area. In such cases, the new most of the residents moving in will be
residents may demand additional public about the same age, as will their children.
services such as libraries, sport facilities It will be necessary to build schools to
(golf courses, tennis courts), recreation serve this large group of children, but
centers, parks, and public parking lots. after they pass through the number of
The costs and the benefits must be school age children in the community
shared by the existing residents. will drop suddenly. A large portion of
For reasons which will be discussed the school space may then be useless,
later in this chapter, development in- as is the case in Lexington, Massachu-
duced by infrastructure investments setts.
frequently occurs in scattered locations Because the economic impacts of
away from already developed areas. This new development depend so much on
'Ieapfrog@' development pattern carries the particular characteristics of the situa-

COMMUNITY LAND USE UNDER DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, LEXINGTON MASSACHUSETTS 1953-1980

0-6-
ACTUAL I ACTUAL PROJECTED
GRADES I TO 6 KINDERGARTEN TO 6 KINDERGARTEN TO 6

VACANT, UNJ.PROVED
VA ANje.J`PP1 .0
SEC . R VVED &
ED
Q4_ RESIDENTIAL
------- ---
BACKYARDS
..........

OPEN SPACE
TRAN.PORTI.N
T

0.2 .
SCHOOL 5 PUBLIC
FACILITIES
ol

0-0.
1950 ji6o :i6? 1970 675 IS&

tion, any conclusions about a specific The former depends on how carefully
development have to be based upon spe- the development is designed and con-
cific analyses. The bibliography to this structed, and the latter depends on the
chapter lists some documents which will natural assimilative capacity of the local
assist the community in making these environment, as well as the location, pat-
analyses. tern, and density of development.
Land use: The overall land budget
Environmental Impacts of Residential for the alternative community patterns
Development analyzed and discussed in The Costs of
Sprawl is presented above. There is a
Development usually degrades the striking difference in the amount of land
environment to some extent, but growth required to house a given population as
induced by infrastructure may bring with better planning and increased densities
it particularly heavy environmental im- come into play. One major change is the
pacts because it tends to be unantici- potential drop in the "vacant, improved
pated, uncoordinated, and,. therefore, and semi-improved" category, which
haphazardly. distributed and poorly shows the amount of leapfrogging and
designed. wasted space within the community. Pri-
The production of air pollution, vate backyard. space and land used for
water pollution, and solid waste, as well transportation also decline. Planned
as overall rates of energy consumption, open spaces are assumed to actually in-
are largely determined by population crease as densities rise; these include
size. The pattern in which development parks and private communal grounds in
may occur also af "fects the amount of pol- duster and planned unit developments.
lution a given population will generate, As communities opt for more plan-
but to a lesser extent. Actual environ- ning and more compact development, a
mental quality is determined by how the great deal of land can be left vacant and
pollution is abated before it reaches the
environment, and how much of the re- left ) Source: Ledngbon Town Reports
12 mainder is absorbed by the environment. (above) Source- RERC

suburb is generated outside the commu-
AV,ERAGE ANNUAL AIR POLLUTION EMISSIONS FOR nitys boundaries. However, to the ex-
DFFERENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS
tent that the community is affected by
locally generated air pollution, higher
density developments, while producing
200.
less air pollution per dwelling unit, may
have worse local concentrations of air
T ANSPORTATIIN pollution because they have more dwell-
RESIDENTIAL Ing units per acre. In general, however,
HEATING
100- within the moderate overall densities
.. .. .. ....
represented by these prototypical com-
in
unities,. lower air pollution emission
rates are likely to lead to better local and
regional air quality. More highly planned
0
1. x
communities - with their lower emis-
@z z@
ion rates and greater amo ts of open
S un
N
space for absorbing pollution - will have
better air quality than unplanned, sprawl
unimproved within the town bound- communities, no matter what the
aries. This land is available for future density.
population expansion or for open space. . 0 Water Pollution: Communities
It may be used to protect sensitive must contend with three major forms of
ecologies, such as streams, forests, or water pollution - sanitary sewage, sur-
wildlife areas, and it can have a high face runoff (which. includes storm-
recreational value to the community. water flow and sedimentation) and
Conventional "sprawl" communities groundwater pollution.
have virtually no unimproved vacant Sanitary sewage production is di-
land..In the "planned-mix"' community, rectly related to community population
however, vacant unimproved land is size. Many small communities, however,
33% of the total - in the high density can manage their sanitary sewage prob-
Community it jumps to 56%. lems with on-'site disposal in septic
* Air Pollution: The major sources tanks. As growth progresses and densi-
of air pollution in non-industrial areas ties increase, septic tanks usually cause
are transportation (especially automo- problems: houses are built on lots too
biles) and the space heating of buildings. small to allow sufficient percolation of
The graph above shows the estimated wastes into the soil. Sewers and treat-
amount of air pollution produced per ment plants must then be installed. But
dwelling unit for the three basic commu- treatment only removes a part of the
nity types discussed previously. These pollution, and the plant effluent can still
estimates are based on the average num- cause significant water pollution in the
ber of miles driven locally per household receiving stream. As population grows
in the different development patterns, and treatment plant effluent increases,
and on the amount of natural gas needed stream water quality deteriorates more.
to heat the various dwelling types. The pattern and distribution of land
Converting these data into estimates use have virtually no effect on the gen-
of actual community air quality is diffi- eration of sanitary sewerage in each
cult. Air pollution diffuses over large
areas and most of the air pollution in a left Source: RERC 13

599 -558 0 - 76 - 2

AVERAGE ANNUAL WATER POLLUTION EMISSIONS FOR AVERAGE ANNUALPER CAPITA WATER USE FOR
DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS

100

1POO

---- . . .......

A SEDIMENT ... ........ LA-
1,000- ----- ..... SPRINKLING
----- STO M WATER
----- ...... RUNOFF
DOMESTIC
SANITARY 50 USE
S
....... EWAGE

o 25

FEW REMEW

P.:

household, but they do affect stormwater compounds, and heavy metals can often
runoff and Sedimentation. Stormwater be found in the groundwater in and
flow is water which runs across imper- around developed areas. Once contam-
vious surfaces or saturated land during inated, the groundwater often takes
intense rains. It can cause se Irious, flood- many years to clean itself, requiring the
ing problems downstream of new devel- users of wells to install water treatment 0
opment and may also contain significant facilities or seek alternative, water
amounts of pollution. Sedimentation is sources.
a measure of the erosion of soil that e Water Consumption: Many areas
occurs throughout a community and that in the United States face current or po-
reaches local streams. 'Excessive@ erosion tential shortages of water. In some
causes loss of valuable fertile soils and places, particularly in the southwest,
obstructs streams and lakes. water itself is scarce, but the most com-
The graph above shows how differ- mon problem nationally is lack of ade-
ent community patterns are estimated to- quate treatment facilities. Increased en-
affect water pollution. As expected, the vironmental pollution has recently forced
communities do not differ in sanitary a reevaluation of how much treatment
sewage production, but denser, planned is required to provide safe water - the
communities tend to generate less run- Environmental Protection Agency has
off per dwelling unit. Again, this de- tentatively identified a need for $1.2
pends very much on the care that is taken billion worth of new water filtration
in the design and construction of the plants nationwide. This money must be
development. raised at the local level, and rapidly
Groundwater pollution occurs when growing communities may find it diffi-
contaminants, such as sanitary landfills cult to keep up with the water demands
or improperly operating septic tanks'
reach the water table. Where the water left ) The general findings of The Costs of Sprawl reported
Sarutary sewage effluents assuming terbary treatment. The
table is high (within a few feet of, tile sur- graph above has been adjusted to represent the more com-
face) or where the soil is very porous, mon practice of secondary treatment. Source- RMC...
14 bacteria, viruses, dangerous organic (above) Source: RERC

of new development.
Increased development increases the AVERAGE ANNUAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR DIFFERENT
DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS
consumption of water. Some of this -
typically 50 to 80 gallons per person per
day - is used for laundry, dishwashing,
toilets, baths, cooking, and so forth. This i;; 500
consumption is basically independent of
development patterns or density, except 400 TRIHSPOITATION
as these affect population. The rest. of the RESID NTIAL
300
HEATING
water consumed in residences is used'for Id 77
such purposes as lawn watering, and 200
this is strongly affected by the develop-
.100.
ment pattern and by climate. Estimated I
average water consumption for different
0
I
community types is shown at left. 113, o L, t:
j, g
A second way in which development z. I.,
I
I
exacerbates water shortages is. that the
construction of impermeable surfaces
reduces the amount of rainfall that per- hoods try to exclude odorous and un-
meates back into groundwater reservoirs, sightly landfills from being.located
Higher density development results in nearby, and even well-designed landfills
less impermeable surface per dwelling are generally perceived as "dumps" by
unit than lower density developments. nearby residents. For these reasons com-
In either type, the amount of ground- munities may be forced to acquire less
water recharge can be significantly in- than satisfactory alternative sites, or
creased by sensitive design and siting, dispose of their wastes in a more ex-
and by the construction of holding ponds pensive manner.
and recharge facilities within developed * Energy: Energy conservation is
areas. now a national policy. While high per
e Solid Waste: Population growth capita energy use remains the norm
induced by infrastructure investments throughout the country, some patterns
will increase solid waste disposal prob- of development are significantly more
lems in a local area. Although the pro- energy efficient than others. The un-
duction of solid waste may vary a small planned sprawl pattern characteristically
amount according to the living patterns induced around suburban highways and
and income of the population, virtually in new sewer service areas has a particu-
nothing can be done through land use larly low energy efficiency under current
controls to reduce the amount of solid technology.
waste a given population will produce. The graph above compares the three
As population grows, finding a suit- development patterns as they affect en-
able site for disposal becomes more dif- ergy use. Most of the energy savings
ficult. Satisfactory landfill sites are also attributed to clustered patterns,of higher
good building sites - they have low density development result from savings
water tables, and good transportation in transportation fuel. High density
access (for garbage trucks). As develop- communities, being compact, reduce the
ment progresses, prices for landfill sites average mileage of local trips, and there-
rise, making them more difficult to ob-
tain. Furthermore, residential neighbor- (above) Source: RERC 15

by save gas. Also, other modes of trans- changes are socially advantageous to ex-
portation can replace cars for some pur- isting residents, others are not. For in-
poses - mass transit for work trips, stance, a declining neighborhood might
walking for light shopping trips.. Savings experience a rise in local property values,
in heating fuel are obtained in high den- and the construction of commercial
sity patterns because of shared walls facilities offering more local jobs. On the
between units (tQwnhouses or apart- other hand, local land values might rise
ments), and because larger, more effi- high enough to price original residents
cient furnances may be installed to serve out of the area; this is especially likely
more than one unit. to happen in areas with rental housing,
since renters cannot cash in on rising
The Social Impacts of Residential land prices.
Developments The pattern in which growth occurs
also carries with it social implications.
Theland use changes induced by Studies typically show that about three-
new infrastructure projects may carry quarters of the population prefers owner-
with them important social impacts, but ship of a single-family house to all other
they are intricately linked to conditions options. Among young married people
in individual communities. A few general with children, the rate climbs to 95 per-
comments can be made, however, based cent. This widespread preference is
on the fact that the social impacts of de- backed up by hard dollars, for people
velopment depend both on the people clearly are prepared to pay a substantial
who are attracted to a growing commu- premium for low density living. They
nity, and where and how they settle pay it in taxes, in travel time to work, and
within it. in buying and maintaining expensive
In rural communities on the fringe homes.
of metropolitan areas, the first wave of On the other hand, increased hous-
population increase is usually the most ing costs are placing single-family homes
significant socially. If new population is beyond the economic reach of much of
brought into a predominantly agricul- the population; future communities may
tural region by a highway, this implies a, of necessity provide a greater variety of
trend away from fanning and toward housing units and achieve greater eco-
purely residential land uses. The new nomic heterogeneity. There are other
population will tend to work outside of social benefits to be gained by planning
the community at occupations different suburban communities for higher den-
from those of present residents; they will sities. Even with detached single family
probably have a different income status, housing, benefits are gained if otherwise
a different political outlook, and perhaps wasted open space in conventional sub-
different ethnic backgrounds. Over a few divisions is organized into neighborhood
years, this leads to a realignment of the parks and recreational space by some
community's political and economic clustering of houses.
system, and the original social structure While designing suburban areas
is exchanged for a new one. exclusively for higher density apartments
In urbanized areas where significant would obviously fail to satisfy consumer
increases in development density might preferences, many improvements over
follow the installation of a rapid transit conventional sprawl patterns may be
system, neighborhood social effects can made without consumer objection or
16 be strong. Some transit-induced land use with positive consumer approval. Leap-

frog development clearly represents no standards" for both air and water pollu-
consumer preference - avoiding it saves tion, they are likely to degrade the en-
travel time and preserves peripheral vironment much less than older facilities.
open space, both social gains. High den- Much of the industry locating in subur-
sity areas in a community will attract ban areas emit little pollution in any case.
single people and young couples, who On the other hand, commercial and in-
are often relatively affluent and demand dustrial developments generate a sig-
relatively fewer community services. nificant amount of traffic, causing
This can help preserve open space and congestion and air pollution problems.
maintain the overall low densities many New facilities also typically include large
communities prefer. It may even lead to areas of impermeable surface in the form
lower taxes. of buildings, parking lots, and roads;
these surfaces inhibit groundwater re-
Conunercial and Industrial Development charge, and their stormwater runoff
increases local flood hazards and water
The impact analysis above was con- pollution.
cerned only with residential develop- All these problems, as well as other
ments. But communities should also potential environmental and natural
consider the possible impacts associated resource problems, can be significantly
with commercial and industrial develop- reduced through proper design, and
ment that may also follow infrastructure through the government and the indi-
investments. It is much harder to gen- vidual enterprises working closely to-
eralize about such development, but the gether during the design and construc-
following observations are usually valid. tion phases, as well as after the facility
The taxes paid by commercial and is in operation.
industrial developments usually exceed
the costs of servicing them by a large
margin.
Because new facilities now have to
(above) A housing development east of Dallias, Texas, August
conform to "new source performance 1960. Source: U.S. Deparbrnent of Agriculture. 17

Infrastructure Investments and Land social, and economic forces.
Use Changes Some land may be permanently re-
moved from the market by law. Exam-
Infrastructure influences local land ples are land restricted by conservation
use by changing the supply of develop- easements, protected environmental
able land, the demand for development, zones such as wetlands and floodplains,
or both. These changes are often highly parks (national, state, and local), forests
significant for local communities, for they (national and state), and wildlife refuges.
can bring with them significant eco- Conservation easements can be identi-
nomic, environmental, and social im- fied through local and state conservation
pacts, as outlined in the previous section. commissions; other areas to be protected
We now turn to discuss the general from development (e.g. to preserve
mechanisms by which infrastructure in- valuable agricultural lands, coastal wet-
vestments tend to induce development. lands, or to prevent water pollution) are
It is easiest to look at land use the concern of state and substate envi-
changes from the point of view of devel- ronmental protection and land use
opers. They are the chief actors in the agencies.
urbanization process, and deal with the Other protected land uses are easily
market forces of supply and demand in located on various maps obtainable from
the most direct and practical way. Devel- regional planning agencies, technical and
opers acquire land, remove or modify engineering divisions of state land grant
any existing structures, build their pro- colleges, or zoning commissions (U.S.
jects, and then seek tenants or buyers. Geological Survey maps are useful, but
They are, of course, interested primarily few are completely up to date).
in profits, which means that they will Good land use maps will also reveal
undertake developments only when they parcels in permanent use as power-line,
can reasonably expect enough demand pipe-line and rail rights-of-way, and land
for their development to justify their held by schools, colleges, military bases,
many costs.. airports and other institutions for ex-
Infrastructure investments can lead pansion and other purposes.
to local increases in demand for develop- Some legal restrictions on land use,
ment or reductions in development costs, notably zoning, may not be perinanent
and thus create a strong incentive for but can hold land out of development in
developers to locate their projects near- the short term. For instance, land may be
by. The presence of infrastructure can zoned for agriculture explicitly to reserve
both reduce risk and increase profits for it for future development needs. Other
developers. While this is obvious, it is land, while legally developable for the
seldom adequately considered by infra- desired project, may not be available at
structure planners. any reasonable price - land zoned for
commercial use, for example, is likely to
The Land Supply be far too expensive for use for single-
family housing because the landowners
A developer's first problem is find- have higher expectations of its worth.
ing a site and choosing a type of develop- Physical limitations on develop-
ment to put on it. The supply of land ment, such as unstable soils, steep
suitable for different purposes constant- slopes, rock outcroppings, and high
ly fluctuates, and physical infrastructure water tables may be harder to identify.
18 plays a role along with legal, physical, The U.S.. Soil Conservation Service and

One cause of leapfrogging is that off at least a part of the property.
there are a number of tax and other One survey looked at the reasons
financial incentives for sale of farm- for holdouts within developed areas
land at the retirement or death of the - a prime cause for leapfrogging.
owner. There is less incentive to sell Their reasons for not selling are
at other times. On retirement, income significant:
drops, the tax bracket changes, and, Waiting for retirement/
therefore, taxes on selling the farm inheritance -77%
will be lower - especially if the pay- Waiting for a better
ments are spread out over several price -18%
years. After the owner's death no cap- No offers - 5%
ital gains tax is paid on appreciation Similar results were found for other -
during the owner's life, making it sales where early leapfrog develop-
attractive for heirs to sell, especially ment occurred; there 68 percent of the
if they do not wish to farm. Estate sales came through retirement or
taxes may also force the heirs to sell death, 21% because of a good offer.

the engineering and technical schools of example, often require hundreds of
state land grant colleges may both be acres- If parcels must be assembled from
sources of useful information. Consult- many sellers, developers' costs are raised
ing with major development companies both in time and money. More intense
in an area may also be of practical value land uses, such as high rise office J@uild-
in determining vacant areas suitable for ings, need little land and dispersed land
development. These physical limitations 0.wnership will be les's of An obstacle to
raise development costs, and cause the development.
land to be initially passed over for devel- Infrastructure influences the land
opment until more suitable land is used supply primarily by lowering (sometimes
up and prices rise enough to cover the drastically) the costs of development.
increased development costs. Sewers are the prime example. Environ-
Another supply consideration is the mental regulations or site conditions
willingness of landowners to sell their often preclude the use of septic tanks.
properties for development. On the An alternative, the construction by the
urban fringe, much land is held in large developer of his own sewer system and
parcels by farmers. In many such re- small "package" treatment plant, can
gions, farmers often sell.off their land entail costs which are high enough to
when they retire because farming profits make development unprofitable. If the
are declining and they may have no heirs municipality builds the sewer infrastruc-
willing to take over the work. Conse- ture, sewage disposal costs are substan-
quently, it is oftenpossible to predict tially lower, development becomes
when farm properties will be put up for profitable, and a rapid expansion of
sale by knowing the age of owners. Price housing within the sewer service area
is important, but there are tax advantages may result.
to delaying the sale until retirement or Infrastructure may also remove land
the death of the owner. from development. For example, high-
The land supply may also be con- ways use land for their rights-of-way.
strained simply because of the size of While the amount is insignificant in rural
available parcels. Subdivisions, for areas, it is significant in cities; this land 19

has good services or a low tax rate, for
47 __ e, it is likely to be more attractive
exampl
to developers. Developers building large
homes on big lots will tend to build in
areas where there already are such
homes; developers @uilding shopping
cent
ers will locate where large numbers
of people will use them, generally near
highways and at a distance from other
regional shopping centers.
Accessibility is very important.
4A
People must travel to work and to shop-
ping; other things being equal, they will,
prefer housing with the most convenient
access to important centers. Businesses
will locate where they can easily get em-
ployees, and where they have access to
their supplies and markets.
can only be developed through expen- Infrastructure affects demand for
sive construction techniques using the development b changing the attractive-
highway air rights. Airports may utilize ness of a spe Ac area for a particular kind
vast tracts of adjacent land to create noise of development, or by changing its ac-
buffer zones, reducing the supply of cess. Public recreation facilities, which
developable land. Both of these effects can be considered a kind of infrastruc-
will change the options available to the ture, increase local amenities and tend to
developer. attract population, often in second home
developments. Rural highway inter-
Demand for Development changes attract travel services such as
gas stations and motels.
The developer must find tenants or In metropolitan regions, the most
buyers for what he builds. In a rapidly important way in which infrastructure
growing metropolitan region, there are affects demand is by changing access to
large numbers of people and firms seek- shopping or jobs. Suburbanization has
ing locations and large amounts of de- been greatly reinforced by the construc-
velopment are likely to occur. In a stag- tion of highwaysi new roads serving
nant or declining region, there will be distant areas may lead to the conversion
little demand for new development. New of undeveloped land to housing. Similar-
development responds primarily to, region- ly, mass transit lines may promote resi-
al population and economic growth, al- dential development at outlying stations
though population shifts may alsoopcur for people who do not use cars..
within a region over a longer time span. Research has failed to discover a
Developers are concerned with more simple way in which to estimate local
than regional demand and local- develop- demand for new development. In the
ment costs, however. They also seek case of housing, however, one quick and
competitive locational advantages - reliable.indicator of lack of demand does
areas within regions that are compara- left ) Gateway Center, a multi-purpose development using
tively more attractive to consumers, and, the air rights over the Massachusetts Turnpike at Newton,
20 therefore, 'more saleable. If a community Massachusetts.

exist the local housing vacancy rate.
If it is above about 5%, then it is highly
unlikely that extensive development of
vacant land will occur, assuming no
change in local attractiveness or trans-
portation access. But there is a minimum
vacancy rate of several percent regardless
of other conditions, both because people i@@
are always moving and because old
housing stock deteriorates. This mini-
MUM rate varies from pjace to place.
_S17
Actual housing vacancy rates are listed
M U.S. Census reports, and may be up-
dated more frequently by state or local
censuses.
The most effective way to estimate
present demand for housing develop-
ment is to consult with real estate agents,
developers, and assessors. Real estate pressure. If regional forecasts indicate
agents especially can give an objective strong growth trends, it is more likely
account of housing prospects in an area, that substantial development in the pro-
taking into account the amenities, or lack ject service area will occur, depending on
thereof, which affect an area's competi- its relative attractiveness in terms of
tive position for attracting growth. De- access to employment centers, and other
velopers, while perhaps less willing to amenities.
reveal their full knowledge, are also 'Interactions between several infra-
aware of market trends. Assessors can structure investments may affect de- ,
provide basic information on the trends velopment demand over the long term.
of housing values - areas where hous- Interactions are significant both between
ing prices are growing particularly fast infrastructure of different types and be-
are likely to attract further growth if the tween multiple projects of the same type.
supply of developable land is expanded. Both highways and sewers are often
Research into recent land trans- necessary before development in an area
actions in an area is another approach to can proceed actively. While both are not
estimating demand. Speculation in land required for development, they may
is a fairly reliable indicator of potential serve jointly to change substantially the
development. The creation of develop- relative attractiveness of an area, and
able parcels, either through the assembly thus determine the rate, pattern, and
of contiguous.small plots or the division density at which development occurs.
of unusually large ones, may be the first Interactions between mass transit
overt sign that development is likely. and sewers may be similar to those of
Registries of deeds maintain current highways and sewers, but there are too
records of such transactions. few recent transit projects to draw con-
Development potential over the long clusions. Interactions between highways
.term should also be estimated. While and mass transit facilities are equally
little current interest in development (above) A new sewage treatiment Plant to serve suburban
might be found, over the long term re- development, under construction near a suburban highway
gional growth may increase development interchange. 21

PREDICT CONSIDER
IMPACTS CONTROLS

GENERAL PROCEDURE FOR CONSIDERING DEVELOPMENT INDUCED BY INFRASTRUCTURE

hard to predict, though it would be safe merely concentrates part of the region's
to say that they would tend to increase development into its own service area.
development density. This is- especially true for smaller projects
The interactive effects of multiple of the sort considered here, such as
infrastructure projects should be studied single highways or sewers.
carefully. Normally, one is reviewing
.only one project at a time, yet it is clear Estimating What Development Will
that the basic changes in urban form Occur
wrought by infrastructure, especially
highways, has been due to extensive The past sections have shown some
systems built over a period of years, not of the impacts of land development, and
by isolated projects. It is also true that a explained how infrastructure invest-
particular type of investment has quite ments can affect that development. For
different impacts depending on when it planning purposes, though, it is nece,3-
is built. The first highway in an area may sary to have a procedure for estimating
have substantial local effects, but the what development will occur, and what
twentieth one will probably have much impacts it will have. This section outlines
less. a simple and rough procedure for this
This discussion has focused on how purpose which is developed further in
infrastructure investments can shift the subsequent chapters.
existing or potential demand. Whether Each type of investment has its own
or not infrastructure can create new characteristics, and each one must be han-
demand for development is another dled differently. However, the basic goals
more controversial point. It is certainly of the procedure and the general steps in-
possible that the Federal Highway Pro- volved remain the same. Virtually all de-
gram, for example, has so improved velopment related to infrastructure is
transportation in and between cities that localized in a zone physically adjacent to
it has actually created economic growth. the investment and served by it. The first
[
DEFINE
""Ar
'T;AA.
B EXISTING
CONDITIONS
a<

A more conservative view is that infra- step is to define this impact area and to look
22 structure seldom creates growth, but at how it has been growing in the past.

The second step is to look at the investments may be controlled. This
supply of land in the area, and to assess handbook emphasizes the importance of
what land is available, what services are modifying infrastructure design to con-
offered, whether there are physical or trol development and its adverse im-
legal development restrictions, and pacts. Specifying design changes for
whether land is likely to be sold at a various investments will be discussed in
reasonable price to developers. Invest- succeeding chapters. But it is also impor-
ments such as sewers might change the tant to consider other land use controls.
availability or price of land for different
uses. In some situations, redevelopment Controlling the Impacts of Induced
of existing uses may also be possible. Development
The third step is to consider demand
for development. Residential demand will' There are two possible ways of deal-
generally depend on how fast the region ing with the potential impacts of induced
is growing, on how attractive the impact development. One is to control the de-
area is, and on what sort of access it has velopment, and thus limit the impacts.
to jobsi shopping, and other amenities. The other is to respond to the impacts
Commercial demand will depend on after the fact, by providing various ser-
whether there are people who would vices or facilities (e.g., police protection
travel there to shop or work. or sewage treatment plants). Both ap-
Demand and supply must then be proaches are effective and sound, but
combined to give estimates of what de- the emphasis here is on limiting impacts
velopment will occur. Three questions by controlling development. Most com-
are of interest here: munities have experience responding to
development impacts; few are adept at
1. How much development will preventing them.
occur, and where will it go? Prevention can be accomplished
2. What development patterns and through land use controls. However, in
densities can be expected? the case of development induced by in-
3. At what rate will the develop-, frastructure investments, changing the
ment occur? design of the infrastructure itself is often
The answers to these three questions will the simplest and cheapest way of con-
characterize the development and give trolling land use changes.
an understanding of the likely conse-
quences of the investment. Infrastructure Design Changes
The fifth step is concerned with im-
pacts. Once some idea of the likely Changing the design of the pro-
amount, pattern, and rate of develop- posed infrastructure investment can
ment is found, approximate result- change its effect on the local supply of
ing impacts can be predicted. The dis- developable land or the local demand for
cussion earlier in this chapter is relevant, development. A reduction in capacity
and there are other publications (some of will reduce the amount of development
which are listed under Further Sources which the infrastructure can support.
at the end of each chapter) available on there will be less development induced
predicting impacts which would be of by a two-lane road than an interstate
use to the local planner. highway, all else being equal.
. The final step is to consider how the Changing the route of the infrastruc-
impacts attributable to infrastructure ture can also be effective in controlling 23

In 1%9, the town of Ramapo, defects of the ordinance have become
New York, which controls 60 square obvious. However, a valuable prece-
miles of bedroom suburbs serving dent has been made. Growth in
New York City, enacted a revolution- Ramapo must follow, rather than pre-
ary ordinance which tied future resi- cede, the ability of the town to ser-
dential development to an 18 year vice it.
capital facilities program. To obtain Such ordinances, if tied to a pro-
approval for a development, builders gram to provide housing for all in-
must demonstrate that adequate pub- come groups (which Ramapo planned
lic facilities e3dst to serve their pro- but has conspicuously failed to do),
ject, or build the facilities themselves could do much to control haphazard
at their own cost. Growth is still al- sprawl created by unplanned infra-
lowed in Ramapo, but it is being structure investment.
guided to fit the needs of the commu-
nity and minimize public costs.
Since its passage, many social

induced development. Sewer lines may quire developers either to pay the cost
be aligned to avoid large completely va- of service extensions or to locate where
cant tracts, and to encourage the comple- services are available. This method re-
tion of development in partially urban- duces community costs, cuts down on
ized areas. Highway interchanges or leapfrogging, and controls the rate of
mass transit stations can similarly be lo- development.
cated to stimulate infilling and avoid
further sprawl. Zoning
Staging the investrnents can also
have an impact. A highway or a sewer Zoning is the most familiar and
can be extended in phases. Seveial small widely used land use control and is the
projects, again built in phases, can sub- most powerful planning tool available
stitute for one large scale project. Since to local government. Zoning designates
,it is more difficult to control rapid growth pem-dssable uses and restrictions on
than moderate growth, staging can be an various defined districts within a larger
important technique. area. It receives its power from the police
The local community can often in- power provisions of the Constitution,
fluence such design considerations, and and is defined by state enabling legis-
thus control growth. Careful planning of lation.
interchanges and frontage roads, park- Unfortunately, conventional zoning
ing facilities, access provisions for parks has often been unable to cope with the
or airports, and the like are very impor- great pressure for development in many
tant in guiding new development, and suburban areas. And where rapid new
in reducing its adverse impacts. development is being induced by an in-
It is also possible to guide growth in frastructure'investment, there is often
a community through the provision of irresistable pressure for zoning changes
public facilities. If a community develops which may be harmful to the community.
a capital investrnent plan for extending . Innovative zoning methods such as
necessary services like sewers, schools, cluster zoning, density zoning, and
24 and water supply, it may be able to re- planned unit developments (PUDs) have

Zoning can act against its own Development along streams can
goals if variances are easy to get. lead to polluted water supplies and
Land zoned for apartments is or- flooding. Many communities have
dinarily much more valuable than zoned buffers around streams,
other residentially zoned land, so in allowing no development within 50
the early 60's owners in Montgom- feet or so to reduce impacts. Napa
ery County, Maryland, raised their County, California, uses such a
asking prices accordingly. Develop- buff er. In other areas, such as Placer
ers, however, found variances easy to County, California, the boundary
get, and simply bought land in single size depends on the conditions of
family districts and had it rezoned. soils, the land slope, and other fac-
One writer says, "It almost appeared tors; this reduces impacts, but is
that the best way to keep apartments harder to administer. Zoning of sen-
out of the area was for the Planning sitive areas to reduce impacts is an
Commission to take the initiative important land use and environ-
in rezoning it for apartments." mental control tool.

gained acceptance in many communities quality and the local ecology. For such
across the country. All allow increased areas, early regulation is important.
concentration of uses in some parts of a
site in exchange for more open space in Purchase of Land Rights
other parts. Such techniques can reduce
municipal capital and service costs, re- Zoning is legally strongest when it
duce environmental problems such as is designed to prevent an obvious public
stonnwater runoff, and protect sensitive hann, as when industrial uses are ex-
areas. A wide amount of literature is cluded from residential zones so that
available on all of them. property values are secure and public
Special zoning for sensitive environ- safety protected. Where the purpose of
mental areas can reduce the environ- zoning is to provide a public benefit, as
mental impacts of development consider- when land is zoned for open space,
ably. Streams and creeks, wetlands, owners of restricted land may sue for
woodlands, hillsides, and groundwater compensation - they may have been
and aquifer recharge areas are. prime deprived of future benefits from devel-
candidates for designation as sensitive opment. In such cases conventional
areas; development on them should be zoning may fail, and public purchase of
controlled or, where necessary, pre- property or development rights may be
vented. In some cases, such controls are required to limit development or protect
not necessary until land costs become sensitive environments.
high - hillsides, for example, are ex- Conservation restrictions are often
pensive to build on and tend to be de- used to protect open space or sensitive
veloped last. Other sensitive areas are areas. A community, in effect, pays an
inexpensive to develop but have high owner not to develop all or part of his
value to the community as open space; land. It buys the "development right"
for instance, floodplains are often prime either in perpetuity or for a set period of
development sites, yet they should be time such as 30 years. Alternatively, the
protected from development to avert public can buy the land outright and
costly flood damage and protect water "banl<" it. Landbanking is expensive, 25

599-558 0 - U - 3

A-

NINE-;
ssqv;

but cheaper options than immediate pacts. Requiring high standards of in-
outright purchase are available. These sulation in new houses will reduce
usually give the present owner continued energy consumption and air pollution
use of the land in its undeveloped state. from space heating. Construction and
References on the topic may be found at design techniques can help control noise
the end of this chapter. problems in both public and private
buildings. Plumbing codes may be de-
Controls on Subdivisionsand signed to cut down on water use and
Construction reduce sewer loads.

Subdivision regulations may con- Further Sources
trol storm drainage, pavement type,
curbs, sidewalks, street grades and The literature on the dynamics of
widths, utility burial, amounts of recre- land use change is large and rapidly ex-
ational land, and other aspects of new panding. A good general introduction
development. They can, therefore, be is Marion Clawson's Suburban Land Con-
used to set performance standards for version in the United States (1971); it re-
environmental management - stan- views the process of urban expansion in
dards for holding stormwater and timing a readable and enjoyable way.
its release to sewers, for example. Ade- Another introductory reference on
quate standards for septic tank design urban growth, one with a strong em-
and maintenance may, if local soils are phasis on environmental problems, is
suitable, solve wastewater management The Use of Land: A Citizen's Policy Guide
problems without provision of sewers. to Urban Growth (Reilly, 1973).
With performance standards, the de-
veloper can use either land use designs -left ) This suburban subdivision is encroad-dng on forested
or engineering solutions to meet the land, increasing potential sedimentation and erosion problems
for local streams, and diminishing local aquifer recharge.
community's goals and standards. (above ) This eartlisfide in San Anselmo, California, demolished
Building codes also can be used to newly constructed apartments following heavy rainfall in Jan-
26 ameliorate adverse development im- uary 1967. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A great deal of development ment by Schaenman and Muller. Further
occurred in the 1950's on hillsides work on such subjects is underway and
around Los Angeles. Each year the several valuable studies should be com-
rainy season caused erosion and pleted during the coming year.
land slides. By 1963 the city and Another recent study, published by
county had developed regulations the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, is the Interim Guide
on the density and engineering of forIEnvironmental Assessment, HUD Field
hillside sites. Office Edition. This is a handbook for
In 1969, the county received the identifying and evaluating the environ-
heaviest winter rainfall in over 85 mental impacts of proposed develop-
years. The average hillside site ment projects; it describes practical field
under the new regulations received tests appropriate for identifying potential
an average of only $16 damage; sites environmental problem areas, as well as
developed before 1963 received ten advanced tests and technical references
times as much damage, and many for quantifying and evaluating them.
houses were totally destroyed. A valuable new compendium of ar-
ticles on growth and its control has re-
cently been published in three volumes
The Environmental Protection by The Urban Land Institute, called Man-
Agency has published Land Use and the agement and Control of Growth (Scott,
Environment, An Anthology of Readings 1975). The hundreds of articles presented
(by the American Society of Planning give a comprehensive view of current
Officials). The contents summarize the thinking on growth control, its political,
new land use ethic and cover the range legal, and environmental implications.
from local control applications to national Another recent source is Future Land
policy goals. Use: Energy, Environmental and Legal
Literature on quantifying the land Constraints (Burchell and Listokin, 1975).
use impacts of development is still dis- This collection of articles supplements
couragingly small. The Costs c@ Sprawl, the readings in the Urban Land Insti-
which covers economic, environmental, tute's anthology.
and social impacts and is the source from Ian McHarg's Design with Nature
which most of the chapter's land use im- presents a landscape planner's approach
pact information was taken, was pub- to translating environmental theory into
lished in three volumes: an Executive practice. The book presents a way to
Summary, a Detailed CostAnalysis, and analyze all land as to its suitability for
an extensive Literature Review and Bib- various types of development.
liography. This study based its analysis Extensive bibliographies on hun-
on theoretical average cost and pollution dreds of planning topics are available
figures for different development pat- through the Council of Planning Librar-
terns, and its conclusions should be read ians; major libraries often carry them, or
with that in mind. Other useful studies one can write the Councilfor their cur-
concentrating on fiscal impacts include rent catalog.
the State of New Jersey report on Hous- Those interested in finding detailed
ing and Suburbs: Fiscal and Social Impacts land use information specific to their own
of Multifamily Development and two re- locale may contact the planning and law
ports by the. Urban Institute: Fiscal Im- schools of nearby universities, local con-
pacts of Land Development by Muller, and servation commissions, and regional
Measuring the Impacts of Land Develop- planning agencies. 27

2 Highways

Old Route D snakes northeastward
out of Atlanta through a broad valley of
Kudza and Yellow Pines. At one time
people and freight passed through
Suwanee, Flowery Branch, Buford, and
Gainesville on the slow journey to the
other manufacturing towns of the Pied-
mont, Washington, and the major north-
,eastern cities.
This all changed when Interstate 85
was completed and a modem limited
access connection was established be-
tween Atlanta and Richmond, Virginia
(to the Northeast), and Montgomery,
Alabama (to the Southwest). The im-
proved North and South Highways di- 7'
verted long haul coastal traffic through
Atlanta. At the same time the truck
traffic helped fuel the rapid economic In the past twenty years, highways
expansion experienced by Atlanta in the have played a major role in shaping
last decade. And, until the expressways American cities. New highways have
were constructed, poor access to the been characterized both as the destroyer
open land ringing Atlanta confined new of inner cities, and as a necessity in their
housing to the city limits and parts of revitalization. Radial superhighways
nearby Dekalb County. The interstate built to aid access into central cities have
system permitted Atlanta to expand to a led to an exodus from the city to the
seven county metropolitan area encom- suburbs. Circumferentials, often built to
passing over 2000 square miles. let traffic by-pass cities, have themselves
Development around the North become congested because of businesses
Druid Hills Road interchange, about 15 and households which locate along
miles from the heart of downtown At- them. Major shopping centers have lo-
lanta, exemplifies these patterns of cated at the interchanges of limited-
growth. When this stretch of 1-85 was access highways. Commercial strip de-
completed in the mid-fifties, pine for- velopment has occurred along the sides
ests covered most of the area around the of access -roads and other highways. In
interchange. Now, eight gas stations', an some cases, through traffic on the high-
office park housing the regional opera- way has generated employment by pro-
tions of many major corporations, a viding demand for goods and services.
shopping center and many fast food The Atlanta example shows the large-
chains and other service businesses are scale effects highways have had on de-
within a few1minutes of the interchange. velopment. The trend of suburbanization
At least fifteen light industrial opera- may be changing, but highways still have
tions have located on the frontage road. an impact.
Within 10 minutes of the interchange,
thousands of apartment units have (above ) North Druid Hills Road at the Atlanta Northeast Free-
sprung up along North Druid Hills way, 1957. Source: Georgia State Department of Bghways
Road, Buford Highway', and small (opposite) The same interchange in September 1973, after
extensive development. Source: Georgia State Department of
28 feeder roads constructed by developers. Flighways

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One of the major highway by- Market Street By-pass
pass studies was done in Blairsville, Pre- Post- Pre- Post-
Pennsylvania, about 1960. The main bypass bypass bypass bypass
local highway, U.S. 22, was relocated Gas Stations 4 6 0 5
Restaurants 11 13 0 2
around the congested center of town Motels 2 5 0 1
in 1953. Land use change over the next All Business 207 216 0 8
several years found that most new
commercial and light industrial devel-
opment located on the bypass. Since
there was less congestion in town, the
area became more attractive for local
business, as the table shows. If,
though, the economy had, concen-
trated on serving through travelers,
the results could have been very
different.

The effects of highways on land use areas where people would like to work or
and development are addressed in this live.
chapter. These effects result primarily If it is easy to get on and off the
from the change in access to developable highway - if there are unlimited curb
land which highways provide. Three cuts and all intersections are at grade
common examples of such development level - then development can occur
are the rural interchange which seems to along the sides of the highway in a
sprout gas stations, restaurants, and I/ strip" of stores, restaurants, motels,
motels overnight, the suburban area gas stations, and apartments. Single-
which becomes dotted for miles around family housing may spread out behind
with subdivisions and shopping -centers these strips on the many crossing roads.
after the new interstate is built, and the If the highway is of the interstate
local highway which blossoms'with gar- type with limited access, then the push
ish strip commercial development. for development will be at interchanges,
Rural interchanges of limited access and cross streets may become major
highways often become developed with arterials with their own strip develop-
service facilities catering to through traf- ment or office parks. The highly visible
fic. Businesses which locate there usually land along the road may be developed
have little local market and cannot sup- through construction of frontage roads.
port themselves without the highway. In some cases, highways have minor
In this case, the highway provides a net effects. In the 1950's, a large number of
economic gain to the community. "by-pass" studies were done to see
In suburban areas such as around whether construction of a by-pass
Atlanta, radial highways and beltways around a town hurt local business. In
have drawn businesses and households general, the original roads and the by-
from downtown and helped create more pass were state or federal highways, two
widespread housing and employment to four lanes wide, with unlimited access,
centers. In general, the bigger and faster and the towns were centers of rural
the highway the larger these impacts will areas. The by-pass roads had little
30 be, so long as the road gives access to impact. Only a small portion of the com-

T'hirty-six rural interchanges on In 1949, Route 128 around
Interstate 70 were studied in Penn- Boston was opened and quickly be-
sylvania in 1966. 1Most interchange came a classic example of the power
development was to serve travelers - of highways to induce local growth.
gas stations, restaurants, and motels Glamour industries such as com-
- and residential and other develop- puter electronics firms moved in,
ments were further away. Inter- drawing labor from Boston itself
changes on important cross routes got and local suburbs. Later another cir-
more development. cumferential - Route 495 - was
Of the 17 interchanges more than planned; it was billed as "another
14 miles from an urban area, only 6 128." While the roads were similar in
had any development. Of the 19 configuration, economic conditions
within the 14 miles of an urban area, were different: 128 apparently drew
17 received some development. No off all the glamour industries; 495 was
development occurred without easy too far from downtown to yield exten-
on-off access. sive land use changes.

munity depended on servin@ through build a road has implications as large as
traffic, and even with the b y pass people that to build one. A number of highways
would stop if they needed to, so the have been planned to go through de-
areas were not hurt. veloped areas, and have later been can-
J The interstate beltways were also celled. In the meantime, though, banks
supposed to act as by-passes around and mortgage holders have been unwill-
metropolitan areas, but they showed ing to invest in the area because con-
very different development patterns. demnation and demolition are likely.
Highways like Route 128 around Boston The result has been delayed main-
attracted large amounts of residential tenance, vacant houses which cannot be
and industrial development, and have sold, and spreading blight. After a high-
served as the sites of regional shopping way is eventually cancelled, recovery
malls and similar facilities. Traffic gen- may be impossible.
erated by this induced development has The following section of this chapter
removed most of the gains predicted for outlines a procedure for analyzing prob-
by-passing the central cities. In some able land use changes which is based on
cities, several belt-vavs have been built the framework discussed in Chapter 1.
at increasing distances from the center First, the impact area of a highway is
city; in this case, development concen- defined. Then land availability and the
trates on the inner ones, and the outer demand for development are identified.
ones may serve as by-passes. It is then possible to estimate the quan-
Highways compete with each other tity, pattern, an'd rate of development
as sites for development. The effects of from the interaction of these two factors,
the fourth highway - either beltway or and to go from these to the expected im-
radial highway - will be smaller than pacts of the land use change.
the effects of the first. Development will
be more spread out if there are more Defining the Impact Area
sites with equal access.
The impacts of highways can be The impact area of a highway is the
complex. Sometimes, the decision not to area in which major land use changes 31

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may be expected; its size depends on the home development and some employ-
type of highway built, its location, and ment. People are often willing to travel
on the other highways nearby. In rural long distances to such sites, and develop-
regions it may only be the immediate ment will follow. Some people may also
neighborhood of the interchange where move forty or fifty miles from the city and
travelers will stop to buy gas, food, or ' commute daily to jobs which have
other services. In suburban areas it may moved twenty miles into the suburbs.
extend several miles on each side of the A new highway in a suburban area
highway. In urbanized areas it must be can induce both high density intensive
defined carefully with reference to local development and low density dispersed
conditions. development. Intensive development -
Rural interchanges are defined as residential, commercial, and industrial
those interchanges on interstate or lim- - is more likely to occur near the inter-
ited access state highways which are changes. High density residential devel-
beyond the maximum commuting dis- opment depends on how accessible the
tance to central city employment. At such interchange is to major employment
interchanges there is potential for de- centers and public transit. Commercial
velopment serving through traffic on the development depends on how access-
highway. This development will vary ible the interchange is to residential areas
depending on the traffic flow on the and how many people are likely to drive
highway and on whether services are by it. Industrial development will de-
readily available at nearby interchanges, pend on how accessible the interchange
but it will concentrate within the im- is to large labor pools. Because circum-
mediate area of the interchange - gen- ferential highways generally provide
erally within 1500 feet and in areas most access to more people and jobs than rad-
visible from the highway. Under special ial highways, intensive development is
circumstances, particularly in scenic likely to be greater at the former than the
areas or near recreation sites such as latter.
reservoirs or ski slopes (see Chapter 5), For less intensive development, the
32 , rural highways may also stimulate leisure critical issue is how far people are willing

These three figures show stages
i:: HH:
in development induced by a high
way investment. The first shows ru-
Tal land, primarily used for farming.
In the second stage, the high-
way has been planned and con-
struction is underway. One parcel
is being developed, but several
more have been bought by specu-
lators. Fanning has almost ceased.
In the third picture, commer-
cial strips have formed along the
road intersecting the highway, and
some apartments have been built
in the lower right. Open space has
% been reduced considerably.

to live from the highway. At the urban because of the complex ways they affect
fringe where even with the highway it existing communities. Land requirements
takes a long time to get anywhere, people alone may become a problem, for such
will want to live close to the entrance. For highways usually obliterate many acres of
an inner circumferential, where most existing development. New urban high-
jobs are only a few minutes along the ways tend to divide neighborhoods, dis-
highway, it is reasonable to spend some rupt local traffic patterns, and interact in
time travelling to it. complex ways with regional as well as
For small highways or areas far from local transportation networks.
employment, ten minutes rush hour For these reasons opposition to new
travel to the highway may be acceptable highways in urban areas is often intense.
to most people, so development will As a result, construction may be deferred
occur within that distance. or even canceled, but adverse impacts
In fast-growing regions where the may still occur as neighborhoods are al-
highway makes a real improvement in lowed to decay along the proposed route.
access, a fifteen or twenty minute ride
to the highway may be acceptable to The Supply of Developable Land
enough people to make development
profitable. The impact area would then be The most extensive effect of high-
all the land closer to an interchange on the ways has generally been to increase the
new highway than to one on an older development of vacant land into single-
highway, and within twenty minutes family housing. Commercial, industrial,
travel (in rush hour) of the new inter- and apartment developments have often
change. Twenty minutes is probably a occurred in the immediate area of the
maximum access time to the new high- highways, but usually not more than a
way in any case, and shorter times may be few minutes travel from an interchange.
F_ q1

appropriate in most instances. The first supply concern, then, is to
Defining the impact area of highways estimate the amount of vacant land
planned for urban areas is more difficult which is developable and within the im- 33.

599-558 0 - 76 - 4

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pact area of the highway. Land in low- the potential exists for fast and major
density use near the highway should also land use changes. If it is low, little change
be considered, because it may be con- will occur.
verted to denser uses. The importance of Estimating demand for new devel-
the type of land and its cost were de- opment induced by a highway in an
scribed in Chapter 1. Highways in the inner city is complex and beyond the
suburbs tend to induce development on scope of this book. Demand for commer-
vacant, prime land because it has the cial development around rural inter-
lowest construction costs for large-scale changes, on the other hand, is fairly easy
developments such as subdivisions and to anticipate: it depends on the visibility
shopping centers., of the interchange and its volume of
If the supply of vacant, easily de- traffic. Forecasts of traffic volume are
veloped land is large, there is little like- available through state highway depart-
lihood that developed land will be con- ments, and may show seasonal varia-
verted to higher uses, unless its price is tions. For instance, highways serving
extraordinarily low. If there is little va- vacation areas may have a high demand
cant land, particularly around inter- for tourist services during the summer,
changes, redevelopment of land and and almost none during the winter, or
development of marginal areas such as vice versa.
hillsides are more likely,, Where very little For highways serving developing
vacant land exists, development of high- suburban areas, the demand depends on
way air rights may occur. the rate of growth of the metropolitan
region, on the relative attractiveness of
Demand for Development the area compared to the rest of the
region, and on the accessibility of the
Demand for development is a mea- area. The latter is affected by highways.
sure of how many people would be will- Projecting the likely growth of the
ing to occupy new development in an region and assessing the relative attrac-
area, and how much they would be will- tiveness of the area will indicate if there
34 ing to pay. If the demand is high, then is a potential for,large, moderate, or

The residential areas from The Boston Southwest Express-
which workers commute to employ- way was planned to extend Inter-
ment are often defined by high- state 95 into the city. Construction
ways. The left figure on the oppo- plans proceeded and the state con-
site page shows the area within 30 demned buildings in the right-of-
minutes travel to a center, over local way. Tenants remained in local areas,
roads. The right hand figure shows but the new landlord - the state of
(on a reduced scale) the new Massachusetts - failed to maintain
areas within 30 minutes commuting the buildings. When citizen opposi-
after construction of a major high- tion defeated the entire project in
way. The dark area is the old com- 1970, the 1-95 corridor was an urban
muting area, the light shade shows ruin. Some buildings have been
added commuting area. demolished. The social structure of
the area was torn apart,'and the city
was left with a wound which will take
year .s to heal.

small amounts of land use change. The or if there is little employment within
next step is to see if that potential will about 30 minutes travel time.
be translated into actual growth by the in small regions, these critical times
change in access provided by a new should be reduced somewhat; in the
highway. largest cities, such as New York, people
If the potential for growth is low, are willing to travel further, and the
highways will not change it. If large limits should be increased.
amounts of growth are occurring already, Poor access will eliminate most
building a highway will make little dif- demand for development. People will
ference. The important case is where a not locate in an area if there is no work
highway makes an area with high growth within an acceptable distance, and devel-
potential significantly more accessible to opers will not build there.
potential tenants and residents. Good access may increase the
In general, length of the trip to work demand on an area. An area with good
is the most important factor in locating access and moderate regional growth
households. Simple measures of access and local attractiveness will probably
are the rush hour travel times to the cen- have a relatively high demand for devel-
tral business district and other major opment. Areas of low growth and attrac-
employment centers in the region. The tiveness will not experience much of an
acceptable travel times will vary from one increase in demand for development
region to another and among individual even if access is improved.
households, but the following general
rules can be suggested. Forecasting Secondary Effects
ACCESS is GOOD if the rush hour
travel time to the central business district The next step is to convert estimates
is less than about 30 minutes or if there of land supply and development demand
is other substantial employment within into forecasts of the extent of land use
20 minutes travel time or so. change, and the rate and pattern in
ACCESS is POOR if the central busi- which it will occur. There are, basically,
ness district is one hour or more distant nine cases to consider: supply and 35

demand can each be high, moderate or
low. If demand is low, development will
be negligible no matter what the supply
of land, so these cases need no further
analysis.
However, under the following
cases, substantial development may
occur:
DEMAND SUPPLY
High High
High
Moderate
Moderate Moderate
These three cases describe tradi-
tional development at the urban fringe.
The impacts attributable to the highway T_
will depend on the extent to which it is
-jr 1@
likely to increase demand (by improving
accessibility) - from low to moderate or
high, or from moderate to high. The houses, townhouses, and walk-up
typical case is where an area in a growing apartments would be likely, with the
region is "opened up" for development denser uses closer to the highway.
by a new highway. Development will be Because of the resulting high population
primarily residential, with low density density, commercial and industrial uses
subdivisions of single-family homes or of might begin to locate in the area. Vacant
apartments and condominiums. There land would receive most of the develop-
may be some higher density uses near ment, but there would be conversion of
the interchanges of highways, but some developed land, particularly near
usually only if low cost, undeveloped the highway interchanges, to other uses
land is available. Almost no conversion and higher densities.
of developed land will occur. Leapfrog- The highest density development
ging is likely, as developers will look for will probably occur when supply is low,
large parcels available at a reasonable but demand is moderate or high. In these
price within ten or twenty minutes drive cases, land prices will be high, and high
from the highway. density residential, commercial and
A slightly different development industrial development will result. De-
pattern is likely to occur when the velopment parcels will generally be as-
demand is high but the supply is only sembled from vacant land and older
moderate. In this case, the development housing, and will usually be fairly small.
is constrained. An example would be an Irifill housing will be constructed, but
area which is partially developed and large subdivisions, industrial parks, and
moderately accessible before the con- shopping centers are unlikely because of
struction of the highway and which the problems in assembling sites. A
becomes highly accessible after construc- typical case would be an older, satellite
tion. Land costs would be relatively city given improved access to a central
high, and most development would city by a new highway. Another would
probably have to be on quarter-acre or
(above) New multi-farnfly housing in the suburbs typically
smaller lots to be profitable. A mix locates dose to highway interchanges, as here in Springfield,
36 between fairly dense single-family Massachusetts, August 1975.

The access highway from One way to cut down on strip
Washington, D.C. to Dulles Air- development along highways is to
port is unusual. There are no exits reduce the number of access points
on the way to the airport from the permitted between intersections.
city side, and no entrances on the This has been done near Columbus,
way to the city from the airport. To Ohio, where several auto-oriented
use the highway to commute to food shops grouped themselves in a
Washington, it is necessary to get fairly attractive cluster off the main
on, drive to the airport, then turn road after the city planning depart-
around and travel back 25 miles to ment clamped down on the allow-
town. Naturally, it is not very popu- able curb cuts in the area. Traffic
lar - that is how it was planned. congestion is reduced, safety in-
Building a normal freeway to creased and the visual environment
Dulles would have caused major is improved by such policies.
land use effects. Building a special
purpose freeway did not.

be a widening of a major arterial. may well exceed the positive ones from
In all of these cases, the highway building the highway..
investment affects demand, and, there- Two special concerns must be men-
fore, affects the quantity and pattern of tioned. First, highways at the fringe of
development. It also affects the rate at cities tend to induce low-density devel-
which development occurs. The change opment, and this development may not
in the rate of development depends upon be sewered. There is a potential for sig-
the overall rate of regional growth, the nificant problems with sanitary sewage if
change in accessibility, and several less wastewater facilities are not provided or
important factors such as zoning delays, if the correct controls are not used.
the time required to assemble parcels, etc. Second, large industrial parks,
apartment complexes, and shopping
The Resulting Impacts centers may locate near interchanges.
These areas may create major carbon
Highways are built to improve traffic monoxide pollution problems because of
flow. All else being equal, they should the auto traffic they generate, and may be
speed traffic, save people time, reduce subject to Complex Source Regulations
accidents, and reduce air pollution. under the Clean Air Act.
However, highways also attract develop-
ment, and the positive impacts of the Controlling The Effects
highway can be eliminated by the in-
duced development. Controls designed to minin-dze the
Suburban sprawl, the most common impacts of highway-induced develop-
induced development, increases both the ment must either reduce the amount of
number of trips people take and the developable land or change the access
length of those trips. More trips means provided to it. Land use controls such as
more traffic, so the development leads to zoning, which reduce the amount of de-
highway congestion, slower travel, more velopable land, were discussed in Chap-
accidents, and more air pollution. The ter 1. Changing the highway capacity or
negative impacts of the development service area often can also be an effective 37

tool in minimizing adverse impacts. Further Sources
Reducing the highway's capacity
will often reduce the stimulus it provides There have been, literally, hundreds
to land use changes. However, because of highway impact studies looking at
the highway is usually related to ex- land use, economic, and environmental
pected needs in the highway corridor, changes from highway construction.
major changes in design capacity are For research on local highways and
difficult to implement in order to reduce development, Economics, Planning, or
impacts in one particular area. Civil Engineering faculties at local uni-
Changing the service area may be versities often have useful information.
more feasible. Eliminating an intersection The state transportation department and
may be a practical way to limit develop- metropolitan planning agencies may also
ment in a community: without the inter- be good sources.
section, travel times to the community The Secondary Impacts of Sewers and
will be longer, and development will be Highways on Development: A Bibliography,
reduced. prepared for the CEQ, HUD and EPA
Routing the highways to reduce the contains a useful discussion and listing
amount of land where development of studies on highway impacts. DOT also
could occur may also be desirable. Since publishes summaries of its research on
the impact areas of highways may be this subject under the title Socio-Economic
large, it is seldom possible to eliminate Effects of Highways.
development entirely. However, re- The Transportation Research Record
routing can reduce demand to a level and other publications of the Transporta-
where growth can be more easily tion Research Board (National Academy
managed. of Sciences), contains a number of stud-
The detailed design of access around ies on highway impacts.
the highway may be very important. Re- One classic book is The Urban Trans-
ducing the number of allowed curb cuts portation Problem by Meyer, Kain, and
may convert strip developments into Wohl, the outgrowth of a Rand Corpora-
shopping centers, which could be a pre- tion study on transportation, residential
ferred mode of development. Changing location, and sprawl. It was published in
the number of curb cuts may be espe- 1965, but is still one of the best introduc-
cially attractive for small roads, since tions to the field. There are also a number
fewer curb cuts concentrate development of books in the popular press describing
and improve traffic flow and safety. The the highway decision process and how to
amount of development may not be change it, such as Lupo's Rites of Way.
changed, but its pattern will. Specific references used in the chap-
For larger roads, interchange design ter include the accessibility analysis of
and frontage roads will be important. Sherman, et. al.; the by-pass and inter-
Eliminating frontage roads will reduce change studies edited by Maiolo; the
development along the sides of the high- early Atlanta analysis by Lemly; the
way. Controlling the use of land around classic study of Route 128 around Boston
the interchanges, especially in the most by Bone; and our own experience and
visible areas for travellers, will also con- what we could gain from conversations
trol development. A sign by-law which with many others.
limits large lighted signs could reduce
service stations, for example.
38

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Mass Transit

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64
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Toronto, Canada, built its first bigger buildings on smaller lots, and
north-south transit line in 1954 to re- have increased their profits.
place an overcrowded streetcar line The results have been important for
going down Yonge Street, the main the metropolitan area. Downtown is still
downtown business route. Since then it a major center, and the rush to the sub-
has added an East-West line along Bloor urbs has meant a rush to apartments
and Danforth Streets and expanded both with good transit service and nearby
the University-Yonge and Bloor-Dan- public open space. Contrary to trends in
forth lines to the suburbs. Toronto has the United States, Toronto transit rider-
also been a leader in metropolitan growth ship has remained high.
in the past two decades, and has built The pictures show the sort of devel-
more office space downtown than any opment which has occurred. Instead of
city in North America except New York. sprawl throughout the area, develop-
Transit has been important in this ment has concentrated around the transit
downtown development and in guiding stations and feeder routes to them, and
dev'elopment in the whole metropolitan open space has been left nearby.
area. High density satellite communities Translating Toronto's experience to
have grown up near major transit sta- new mass transit systems elsewhere is
tions and along routes leading to them. not simple. The Toronto system has
Over 90% of new office construction and facilitated metropolitan growth and has
about half of the new apartments have led to concentrated uses around stations
been within walking distance of transit. and a viable downtown. U.S. cities,
Toronto has sought this type of de- however, have seen thirty years of sub-
velopment. Canada has not provided tax urbanization and sprawl, and new tran-
incentives for single-family homes, so sit cannot revitalize decaying downtown
apartments have been the prevalent areas overnight. The land use effects of
mode of housing. The transit lines have
provided density incentives for offices (above) Ibis photo dearly shows a clustering of urban devel-
and apartments which located near opment around two stations of the Toronto transit system.
Advance planning maxiinizes transit benefits in these areas.
40 them; builders have been able to build Source: Toronto Transit Commission.

7t.

transit in Toronto have been large, but transit system can be valuable to down-
the effects of new transit lines elsewhere town commercial districts, increasing the
will be slower and less pervasive. development of offices, stores, and other
Toronto does, though, show the intensive land uses there.
types of effects which transit creates, Second, transit can lead to increased
and what a policy favoring these land density of development around its out-
use changes can do. Planners of transit lying stations. Areas within walking
systems should consider whether they distance - perhaps one-third mile - of
want such development around their a good transit system can be very attrac-
stations, and what policies to use to at- tive both for apartments and for com-
tract or discourage it. mercial and industrial development..
Mass transit facilities tend to in- Finally, transit can also affect the use
crease development around their sta- of land along its route. For instance, a
tions. Like highways, fixed-route mass radial transit line from a central city often
transit systems increase demand for has "Park-and-ride"' stations in outlying
development by irnprovm*g access. To be areas which enable commuters going
economical, they must locate on routes downtown to park and use transit in-
where the daily flow of people is greatest stead of driving all the way. The transit
- usually through developed areas to line will increase transportation capacity
central business districts. Transit is much along its route giving some improvement
less flexible than the automobile with in access to outlying residential areas.
which it competes, but its ridership in- The result may be an increase in low
cludes the 20% of all households without density development beyond the ring of
cars, as well as those who take advan- high density development.
tage of its speed and low cost for com- Thus, three land use effects may
muting to work, shopping, and other arise from a transit investment: increased
destinations. center city development, high density
There are several ways in which de- uses around the transit stations, and low
velopers may respond to the increased (above) Induced development adjacent to Victoria Park Station
demand induced by transit. First, a good in Toronto. Source: Toronto Transit Comnussion. 41

density development in areas served by
park-and-ride. All of these were shown, Sam Warner's book, Streetcar
to varying degrees, in the Toronto Suburbs, describes changes in
example. Boston when the electric streetcar
The effect of transit on land use was came in. People could then travel up
much larger before the automobile to six or eight miles to work. The re-
became the dominant mode of travel. But sult was the first real suburban
even today, many people still do not sprawl: between 1860 and 1900 the
have a car available. Most of them live in extension of streetcar lines led to a
the cities, and while some are disad- land boom in new housing. Class
vantaged, many who could afford a car differences arose: the upper class
find transit fully sufficient for their moved to the country and commuted
needs. These households form a "captive by train; middle class people with se-
market" for transit - they must live cure jobs bought homes at the ends
where it is available, and they can usually of streetcar radials; working class
go only where it goes. Because of this, families lived further intown near
they are a known market for develop- both radials and cross town links.
ment around transit stations, and their
demand for housing and services leads density, similar to that along a major
to higher density uses around the highway. Some development may con-
stations. centrate along bus routes feeding into
Commercial development will be the station, but this will depend on how
attracted to busy transit stations. If there frequently such routes are used and how
is a large flow of people to and from the finTdy they are established. Most of the
stations, there is a good chance they will induced development will be oriented
want to shop. For example, a market at a toward automobile travel. The impact
park-and-ride station will get a good area is defined as the area in which the
amount of trade from people picking up caritransit travel time to the central
groceries on their way home. business district, in the rush hour, is less
than that for an automobile alone.
Defining the Impact Area
The Supply of Developable Land
Two impact areas, related to how
users reach the transit system, should be The major land use effects will occur
defined for transit improvements. in the primary impact area around the
The primary impact area around any transit station. Here, the development
station is represented by how far transit demand will be most intense, particularly
users will walk. This distance may vary if there is vacant land available. No build-
according to local conditions, but in most ings need to be demolished in develop-
cases a circle with a radius of one-third ing vacant land, so site preparation will
mile around the transit station should be cheap and costs low. Only small par-
include all land in this primary impact cels will be required, since development
area. will be localized and of fairly high
The second impact area is in subur- density.
ban areas served by parkand-ride tran- After the vacant land is gone, devel-
sit, where transit riders drive their cars to opment pressures may turn to land with
the transit system. Induced development old or low value structures that can be
42 within this area will be low or moderate demolished or extensively renovated to

TRANSIT WPACT ZONES: QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS
MAJOR STREET$ AND DETAILS OF AREAS NEAR STATIONS

*TRANSIT STATIONS [Bog,

.................

NOR
STATIO
AREA
RKING:500 CARS
UINCY CENTER
:j STATION PARKING:850

make new profitable developments. The Demand for Development
air rights over the transit line may also be
available for development, although Quantifying increased development
costs of construction will be extremely demand related to new transit invest-
expensive and high rents will be needed ment is difficult. Each system is unique
to make the development profitable. and there is little experience to go by. As
In the larger impact area, the impor- with highways, the general effect of
tant land is largely the vacant develop- transit systems is to increase demand
able land considered suitable for large because they increase accessibility. Such
scale, low density uses. The major land factors as regional growth and local attrac-
use effect of mass transit will be the con- tiveness are also important.
version of vacant land to typical subur- The extent to which a rapid transit
ban apartments and single-family hous- system increases demand depends upon
ing. Redevelopment to higher densities its likely impact on travel habits, which
is unlikely, except possibly along major in turn depends upon the ease of using
feeder bus routes or in areas with good highways and other transportation
transit and highway service. modes. The demand for travel along the
Because the size of the primary im- transit route is also an important influ-
pact area around a transit station is ence. Where auto travel is relatively
limited, competition will cause the more easy, or where origins and destinations
profitable land uses in this area to dis- of travelers are spread out, the rapid tran-
place less profitable ones. This may sit system is likely to attract relatively
reduce the local diversity of land uses: few riders and generate a relatively low
residential areas will tend to become demand for development. Thus, the
more intensely developed with apart- same conditions which lead to a success-
ments (and supporting commercial ful transportation system tend to cause
development), shopping areas will the system to have a high land use impact.
attract more and larger retail outlets and These conditions are particularly
may displace existing older develop- true for the primary impact zone. If there
ment, and business districts will expand. are lots of people riding on the system 43

In 1971, the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority opened a
rapid transit link from Boston to
Quincy, Massachusetts. The exten-
sion has had different impacts on
ly
land use at its three stations. In large
undeveloped North Quincy, a major
commercial/industrial complex has
been built. Wollaston station serves a
residential neighborhood of low to
medium density with little unde-
veloped land, and commercial and
apartment developments are also oc-
curring. In Quincy Center, (pg. 46) the
terminal facility has begun to bolster
existing commercial land uses.

there will be a high demand for apart- outlying stops, the impact on demand is
ments and commercial developments to determined by the drive plus wait plus
serve them. Non-manufacturing busi- ride plus walk time compared to the time
nesses will also be attracted to stations, required for driving directly to the des-
and the system will tend to stimulate the tination. Significant park-and-ride use
type of development which it best serves. will be made of the transit only if it is as
Over time, the development around the fast and as cheap as driving to work, al-
stations will tend to attract more riders, though some people like the ability to
which will increase the demand for read or work while riding. The demand
further development. for this type of development also de-
Many businesses, such as insurance pends upon the extent to which employ-
companies, require access to large num- ment is concentrated along the transit
bers of employees, so they generally route and the rate of regional growth.
locate in the central city. Office develop-
ment here is likely to increase if access is Forecasting Secondary Effects
improved, since employee parking is
presently a limiting factor for central This section will concentrate on the
business district development in many impact area near the transit station. Land
cities. use changes in the outer impact area can
However, industries may move from be considered using the procedure sug-
the central business district because of gested in the highway chapter. These
transit. Space becomes expensive in the changes will probably be small, except in
city center because of the high demand special cases which can best be identified
and it may be cheaper to move ten or locally.
twenty minutes travel away on a transit Since transit lines are usually routed
line than to stay in the city. Thus, there to serve existing people and jobs, the
may be some demand for industry devel- area around most stations will usually
opment along the transit line, if the level have been developed already. Near these
of service is high. ( above) Norffi Quincy office development visible in upper left,
44 In the lower density impact area of station in center.

low
7
* t"Al-
If4

stations, new development may be a increase in development density. But
slow process. Early changes are likely to this may require a large investment on
be infill housing, splitting of residences the same level as BART, the Toronto Sys-
into apartments, and conversion of tem, or the Washington METRO. Even
buildings from residential to commercial then, the market for office space depends
use. Larger apartments, stores, and office on a large number of factors, and the
developments will follow slowly, if the effect of transit is only one. Transit can
demand is moderate to high. concentrate demand for new develop-
A new transit system may also have ment, but it cannot create it.
stations built near undeveloped land, These three cases - the outlying
either at the outer limits of the line or at developed area, the outlying unde-
sitesbetween older developed areas. At veloped area, and the central city, show
the outer end, apartment developments, the ways in which transit can affect land
shopping centers, and other suburban use change.
high density construction are likely, as
happened in Toronto and Cleveland, The Resulting Impacts
where there was some suburban devel-
opment on the airport extension line. Transit investments improve trans-
Nearer the city, there may be an impor- portation and access particularly for the
tant shift of jobs from the center city to poor and for non-drivers, it can also re-
transit stations, as in Quincy, Massachu- duce auto travel and pollution from cars.
setts. This will depend on the demand The induced-development related to
for office space in the central city. Both of transit can accentuate these impacts. As
these types of development can occur density rises near stations, more people
quickly, even before the transit invest- will use the system instead of their autos.
ment is completed. Housing built near stations will be con-
Areas in the central city may also be ( left ) Wollaston station area; apartments are housing for the
influenced by a new transit system. If it elderly, station is at top with parking lot.
brings many more people to the city for
(above) Quincy Center area; station and parking garage in
jobs or shopping, there will be a further top left. 45

venient for non-drivers. Further, the
high-density commercial and apartment Studies from 1920 to the present
developments will usually contribute have found that transit improve-
more in taxes than they require in ser- ments will do little to counter the
vices because of the small number of decline of an area. In Cleveland, the
school age children in apartments com- main transit line runs on old rail
pared to single-family homes. rights-of-way through industrial
There are, however, some special areas and depressed neighbor-
impacts related to various types of transit hoods. Little transit-related devel-
investments. The concentrated develop- opment has occurred. Camden, New
ment near stations will increase noise, Jersey, is on the Lindenwold line
traffic congestion, and localize air pol- between Philadelphia and several
lution. The character of the community suburbs. The line may have helped
may also be changed from suburban or commercial establishments in Phila-
local commercial uses to major high- delphia, but it has led to a slight exo-
density intense uses. These impacts dus of commerce from Camden, and
should be considered in designing the to development east of Camden.
transit investment.

Controlling the Effects tion will determine how it reinforces or
interferes with existing neighborhoods.
Much attention is currently being If the line is built ahead of development,
given to rail rapid transit as a way in new growth may occur at its outlying
which to lure travelers from excessive stations rather than along its route.
reliance on automobiles. High density Finally, the station design and the
development around transit stations is provision of parking are most important
thought desirable since it increases tran- factors. If the station is not designed for
sit use. Land use controls are often used pedestrian access, there is likely to be
to concentrate development into high little development nearby. Large parking
density uses around the transit station lots and kiss-and-ride loops may induce
instead of sprawled throughout the area. relatively more low density suburban
Zoning is commonly used to do this, development. If the station serves- as the
particularly by zoning areas near transit starting point for bus distribution, land
for higher densities (in terms of area of use change along the bus routes may
floor space compared to lot area). This follow. The detailed flow patterns of
has been done in Toronto and San Fran- people and cars around the station may
cisco, for example. make development attractive or unattrac-
Another method is to encourage the tive, and should be carefully considered
development of the air rights of the tran- in system planning. This is also the por-
sit system. This can provide more hous- tion of the investment decision most
ing and jobs, and thus lead to increased amenable to local control.
ridership.
Modifying the transit investment can Further Sources
change its land use effects. For instance,
if the stations are close together, the land Most of the major transit systems
use effects will be smaller around each have done impact studies related to land
one than if they are far apart. The route use, and others are under way. Work on
46 of the system and the location of the sta- early transit system by Warner (Streetcar

The Market Street area is the buildings with special entrances to
center of San Francisco's business dis- BART. Since bigger buildings could
trict, but its importance was declining be constructed on land near BART,
up to a few years ago. Before the ad- development was attracted and den-
vent of the Bay Area Rapid Transit sities increased.
system (BART), downtown was cap- The whole region has combined
turing only 30 percent of all office to aid BART and increase density
construction in the area; after BART, around it. For example, the Berkeley
the rate is up to 60 percent. Market City Council.turned down a shopping
Street has become the most attractive center partially because it was not
area for new construction in the served by BART and downtown
region. Berkeley was.
Zoning regulations were changed
to complement the BART system, by
providing density bonuses for build-
ings near stations, especially for

Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston The Economic and Social Impacts of Invest-
1870-1900, 1974) and Spengler (Land ment in Public Transit by Sheldon and
Value in Nezv York in Relation to Transit Brandwein.
Facilities, 1930) are valuable for historical Major transit investments usually
perspective on how land use changed require an environmental impact state-
with the advent of streetcars and early ment, and this may be a valuable source
subways. of information.
The two most studied systems are The definition of the local impact
Toronto and the San Francisco (BART) area of transit as one-third mile around
systems. Papers on the Toronto System the station came from studies of how far
are available from the Toronto Transit people walk to transit stations (see Wil-
Comn-dssion and other sources (Heenan, son, et al; Peterson; or MAPC, op. cit.).
1972). Studies of land use change before Air rights have been developed in Cleve-
the opening of BART were done by Lee, land suburbs (Libicki, op. cit.). Dis-
et al (1973) and post-opening studies are cussion of the transit captive population
in progress. Progress reports should be may be found in Meyer, Kain, and
available from the Metropolitan Trans- Wohl's The Urban Transportation Problem
portation Commission, Hotel Claremont, (1965), and other sources.
Berkeley, California 94705. There have
also been studies of Boston (e.g., Metro-
politan Area Planning Council, 1973; and
Kalauskas, 1974), Philadelphia (e.g.,
Boyce et al, 1972 and Gannon and Dear,
1972) and other cities (see Libicki, "Land
Use Impacts of Transit Improvements",
1975).
Two useful general sources are The
Secondary Impacts of Highways and Sewers
on Development: A Bibliography, by En-
vironmental Impact Center, Inc., and 47

4 S ewers

The relationship between sewer
construction and residential housing
construction is dramatically illustrated
_V-
in Fairfax County, Virginia. Lying tothe
west of Washington, D.C., Fairfax
County is a rapidly growing residential
community for government workers. In
1963, the County published "A Western
County Development Policy" (which
pointed out that sprawl development
4
raises costs of government services to W,
taxpayers) and recommended the adop-
tion of "urban satellite clusters" located
near the main highway to Washington.
Such a pattern of development would
save money for the taxpayers and leave
more open-space for the enjoyment of
residents.
In the following years the cluster for land within the holding zone were
concept was consistently defeated by granted and two one-third acre lot sub-
subdivision rezoning and by the power- divisions were approved. There was
ful influence of the county sewerage apparently little that the zoning officials
system. In 1969, responding to the fail- could do. They were under pressure
ure of the cluster concept up to that time, from developers, and, in such a situa-
the county planning staff recommended tion, they found it difficult to deny the
the adoption of "holding zones" in rural developers the right to connect to the
areas, where all development would be sewer. Courts feel that access to a sewer,
deferred at least five years. It was hoped which is after all a public health facility,
that these zones would encourage the should not be denied to anyone who
satellite duster concept to take hold, and wants it. The decision to build the sewer
cut down on leapfrogging, with its, high effectively negated the attempt to keep
service costs. the land from being developed. This
A holding zone was approved for episode shows that in areas with heavy
the 2500 acre Middle Run area of the growth potential, local level zoning and
Pohick Creek watershed in September planning processes often cannot control
1969. Much to the satisfaction of those the development pressures which
wanting to control growth, it was pro- sewers release.
posed that this zone would not be As the experience of Fairfax County,
opened for development until 1975. VirginiaY shows, sewers have a powerful
Unfortunately, the officials also effect on the location, pattern, and timing
approved an extension of the sewer sys- of single fan-&y residential development.
tem into the Middle Run area at about A variety of studies have found that
the same time, supposedly because the
funding for this line had been pre- above) Housing development in Prince George's County,
Maryland, 1962. Subdivisions Eke this one are highly depen-
viously approved. The hope was ex- dent on the provision of interceptor sewers. Source: U.S.
pressed that the sewer would lie idle Department of Agriculture.
for five years, but this was not to hap- (opposite) Development around the Middle Run interceptor
48 pen. Within months, rezoning petitions sewer, Fairfax County, Maryland, as of late 1973.

POHICK CREE
SEWER SHED

-KEY

INTERCEPTOR SEWERS

SEWER SHED BOUNDARIES

MIDDLE RUN INTERCEPTOR SEWER
SERVICE AREA

SUBDIVISION DEVELOPMENTS

WATE
SOU'RSHED
DARIES

sewered, vacant land in suburban com- Third, communities may deliberately
munities is worth from two to four times attract new development to new sewer
as much as equivalent unsewered land in service areas in order to pay off construc-
the same communities. tion expenses through user charges and
American consumers, supported by connection fees.
tax incentives, have always been at- The focus of this chapter is on "inter-
tracted to individual home ownership. ceptor" or "'trunk" sewers. These are the
The land requirements for single-family sewers that connect the treatment plant
housing are high, so subdivisions have with the smaller "collect&' sewers ser-
generally been located on the unpopu- ving the individual homes or subdivi-
lated outskirts of cities. In the past, these sions. Interceptors are constructed by
developments often had no sewers and local governments, although their cost is
were dependent for their wastewater usually heavily subsidized (to the tune of
disposal on septic tanks. This trend to 75% or more) by federal and state gov-
locate on the urban fringe continues ernments. Developers do not have to tie
today, but new development is becoming into interceptors. As an alternative, they
increasingly dependent on sewer can construct small "'package" treatment
services. plants (about 10,000 of these plants are
New development is attracted to built each year) which serve only the im-
areas served by sewers for a variety of mediate development. However, the use
reasons. First, consumers prefer houses of package plants is restricted by many
with sewers; septic tanks require main- communities. They may not provide
tenance and are an undesirable respon- effective treatment over the long term if
sibility. Second, increased concern for they are not operated and maintained
the environment has prompted the ex- properly, and their full cost has to be
tensive (and expensive) construction of paid by the developer. For these reasons
sewers in outlying areas and has made it developers prefer land served by a mu-
more difficult to have septic tanks ap- nicipal interceptor.
proved in moderately priced subdivi- '
50 sions with lots of one-half acre or less. left ) Sewage treatment plant under construction, 1975.

WATERSHED
NDARIES
Bou KEP
In the drawing at left, scattered de- WTE TOR
COLLECTOR
velopment is shown along rural SEWERS
roads in a watershed at the edge of
an urban region. At right, an inter-
ceptor sewer has been built, paral-
leling the route of alocal stream,
enabling subdivisions to locate
within the watershed boundary.
Service is denied to development in
adjoining watershed areas, so de-
velopment which might have lo-
cated there appears instead in the
project service area. Once the sewer
capacity is installed, it is very diffi-
cult to control connections to them
so long as excess capacity exists.

Interceptors are alway s built with tween existing towns and excess sewer.
Idexcess capacity" - that is, capacity capacity combine to give a strong incen-
beyond that needed to handle the peak tive for development as a side effect of
flow from the present population of the this regionalization. Local communities
area served. This excess capacity is avail- also often seek to bring sewers to as large
able to developers to serve future pro- an area as possible when they build. Not
jects that might connect to the lines. The wanting to interfere with the land mar-
proportion of excess capacity provided ket, they seek to spread the benefits of
may vary from a low of ten or twenty sewers toias many landowners as they
percent of the used capacity up to several can justify. To deny access to sewers.
hundred percent. The high subsidies could lay town officials open to a suit,
available encourage the construction of for values of property outside the sewer
large sewers with large amounts of service area may actually decline if they
.excess capacity for growth. In addition, were previously bid up by development
design criteria for interceptors are always speculation.
conservative, tending to provide for even . The two factors, the amount of ex-
more excess capacity through over- cess capacity and the amount of vacant
design. So long as excess capacity is land served, are important determinants
available, developers need only pay a of the amount and pattern of &velop-
reasonable connection fee to satisfy their ment resulting from an interceptor's
wastewater management requirements. construction.
The high subsidy rates also tend to
favor large projects that open up large Defining the Impact Area
areas for development all at once. This
tends to promote low density, single- To minimize the cost of mechanical
family subdivisions. In federally-funded pumping, sewers are designed to flow
projects, efforts to promote regional sys- by gravity wherever possible, and are
tems often result in several communities usually built close to the routes of natural
being tied together by long interceptors streams. Their service areas, therefore,
traversing vacant land. Cheap land be- tend to correspond to natural watersheds 51

One sewer interceptor project was also important to consider the vacant
designed to serve the rapidly growing land opened by regional projects in
Horn Lake Creek Drainage Basin in which a series of watersheds may be tied
the Tennessee/Mississippi interstate together by cross-country interceptors.
area near Memphis. The engineers The project engineers are best able
first projected a population increase to define the service area, and usually
from the original 34,000 in 1974 to provide this information on maps show-
208,000 in the year 2000. For the Mis- ing the sewer's legal service area and
sissippi part of the area, one engineer watershed boundaries. Sewer author-
predicted the ultimate population ities will have information on the pro-
would be 265,000; another predicted cedures for obtaining connections to the
337,000. The estimates were never sewer system by development outside
reconciled, but the higher one was the legal service area.
used. The final design had enough The Supply of Developable Land
capacity to serve 410,000 people,
twelve times the initial population. Sewers affect land use predomi-
nantly by increasing the supply of devel-
development outside of one water- opable land. The amount of increase
shed cannot connect to a sewer in a depends upon the amount of vacant land
neighboring watershed without expen- the sewer serves, and its excess capacity.
sive pumping. A 'legal" service area may As mentioned in Chapter 1 and in
also be defined which limits the area the preceding sections, the amount of
within which connections to the system developable land is determined by phy-
are automatically granted; connections sical, legal, and 'economic factors. Even
outside the legal service area but within though it lies within the service area,
the watershed boundary can be allowed steep slopes are not likely to be devel-
but require special permission. * oped unless there is a very high demand.
Where land is completely flat, as in Sewage collection facilities serving
river delta regions, watershed bound- homes on steep hillsides can be expen-
aries do not exist. In these areas, gravity sive to construct. Land that lies in par-
flow is provided entirely by the inclina- ticularly low areas, below the service
tion of pipes in the ground. This limits level of the sewer, is effectively excluded
service area size severely, as laying pipes from development.
at depths greater than 14 feet is prohib- Legal restrictions may eliminate
itively expensive. Mechanical 'lift sta- some of the land from development if it
tions" must be built- to transfer sewage has been set aside in parks, wildlife ref-
between segments of inclined pipe in uges, and so forth. However, as pointed
flat service areas. out at the beginning of this chapter,
Where watershed boundaries are zoning by itself is unlikely to keep an
defined " they represent a project's impact area out of development if sewer ser-
area. Legal service areas, even if they are vice is available.
smaller than the watershed area, seldom .Economically, sewers are unlikely,
curtail development because connection by themselves, to stimulate redevelop-
permits are usually easy to obtain. Where ment except in instances where the exist-
watershed boundaries are not defined, ing land use is of particularly low value
the impact area may be defined as all (possibilities include sites containing
52 land within 1000 feet of the sewer. it is marginal industries and scattered inex-

The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, ing stock, recent land transactions within
and its suburb, Broken Arrow, the project impact area, the quality of
share rapid economic growth. Long local amenities, and the amount of
sewered, developable land available
an important oil town, Tulsa has elsewhere in the region.
diversified and continues to grow.
An expressway was built to Broken Forecasting Secondary Effects
Arrow to help commuters to reach
the central city. Despite the heavy If the sewer services'extensive
demand for residential development amounts of vacant land, particularly
on the intervening land, environ- when the individual parcels are large,
mental considerations required new the induced development is likely to be
sewerage capacity before develop- low density. Significant amounts of leap-
ment could start. When federal frogging will also occur as developers
funding for sewers became available search for the lowest priced available
rapid development occurred on land parcels, which are likely to be far away
which previously was almost vacant. from existing development. Little in-
filling will occur initially because it is
pensive homes). Sewers typically have easier for the developer to-start fresh
their greatest impact on the construction with a large piece of land rather than fit
of single family homes, and thes 'e are the housing in with existing develop-
most likely to be built where there are ment, and because.the price of land in
large tracts of undeveloped land. The partially urbanized areas is typically
construction of a sewer will make such higher than it is at the urban fringe. The
sites suitable for medium (two dwelling rate of development will depend pre-
units per gross acre) and higher density dominantly on how much demand there
development, where it otherwise would is for development, and how much other
only be suitable for lower density sewered, vacant land is also available.
development. If the sewer opens up only a mod-
If there are relatively large amounts erate amount of vacant land for develop-
of such sewered vacant land already, the ment, the pattern of development is
construction of a new sewer will have likely to be somewhat different. There
relatively little impact on supply. If the will be more infilling, and less oppor-
supply of such land is tight in the area, tunity for leapfrogging out into ' rural
the construction of a new sewer can have areas. The price of land in the service
significant irnpacts@. area will be somewhat higher, and as a
result, the development will be some-
Demand for Development what denser. All in all, the development
will be more compact and of higher den-
Demand for development within a sity particularly if the demand for devel-
sewer service area is unaffected by the opment is high. If the demand is only
construction of the sewer itself. Estima- moderate, the land prices will not in-
tions of development demand may, crease as fast, and, therefore, develop-
therefore, be carried out as discussed in ment will be of lower density, but still
Chapter 1, without any special additional not as low as in the previous case.
considerations. Demand estimation Oddly enough, if the investment is
should include consideration of the local not made at all or if it opens up very little
vacancy rate, the condition of local hous- vacant developable land, the effect may 53

Y-i

414

a" ,

"IN
4

again be to stimulate leapfrogging. This The Resulting Impacts
is because the land in the service area
will become so high priced that it will pay Sewers are built expressly to handle
the developer to go outside the service an environmental problem - the dis-
area for cheaper land even if he has to posal of community sanitary wastes.
build his own package treatment plant. They are intended to prevent contamina-
If the developer is doing this, he is un- tion of surfaces and ground waters from
affected by the location of the sewer and improperly functioning septic tanks,
will look for the cheapest land available, guard against disease, and transport
which is likely to be significantly beyond wastes to locations where they may be
the bound of existing urbanization. treated and safely discharged. Ironically,
Thus, it is primarily the relative by tending to attract extensive develop-
supply of vacant developable land ment, sewers may create several environ-
opened up by the sewer than determines mental problems in solving one.
the pattern and density of residential Sewers, like highways, can lead to
development. The relative demand has the conversion of large areas of land to'
some affect on these two factors, but a residential development. This develop-
bigger effect on how quickly the develop- ment often causes serious sedimentation
ment occurs. and erosion problems, both from con-
The construction of sewers per se struction activities and from the creation
usually has little direct impact on com of large areas of impervious ground sur-
mercial or industrial development. In face (rooftops, roads, driveways, parking
both instances, other factors are likely to 'lots, etc.). Air pollution is aggravated due
be much more important, and the facil- to increases in local traffic and the burn-
ities can usually afford to build their own ing of fuels to heat houses. While ground
wastewater treatment plant if other loca- water quality is protected by the use of
tional advantages exist, but there is no sewers, local stream quality may actually
public sewer.
(above) Sewer under construction, 1970. Source: Waterworks
54 and Waste Disposal Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

filling and lower population projections
In its wild state, Tahoe was a lake are often equally reasonable. Reducing
of matchless clarity and beauty. But the capacity of the lines to serve only the
many homes and lodges were built existing population prevents induced
near it, polluting the waters with sew- development, but a rational community
age. Nevada's government went to land use policy usually should provide
lengths to build facilities that provide for some growth.
advanced treatment for the sewage. Reducing the capacity of the system
The natural resource was thought does not necessarily reduce environ-
saved. mental impacts an equal amount. Large
However, these facilities per- amounts of land can still be developed,
mitted more motels, apartments, and though at a lower population density.
casinos to be constructed. Although Therefore, reducing the size of the ser-
pollution from sewerage is now vice area may also be necessary. Shorten-
small, increased eutrophication, ing the length of lines is a practical
scenic degradation, and air pollution constraint on land development: though
have completely changed the area. all land within the project watershed
may technically be able to use the inter-
ceptor, developers will be reluctant to
be degraded by the release at a single lay long lines of their own to connect.
point of large quantities of treatment The interceptor's capacity and length
plant effluent, and by the increased may be adjusted to encourage localized
stormwater runoff. higher density (multi-family) develop-
. The economic impacts of sewer con- ment, or consolidated areas of single
struction may also be large if there is family development. Both control tech-
rapid local population growth. These are niques also reduce the costs of the pro-
discussed in detail in Chapter 1. The ject to the community.
provision of municipal services (espe- Breaking down a project into succes-
cially schools) and physical facilities sive stages of construction is also useful,
(roads and water supply) will put a heavy and has two side effects. First, it con-'
additional financing burden on develop- fines immediate development to smaller
ing areas. areas and reduces leapfrogging. Second,
the resulting population forecasting
Controlling the Effects period, is shorter; it therefore allows for
more accurate population projections,
To reduce adverse impacts of and gives flexibility if population growth
induced growth due to sewer projects, departs from predictions. Such phasing,
the project may be modified in several if intelligently planned, is unlikely to
ways. increase project costs significantly. Any
Reducing the capacity of the sewer increased costs should be balanced by
pipe itself reduces the ultimate popu- the benefits of better community plan-
lation theproject may serve. Often inter- ning and a lessening of the immediate
ceptor sewer projects are sized according financial burden of the project on
to the zoh ing of the service area, on the present residents. It is likely that some.
assumption that the area will become sort of clear schedule for phasing will
totally developed as zoned'. Such popu- be required by the courts if this alter-
lation projections may become self-ful- native is implemented. 55

U-1

Where the impacts of a sewer project lines, and preparing a manual for pre-
will put a severe strain on a local commu- dicting secondary effects, to stimulate
nity, a moratorium on all sewer construc- better consideration of sewer induced
tion is sometimes imposed as a last development in project planning.
resort. This effectively halts all new
local development until more sewer
capacity is built. Such moratoria remain
highly controversial as growth control
tools: some communities have used them
in bad faith to prevent the construction
of multi-family or low income housing,
and they may cause developers to build
scattered developments beyond the
urban fringe where the land is cheap
enough to compensate for the need to
construct a package treatment plant. Nor
are courts likely to permit such moratoria
to remain in effect for more than one and
a half to two years.

Further Sources

Interest in the link between sewers
and land use conversion has emerged
only comparatively recently, so the exist-
ing literature is slender.
The introductory example for this
chapter was taken from Jeffrey Stans-
bury's article "Suburban Growth - A
Case Study" (1972). Despite its sarcastic
view of the role of local government in
urban development, this piece has re-
ceived widespread circulation and gives
an enlightening view of the dynamics
of suburbanization's dependence on
sewers.
A 1974 study by Urban Systems Re-
search & Engineering, Inc., Interceptor
Sewers and Suburban Sprawl, also includes
a number of case studies. The Secondary
Impacts of Highways and Sewers on Develop-
ment. A Bibliography by the Environmen-
tal Impact Center contains further
references.
EPA expects to increase the number
of Environmental Impact Statements it
prepares on sewer projects, and is pres- (opposite) A 54 inch interceptor sewer.being constructed in
ently revising its project design guide- Stratford, Conn. in 1973. Source: CE Maguire, Inc. 57

5 Other Infrastructure Investments

e13

DALLAS FT WORTH
AIRPORT

....... ....

39\
roRt WORTK

..........

Highways, mass transit, and sewers several kinds, but impose strong nega-
are the most common, but not the only, tive impacts on nearby areas in the form
infrastructure investrnents having strong of noise, air pollution, and traffic.
effects on development. Other types of New employment centers can have
investments, such as those introduced in important land use effects, and can have
this chapter, can also induce significant important secondary financial impacts
local development. This process will not on communities, inducing additional
be described in detail here, but the gen- development. These issues are discussed
eral methodology for assessing likely in the second section.
impacts, used in the previous chapters, Parks, recreation or entertainment
can also be applied to them. If one facilities can promote second home de-
understands how an infrastructure in- velopments, and require housing, transit
vestment affects the supply of develop- services and support f or employees. Rec-
able land and the demand for develop- reational development can impose heavy
ment, one can estimate the development costs on local government, and can have
that will be induced by it. major environmental impacts on the
One type ofinvestment that can sensitive ecologies typical of such areas.
have a large impact on development, These are covered in the third section.
similar to that resulting from sewer The next decade will see a large
investments elsewhere, is the provision amount of investment in energy facil-
of water supplies. In and regions, the ities such as mines and power plants.
water requirements for development These facilities have often induced
and the analysis of their impacts can be "boom-town" growth in remote rural
carried out in essentially the same man- areas, with severe social, economic, and
ner as that described for sewers. environmental impacts; they are dis-
The remaining sections of this chap- cussed in the fourth section.
ter describe a number of other major Flood control dams are the topic of
types of investments.
Airports are the topic of the first (above) Development sites near Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport.
Source: Business Week, adapted by Urban Systems Research
58 section. Airports attract development of and Engineering, Inc.

Development near Dallas/Fort 9. Forum 303 shopping mall
Worth Airport 10. Six Flags Business Park (500-
acres, $250-million)
1. Metroport, a $125-million office 11. Harbor Lakes, 379-homes
complex 12. Century 21, 311-acre, $ISO-
2. Flower Mound, -a 4,500 acre new million residential and
town shopping area
3. Lion Country Safari 13. Lewisville Valley, 1,300-acre,
4. Seven Seas Amusement Park $200-million residential, com-
5. Turnpike Stadium (baseball) mercial, and industrial develop-
6. Texas Stadium (football) ment
7. Six Flags Over Texas Amuse- 14. Brookhollow/Arlington, a 270-
ment Park acre business park
8. Bedford Forum, 716-acre com-
mercial and residential develop-
ment

the last section. They can promote exten- opening of the airport was frenzied: val-
sive construction in the areas they pro- ues multiplied by ten times in the. five
tect from flood damage, though these years prior to the project's completion.
areas are often environmentally unsuit- The irony of this speculation is that
able for development. the price of land has often risen beyond
its potential value for actual develop-
Airports ment. Some land previously valued at
$5,000 per acre cost $50,000 by the time
The new airport serving Dallas and the airport opened. Only high intensity
Fort Worth iswithout precedent in the commercial or residential development
scale and arnibitiousness of its design. It can afford such high land prices, and the
is also the only major new airport to be market for office buildings and luxury
constructed in the country in recent apartments in the area has not been
years. Though its planners took unusual adequate to develop all these parcels.
pains to anticipate and control secondary As a result, competition for develop-
impacts of the airport, the project is so ment is intense among the 20 towns and
large that growth in the airport region cities of the area. The North Texas Coun-
has been feverish. According to one cil of Governments is trying to use vol-
major landholder, "The airport is prob- untary acceptance of comprehensive
ably the most important significant pro- zoning programs to create compatible
Ject in the U.S. in the last 20 years in land uses and balanced economic bases
terms of its impact on real estate values." for new communities serving the airport,
Homes, officesf motels, ware- but the obstacles are great. Communities
h buses, stores, industrial plants, and lack money to build the extensive sewers,
recreational facilities have sprung up roads and utilities necessary to support
in the 35 mile wide area separating balanced communities, and are tempted
Dallas and Fort Worth. A 4,500 acre new to zone unwisely to maximize their im-
town, Flower Mound, has been con- mediate revenue needs. A disporportion-
structed jus t north of the Airport's 17,000 ate amount of land has been zoned for
acres. Speculation in land prior to the commercial use, and much too little for 59

parks and other open space. In many commercial air traffic expanded, noise
communities, the airport itself removed and air pollution impacts in these local
large amounts of. land from the tax base. areas were tolerable. Since then, local
While a great deal of land has been community dissatisfaction with airport
zoned for high density use, it does not operations has risen. Simultaneously,
all lie along planned transportation cor- many airports have increased their opera-
ridors. Local roads are as yet inadequate tions and expanded their runways to ac-
to serve these areas efficiently, and the commodate bigger planes, compounding
unplanned dispersed pattern of develop- the problem.
ment makes the contemplated develop- While studies have differed over
ment of a rail rapid transit system an the impact of airports on local land
inefficient solution to transportation values, residents fear that their proper-
needs. ties are devalued relative to the rest of
In short, for all the economic bene- the region. They feel locked in because
fits the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has they often cannot move. The cost of re-
provided already, it has created many developing entire impact areas to com-
long range problems for successful re- patible land uses is a tremendous under-
gional development. While the attempt taking that cities usually cannot afford.
to prevent development on the most Tax relief to area residents to compen-
noise-affected areas by including them sate them. for their economic, environ-
within the airport boundary showed mental, and psychological burden has
vision, more effort could have been made been suggested, but is not really a
to assist compatible. development around solution.
the site. The second obstacle to compatible
Airports have far-reaching irn
I Pacts land use seems paradoxically opposite to
on the economic life of communities, as the first; it is the competition among
the experience at Dallas/Ft. Worth points towns abutting the large airport land
out. They may also impose serious ad- holdings for airport-associated develop-
verse impacts on adjoining areas because ment. Some commercial and industrial
of noise, air pollution, and commercial facitities making extensive use of air
growth. Certain land uses are compatible transportation for deliveries will try to
with airport impact zones: noise-proofed locate next to the airfield. Hotels, motels,
offices-, hotels, retail outlets, industries, car rental offices and other commercial
and certain indoor sport facilities are the undertakings serving the traveling public
main ones. Other land uses are incom- are also willing to pay high premiums for
patible; these include schools, hospitals, airport sites. However, the market for
churches, parks and all types of housing. passenger service sites is small, and is
It is very difficult to redevelop land usually confined inside airport sites and
in the airport environs to compatible- along access roads; also competition to
uses for two basic reasons. First, most air- sell land to the few airport-related manu-
ports are located within at least partially facturing firms is -often so great that land
developed areas, where the existing mix prices in nearby industrial zones are not
of land uses may be incompatible with it- significantly different from those of other
self as well as with the airport. Since they industrial land in the region. As is true
are employment centers, airports often near the Dallas airport, much more land
have created significant concentrations of is likely to be zoned industrial than can
nearby employee housing. Until the late be sold for industrial purposes.
60 fifties, when jets were introduced and The most powerful way to control

land use around airports, provided the
land is presently vacant, seems to be ad- P-1
@7.
vance land acquisition. If development
already exists, land must be purchased
by a redevelopment authority, and the
structures demolished. The property
must then be resold (with restrictive use
covenants), or leased to industry or com-
merce, so that the airport authority con-
trols nearby development instead of just
forcing it further away. Since commercial
and industrial land usually has a low rate
of absorption, revenues for sale or lease
will be slow coming in.
ARN_
Industrial and Commercial Centers

Industrial and commercial centers
have the potential to induce urbaniza- water, to leave the town. This exodus
tion, as was clearly demonstrated in the removed the primary market for many
Green River Valley outside of Seattle, of the.local farmers, dealing them
Washington, in the late 1960's. another blow.
In 19651 the Boeing Company chose The Boeing plant, in effect, has
to locate a new.aerO'space center, totally 'committed at least five square miles of
isolated from any existing urban devel- rural land to urban uses. As of 1975, the
opment, in the, middle of a@ cow pasture level of development has not reached the
in the. town of Kent. It then requested saturation levels implicit in the expen-
that Kent provide a water distribution sive infrastructure so far installed, but
system. Ostensibly to optimize the eco- land in:prime areas of Kent is now sell-
n,omics of water distribution, Kent de- ingat $20,000- per acre. Whether this is
signed its system to service approxi- good or bad cannot be concluded; it is,
mately five square miles of land, and though, a very major change brought
declared a Limited Improvement Dis;- about by the Boeing plant and decisions
trict assessment of $1,000 per acre. This related to it.
assessment was a serious blowto local American urban growth is continu-
farmers, who had no need for the level ing to decentralize away from major
of service provided. cities. The trend in residential land use
In 1967, the need to provide waste continues in the- direction of low density,
collection and treatment for the Boeing but. now it is supported by major indus-
plant encouraged Kent to join the re- - trial and commercial centers within the
gional sewer district. Major sewers were suburbs themselves. Where commuting
built, resulting in an additional assess- to jobs in the central city was once the
ment to land in the Limited Improve- rule, plants like Boeing's now tend to
ment District of $300 per acre. Simul- locate in fringe suburban areas. Even
taneously, the charge for sewer service firms with high clerical employment,
(based on the amount of water used) was
increased, forcing all the local canning (above) Bell Telephone Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey,
1966. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculhire, Soil Conserva-
industries, which used large amounts of tion Service. 61

effects. As seen in the Boeing example,
V@ the effects need not be based on realized
i economic benefits from these plants: the
town of Kent installed *infrastructure for
0"
expected growth which still has not oc-
-4-1 MI-
@Z I'l- curred ten years later. But Boeing's inde-
7_- _41er
4. pendent decision to build the plant
forced the town of Kent into a number of
decisions it would, not. otherwise have
made, and committed it to urbanize a
prime agricultural area.
Other employment centers have had
major- effects: the Kennedy Space Center
at Cape Canaveral, Florida stimulated.-
ex
tensive development of Brevard.,-
County during the 1960's; the Atomic -
Energy Commission and the National
Bureau of Standards along the interstate
such as m*surance companies, may locate highway north of Washington, D.C.
in the suburbs away from mass transit. have stimulated development along a
Similarly, regional shopping malls are 60-mile corridor leading to Frederick,
supplanting local shopping centers, of- Maryland.
fering a wider selection of goods plus The negative effects of employment
single trip convenience. The location of centers on local communities are intrin-
these industrial and commercial centers sically less severe from an economic
in undeveloped areas has induced addi- point of view than other infrastructure
tional urbanization. facilities we have reviewed. Economi-
One example is the small shopping cally, they have many positive impacts,
center located outside a rural town. increasing local employment and local
Because of the high use and convenience tax revenues, at least if the community
of automobiles in uncongested rural does not overreact like Kent. The en-
areas, these shopping centers can prof- vironmental and social impacts, how-
itably locate away from built up areas, ever, are still of concern.
They offer new facilities and easy park- The environmental impacts of em-
ing, so they often take much business ployment centers mainly come from the
away from existing establishments in familiar sprawl development patterns
town. @ that they induce. Industrial plants such
But in turn these centers can induce as Boeing's leapfrog to outlying areas to
a strip of commercial development con- take advantage of low land prices, vir-
necting them to the town; other new tually committing the intervening land
businesses take advantage of the com- to extensive low density infill. develop-
paratively greater traffic on the access ment.
route to the shopping center, causing The social impacts of these land use
further erosion of the town's original change may be severe; the community's
businesses and the reinforcement of whole employment base may shift to
sprawled out development.
Larger industrial or commercial left ) Shopping center development, Newton, Massachu-
62 centers have commensurately greater setts, 1966.

to allow the designers to control land use
ORLANDO and access around the 100 acre theme
park. The Reedy Creek Improvement
District was authorized by Florida to
give the Disney World developers
authority to govern and control the
larger area.
This careful planning was only par-
WALT DISNEY WORLD tially effective. As planned, access to the
park is through undeveloped land on
Par
Disney's property. The company has
room for its resort hotels, golf courses,
airports (a STOL port, and a planned jet-
port), and new town. But the plan did
INDUCED not control the land use impacts of the
DEVELOPMENT
park on the regional level.
N 0 5 mi.
Interstate 4 from Orlando to Tampa
provides access to the park. Over 20,000
new occupations, and population growth motel rooms have been constructed
may be dramatic. along 1-4 since 1970. Leapfrogging apart-
Controls on the effects of new em- ment developments were built behind
ployment centers must address both the the motels on the sites of old orange
location of new center (to reduce leap- groves.
frogging), and the configuration of the Two other major theme parks are
secondary development which follows nearby - Sea World (with porpoises,
it. Controls on facility location are inevit- whales, aquariums, and so forth) five
ably controversial: communities do not miles north, and Circus World (planned
want to jeopardize potential new tax to be another giant park like Disney
revenue and employment by imposing World, and the new winter home of the
unpalatable restriction. Controls on Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey
secondary development are less contro- Circus) five miles south. To a business
versial. serving tourists, the advantages of locat-
ing in this area are clear.
Recreation and Entertainment Facilities . As a result of the induced develop-
ment, 14 may have to be widened to
When Disney World was planned handle the added traffic, ground water
for Florida, the designers decided 'to cor- pollution is a major problem, and the
rect a mistake made in Disneyland. provision of services to the unincorpo-
Disneyland only included the imme- rated areas is expensive and difficult.
diate park area, but its large number of The original efforts to control land use
visitors attracted further development by buying adjacent land were reason-
which surrounded the park. The Disney able, but the boom town growth of the
Corporation had no control over this - Orlando region and the lack of land use
development, and could neither require control outside Disney's site were unex-
compatible uses nor receive income gen- pected and have to some extent defeated
erated in part because of the existence the original intentions.
of Disneyland. Walt Disney World was ( left ) Orlando[Walt Disney World area. Development shown
planned to be much larger (27,000 acres) near all interchanges along 1-4. 03

above. Since they often occur in rural
areas, they can transform (or even con-
trol) the local economy. Seasonal facil-
80AT k'AIIP ities may lead to summer populations
several times larger than winter popula-
tions, or vice versa.
4i Many recreation areas occur in en-
vironmentally sensitive areas, such as
lakes, rivers, coastal zones, and moun-
tain tops. Development of these areas

even destroy the natural amenities
may have serious ecological impacts, and
may
which produce recreational value.
Control of these facilities is difficult.
They tend to be built in rural areas which
have no experience with land use con-
trols. The positive impacts - tourist
L
dollars - are stressed, and the fact that
Not all parks and recreation facilities these dollars may go to new residents
are like Disney World. Few are built in and that service costs may rise is ignored.
boom regions like Orlando. But other Effective control may be impossible ex-
recreation facilities induce similar devel- cept at the state level, although local
opment in service industries, housing goverru-nents still have the authority and
and other recreation. Service industries responsibility to analyze carefully the
are most significant. Tourists need res- potential impacts of individual projects
taurants, lodging, transportation and which are proposed. Many recent land
other services, and these will grow up use controls focus on developments af-
around a recreation investment, whether fecting land use beyond the local jurisdic-
it is a ski slope, a park, an artificial lake tion in which they are built. These de-
or an historic village. velopments and their impacts should be
Housing comes next. Part of the reviewed by state or regional land use
housing will be second homes for the agencies before construction begins.
skiers, fishermen, or others who use the
area. If the recreation area is big, housing Mining and Energy Fadlities
will have to be built for employees work-
ing in local service industries. Sweetwater County, Wyoming used
Other recreation investments may to be a railroad and coal mining town.
follow the initial one. Disney World has It even had limited agriculture and
been joined by Sea World, and may be sheep grazing, though the local climate
followed by Circus World as well. A suc- is dry.
cessful ski area may expand or be joined After World War II Sweetwater suf-
by others on nearby mountains. A park fered from the national decline of rail-
may be surrounded by animal farms, roading. Seventeen hundred Sweetwater
dude ranches, or other tourist attrac- residents were employed by the rail-
tions. All combine to increase the amount roads in 1950; only 300 are so employed
of regional development. now. In the sixties, however, growth
The impacts of these developments ( left ) Lake Sebago, Maine. A multi-purpose recreation area
64 can be as large as any of those discussed that has induced substantial development nearby.

picked up, starting with the construction MOUNTAIN STATES
of the large Flaming Gorge Dam. Trona
mining (which produces industrial soda NORTH DAKOTA
ash) steadily grew and oil and gas pro- MONTANA
duction expanded.
By 1973 Sweetwater was in the
throes of an indus trial boom. Its mining SOUTH DAKOTA
projects were augmented by the con-
struction of the Jim Bridger Power Plant, WYOMING
which required more labor and boosted
the population growth rate to an annual M&N 4 e111
co ound rate of 20%. Construction UTAH I
mp 41"011111
employment was 400 in 1970; in 1975 it is COLORADO
MA OR ENERGY
more than 4800 and growing. Mining ACTIVITY AREAS
employment has gone from 1500 to 2600
in the same period. Total population in
1970 was about 18,000; today it is 37,000;
projections for the early 1980's go as
high as 89,000. Energy development generally re-
This unprecedented growth has quires vast construction/extraction pro-
caused a crisis. It has degraded the qual- grams, but these programs last only a
ity of life for county residents, reduced limited number of years in a specific
productivity and caused higher costs in place. Employment booms and declines.
industry, and caused a breakdown in The employment boom is highly disrup7
local government's ability to provide tive, since it upsets local wage structures
public services. There is insufficient in unrelated occupations such as agricul-
housing, and unplanned mobile home ture. Agriculture is especially vulnerable
neighborhoods are proliferating outside in strip mining regions, where direct con-
city limits to avoid wastewater control flict exists between surfaces uses (agri-
regulations. The number of doctors per culture and ranching) and the extraction
capita has fallen to one doctor per 3,700 of minerals below. Furthermore, local
residents and rates of alcoholism, workers have a difficult time finding new
broken homes, and suicides are up. employment in construction work since
Schools are insufficient, and retail and they seldom have the necessary skills;
service facilities lag behind demand. In many new jobs are taken by outside.
coming years, the problems are expected labor, often producing bitter social con-
to get worse rather than better since the flict and even raising unemployment
industrial firms have made irrevocable during construction.
commitments to expanded production, When the boom is over, unemploy-
and increased coal mining is likely to ment becomes a major problem. After the
occur as a further response to national power plant is built or the local coal
energy needs. seams exhausted, many workers leave;
The United States is intent upon the original residents and some new
increasing its energy self-sufficiency and people remain, but the previous employ-
it has become an explicit national policy ment structure often cannot be revived to
to encourage increased exploitation of support them.
native fuel supplies. We may expect
more boom towns like Sweetwater. (above) Source: U.S. Environmental Protecfion Agency. 65

The major companies which embark a dose reading of the Corps' figures
on these projects are attracted to the local revealed that two-thirds of these bene-
area by physical resources and to a cer- fits were for new industry which would
tain extent are captive to the local town. develop because of the flood protection.
In several communities which have ab- Many of the valley residents wanted
sorbed major power plants, local proper- neither the dam nor the industry.
ty taxes have been eliminated while rela- Highways and sewers have been
tively luxurious community facilities built since the dam, and urbanization
have been funded at company expense. has followed. Without the flood control
In the long term this windfall may have profitable development would not have
drawbacks. The town may act as a mag- been possible, and the area might still
net for retired elderly people or for sec- be farms.
ond home development. Thus, many The dam did not even solve all the
community residents will have low in- flooding problems. The soils in parts of
comes or will contribute to the local the area are relatively impervious and
economy only on a seasonal basis. drainage is slow; ponds form for a time
Communities have a difficult time after the snow melts. In the past, some
controlling the impacts of mining and farmers have built culverts or ditches to
energy-related infrastructure. These in- drain their land. The Soil Conservation
dustries locate in rural areas, where the Service wants to build $36 million worth
prospect of fast wealth is often irre- of channels to solve the ponding prob-
sistible; the inevitable negative impacts lem, which presently costs $325,000 in
are ignored. Even if the potential nega- damages per year. Major new develop-
tive impacts are recognized, the com- ment would be required to make this
munities often do not have the resources investment economically reasonable.
to deal with them, because this requires This project may or may not get
huge public infrastructure investments built. The area is taking initial steps
before the development occurs and be- towards comprehensive planning and
fore there are any tax revenues from the control of development, and these ef-
new construction. Some local groups, forts should start with decisions about
however, have been able to exert an flood management infrastructure.
influence over large developments, Flood control dams, stream chan-
forcing the incoming firms to make pro- nelizations, levees, and similar invest-
visions to abate the major economic and ments can have a major impact on devel-
environmental impacts typical of the opment by reducing the damage frorn
projects concerned. floods in an area. In the Green River
basin, flood control was the first infra-
Dams and Flood Control Facilities structure required for development, and
further flood control investments will
Before 1955, the Green River Valley lead to more urbanization.
near Seattle was mostly farmland. The Elimination of flood hazards typi-
river frequently flooded, leaving rich cally has important effects on develop-
alluvial soils for farming but also creat- ment. Dams allow development in flood
ing a small amount of flood damage. In plains with less risk, especially when
1955 the Corps of Engineers built the federal insurance and disaster relief pro-
Howard Hansen Dam to remove this grams compensate residents for losses
11 problem," and projected annual bene- should a flood ever occur. Improved
66 fits of about a million dollars. However, drainage of wetlands lets them be de-

veloped without major problems in base- Further Sources
ment flooding, lawn upkeep, or sewer
infiltration. Many of the sources about land de-
Protected flood plains and drained velopment, such as those listed in Chap-
wetlands are very attractive sites for de- ter 1, relate here as well. The major
velopment. Flood plain landis generally examples and experiences were drawn
flat and requires little clearing. Drained from several sources.
marshland may require some fill and The Dallas/Fort Worth example was
grading, but this is relatively inexpen- based on past work at USR&E for the
sive. In either case, the infrastructure project "Development of Airport Legis-
creates ideal land for low cost develop- lative Innovations", done for the Federal
ment and developers are attracted. Aviation Administration. Disney Worl&
There are both economic and envi- was described based on articles in Archi-
ronmental impacts from flood area devel- tectural Forum by Peter Blake and in the
opment. Most of the benefits from dams Orlando Sentinel. The Green River and
are in protection from flood damage. Boeing case studies came from unpub-
However, should an uncontrollable flood lished research in the Green River area,
ever occur, and ultimately it will, damage and the Sweetwater material from the
in developed flood plains will be very Denver.Research Institute study, A
costly. Dams and channels also tend to fill Growth Management Case Study: Sweet-
up with silt, and expensive maintenance water County, Wyoming. . t @
may be required. Sewers in areas with The annual reports of the Council on
high water tables may receive a great deal Environmental Quality (1971 to 1975) also
of infiltration, lowering effective plant contain a great deal of useful information
capacity._ Development of wetlands can on growth and land use land their reports
greatly reduce the groundwater available on leisure home developments are useful
or change its quality, which may damage in analyzing the potential impacts of
community water supplies. recreational developments. Clawson's
Control of the impacts of flood in- book on The Economics of Outdoor Recrea-
vestments can be very simple. If the dam tion is a classic and probably the best first
is not built, there will be no maintenance source for ideas on predicting demand.
costs, and though it will still be necessary There are few classic works on energy
to control development in the flood facility impacts, flood control and devel-
plain, the demand for development will opment, or rural employment growth.
be greatly @redl'uced. Flood plains and There are many sources, but little good
wetlands are sensitive areas, and the synthesis has been done. The best first
zoning of flood plains to allow only suit- step is probably to start with a good bib-
able types of development is a proven hography and a research library, and
technique. unearth the many sources available.
Since flood controls have extensive
and essentially irreversible conse-
quences, they should be undertaken with
care. The assumptions, made in calculat-
ing -the net benefits expected should be
..consistent with community desires and
plans for growth.

Appen- dix

General Data and Research Sources Council of Planning Librarians,
Box ??9
Data Sources Monticello, Illinois, 61856
CPL Bibliographies are available on a
The National Environmental Policy large number of topics related to Plan-
Act (N-EPA) requires environmental im- ning, land use, and the environment.@
pact statements to be prepared for most Write for a -list.
projects having federal involvement, and e. Superintendent of Documents,
many states have similar requirements Government 'Printing Office,
for large projects. The EIS usually con- Washington, DC 20402
tains extensive data on the@ investment' The'source for non-technical government
itself, and projections of population,@ -publications and,'@rna`ny technical. ones.
employment, and land use. It may be a Bra ,nch -go-veriiinciAt bookstores are in
major source of inforination and maps. twenty-five majiorcities, and there is a
Regional planning agencies are monthly catalog available.
another good source for mapsl projec- National Technical Information
tions, and information about local and.. Service, Springfield, Virginia, 22161
regional growth. NTIS is the major source for technical
The Chamber of Commerce may publications developed by or for the
have infonnation on commercial and govemment and publishes comprehen-
industrial construction trends. sive monthly and annual indices contain-
State agencies such as the State Geo- ing abstracts and organized by subject,
logic Surveys will know about soil types, author, issuing agency, etc. Most useful
flooding, marshes, and sensitive areas reports are in a publications (PB) series
where major environmental impacts are (with order numbers like PB-235-257),
likely. Local conservation commissions and response is quicker if you order by
or citizen groups may also have these number rather than by title. Response is
data, and the U.S. Geologic Survey and also quicker if payment is enclosed - mi-
Soil Conservation Service may be crofiche copies are all $2.25 (printed copy
helpful. prices depend on the number of pages).
Another resource often left un- Write them for further information.
tapped is the academic community. Col- * The Transportation Research Board
lege faculties may know what research publishes reports about highways, air-
has been done and may be able to sug- ports, and mass transit. Write to them at
gest simple ways to answer important 2001 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Wash-
questions. There may also be students ington, D.C., 20418.
who would like to work on analyses for * The Environmental Protection
course credits. Agency has a central library in Washing-
ton and regional libraries in Boston, New
Research Sources - Reports York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago,
Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Fran-
There is a wealth of published mate- cisco and Seattle. They have a wealth of
rial on almost any land use question. material, and the libraries can borrow
Some of these were described in each from each other as needed.
chapter; others are likely to be suggested e The Council on Environmental
by people talked to or from bibliogra- Quality, which funded this work, has
phies in the references. Here are a few also supported a number of other studies
68 useful addresses and pointers. on land use. CEQ publishes an annual

report, with a section concerned with
land use management and public invest-
ment. They are located at 722 Jackson
Place, N.W., Washington, DC 20006.
* If you need the address or source for
any government agency or publication,
try your Congressman.

Bibliography

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Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Kalauskas, C. The Impact of Rail Rapid
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Boyce, D.E., B. Allen, R.R. Mudge, Graduate School of Design, Harvard
P.B. Slater, and A.M. Isserman, Impact University, 1974.
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Burchell, R. and D. Listokin. Future 742; vol. 3: Case Studies, PB-236 743; vol.
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Constraints, Center for Urban Policy Re- 5: Pilot Land Use Information System,
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Clawson, M. The Economics of Out- PB-236 746).
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Curtis, V. (ed.), Land Use and the munities, The Pennsylvania State Uni-
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Sewerage Systems, Trenton, 1975. pared for the Federal Aviation Adminis-
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