"GROWTH," IN AND OF ITSELF, IS NOT "BAD"; healthy economies must grow in some fashion in order to prosper. But how that growth occurs and, for the health of the Chesapeake

Bay, where, is of crucial importance. Right now, the picture is not promising. The watershed's predominant development pattern is SPRAWL -- the haphazard scattering of homes and businesses across the landscape, beyond already developed areas, far from cities and towns. Such a pattern gobbles up open space, prevents the economic use of farms and forests, displaces habitats, and forever changes our streams, rivers and the Bay. The taste for larger lots in far suburban locations and for more "mega-stores" and strip malls is an appetite we cannot afford.

HERE'S WHY:

• Sprawl hurts the Bay.

Sprawl produces from five to seven times the sediment and phosphorus as a forest and nearly twice as much sediment and nitrogen as compact development. Unmanaged growth will overwhelm whatever progress has been made in cleaning up the Bay.

• Sprawl makes us use more land that we need.

We are consuming land at a pace that far exceeds the rate of population growth; indeed, each person uses from four to five times more land per person than just 40 years ago. More than 90,000 acres (nearly 150 square miles) of open land are consumed annually by growth in the Bay states. Maryland alone is losing nearly 30,000 acres of land each year to sprawl; and could lose 700,000 (more than 1,000 square miles, an area 10 times the size of the city of Baltimore) of valuable agricultural and forest land in the next 25 years.

• Sprawl produces traffic congestion and more air pollution.

The car is the only form of transportation that can serve sprawl. Such a pattern induces twice as much road building, three to four times as many automobile trips per day, and a lot more air pollution than more compact patterns of development.

• Sprawl is expensive.

On average, sprawling low-density residential development usually costs local governments more to provide public services than it returns to local coffers. For example, one recent study found that for every dollar taken in, it currently costs Loudoun County, VA, only $.50 to provide public services to farms, but $1.55 to provide public services to residentially developed land. Another study estimates that the property tax yield of land in two- to three-acre lots can be up to nine times lower than the same area in quarter-acre lots. This means sprawl produces less tax money for schools, police and fire stations, parks, and other public services.

• Sprawl accelerates the decline of cities and towns.

Metropolitan areas are rapidly spreading geographically, even as central cities and towns decline. For example, while the City of Baltimore lost about 250,000 people over the past 25 years, its suburbs expanded by 67 percent. Urban decline in cities and towns throughout the watershed mean lost tax base and lost jobs and businesses -- decline from which cities and town and their greater metropolitan areas may never recover.

• Sprawl destroys community character.

The Chesapeake Bay region's local communities are quickly losing their "sense of place." Traditional landscapes and community character -- the real heritage of "Chesapeake Country" -- are being fast overtaken by strip malls and endless subdivisions.

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGED GROWTH: A BETTER WAY TO GROW

(1) Channel development into "growth areas" -- compact, mixed-use patterns in and adjacent to existing cities and towns.

(2) Create "growth boundaries" to keep sprawl out of open lands where farming, forestry and recreational activities should prevail.

(3) Maintain existing highways, improve local roads, and use transit to connect and organize land uses in growth areas.

(4) Revitalize existing towns and cities.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF LAND TO THE CHESAPEAKE BAY:

From Filter to Funnel

Undeveloped Forested Land

1. Little rain runs off.

2. Plant cover and roots allow rainwater to seep slowly into soil.

3. Water filters slowly through ground to stream.

4. Water is clear and clean.

Stream flows are stable.

Little erosion occurs.

Most rainfall runs of quickly.

Developed Suburban Land

5. More impervious surfaces decrease the absorption of rainfall.

6. Drainage structures replace streams and quicken runoff flows.

7. All rainfall runs off very quickly.

8. Floods and drought are more frequent.

Increased runoff erodes streambanks.

Pollutants degrade water quality.

Sediment clouds water and smothers bottom life.

TOOLS FOR MANAGING GROWTH: WHAT CAN BE DONE

Plans and Ordinances

The place to start is in your local community. Town, city and county master or comprehensive plans are intended to serve as guides for land use and provide the vision for a community's future. The zoning ordinance should implement the plan, by spelling out in more detail the kinds of land uses permitted, the densities of residential land, and the intensities of commercial and industrial land use allowed. Subdivision ordinances detail such matters as how far buildings need to be set back from streets and the width of streets and sidewalks. Current versions of many of these ordinances and plans contain outdated standards that result in sprawl.

Local Actions

Local plans and ordinances need to be changed to provide for more compact growth that mixes residential with appropriate commercial land uses, encourages in-town growth, and prevents development from occurring in open spaces beyond the urban fringe. Large-lot zoning where housing is completely segregated from shops and community areas and where roads must be overly wide, promote sprawl. Urban growth boundaries that separate town from open country-side is one tool that can be used to lessen sprawl. Making it easier for farm and forest land owners to continue owning and using their property through such programs as purchase or transfer of development rights and through lower taxes on these productive lands is also important, in order to relieve some of the economic pressure to develop that is often felt by these land owners. Too, developers should enjoy more certainty, and streamlined processing, for development within growth boundaries.

State Actions

State governments also has a role to play in growth management. The state should make some changes to its planning laws to provide additional state guidance and standards for managing and directing growth. Additional incentives to encourage the private sector's revitalization of existing cities and towns would also help, as would programs making older areas attractive to homeowners, families, and business people. Full funding of state programs that buy open space and farm easements, or create parkland, is essential. And, ensuring that state agency actions are consistent with managed growth principles is also important.

WHAT TO DO, WHOM TO CALL, WHERE TO GET FURTHER INFORMATION

Contact your local elected council or planning commission to get a copy of, and learn more about, your local land use plans and ordinances. Attend local planning commission meetings.

In Maryland
Maryland Office of Planning
301 West Preston Street
Baltimore, MD 21201 - 2365
Phone: (410) 225-4500

Or, contact local, regional, or state groups which have an interest in environment, planning and managed growth.

In Virginia
Virginia Conservation Network
1001 East Broad Street, Suite 410
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: (804) 644-0283

In Pennsylvania
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
1211 Chestnut Street, Suite 900
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: (215) 563-0250

For information about CBF publications , workshops and activities

Lands Program/Chesapeake Bay Foundation
162 Prince George Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
Phone: (410) 268-8816

We must act now. Sprawl can erase and reverse the great strides we have already made toward Saving the Bay. Get involved at the local or state levels.

CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION SAVE THE BAY

Headquarters
162 Prince George Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Phone: (410) 268-8816

Maryland Office
164 Conduit Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Phone: (410) 268-8833

Save the Bay Shop
188 Main Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Phone: (410) 268-8832

Virginia Offices
1001 East Main Street
Heritage Building
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Phone: (804) 780-1392

100 West Plume Center
Norfolk, Virginia 23510
Phone: (804) 622-1964

Pennsylvania Office
214 State Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101
Phone: (717) 234-5550

Copyright: Reprinted with permission from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. All rights reserved.

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