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AM_RI'_A. .
<br /> WkP! ANN;NG
<br /> ASSOCIATION
<br /> Mee, FEBRUARY 1993
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<br /> The Costs similar conclusion:sprawl is a significant burden on both
<br /> of Sprawi, homebuyers and taxpayers.
<br /> Revisited Who Pays for Growth?
<br /> While"on-site"development costs(sidewalks,sewer laterals)are
<br /> By Kevin Karounki passed on to buyers by developers as part of the price of the home,
<br /> sprawl-related costs that are"off-site"(trunk sewers,water mains,
<br /> How much does sprawl cost?A new study by the Center for schools,fire stations,treatment plants,widening roads)are another
<br /> Urban Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey says sprawl story.While some governments are now charging impact fees to
<br /> is costing us a bundle. developers for hooking up to this community infrastrucrure,it is
<br /> The Rutgers study pegged capital costs attributable to sprawl frequently the case that the fuL costs of off-site infiastrucrure go
<br /> development patterns at S1.3 billion over 20 years for roads,water, unpaid and,as a result,everybody pays—indirectly.
<br /> sewer,and school facilities.Additional operating and maintenance "We haven't kept pace,"says Jim Nicholas,professor of urban
<br /> costs of 5400 million also were linked to sprawl development. planning and an economist at the Universin•of Florida."Our
<br /> Capitalized at current borrowing rates,these annual operation roads,for example,are financed with fixed-base assessments.That
<br /> and maintenance costs translate into an additional 57-8 billion— doesn't keep up with inflaron,let alone growth.Every time we
<br /> the cost of sprawl over 20 years grow,every time the inflation clock ticks,we get a bigger and bigger
<br /> The study was conducted by a team of 20 researchers and gap•"
<br /> economists at the request of the New Jersey legislature to evaluate Nicholas notes,for instance,that the average combined federal-
<br /> the impacts of the newly adopted state plan,which advocates more state gasoline tax today is 29 cents.If this tax has been held constant
<br /> compact patterns of development. for inflation over the years,it would now be 90 cents per gallon.
<br /> The Rutgers study suggests that if 500,000 new residents arrive The obvious result of this subsidy is heavy reliance on single-
<br /> New Jersey in the next two decades,each homeowner will pay
<br /> occupant Vehicle commuting,which clogs roads and gates trafnc
<br /> 12,000-S]5,000 more for a house because of sprawl development tangles of fiustrating proportions."When you subsidize
<br /> than they would if development patterns were more compact.This commuting,"Nicholas asks,"is it any wonder that people do it?"
<br /> supports earlier research findings on significant sprawl-related costs. Nicholas says that the faster growing states—Califomia and
<br /> In fact,some estimates are wen higher. Florida,for example—were the first to be drawn into the dilemma
<br /> In a 1989 monograph for
<br /> the Urban Land Institute,James
<br /> Frank,associate professor of
<br /> urban and regional planning at •• •A4,0 "i1't(N�4 OP-M8 55N5f-I0P4L' ON "N54
<br /> Florida State University, GOMMUN17TY.. . t&W -N< f=2V6NUES; NON J06S PIKO
<br /> estimated a 58,000-per-house NON BUSIN5G5eG; INCF,`ptiG �IC. GfONTH
<br /> sprawl"premium"for providing BOU�LD
<br /> servicrs to three-unit-per-acre �ytp� Mph MOM
<br /> development located 10 mils 1 t NO USES, R�►a5 �Ce � NtiO�
<br /> from central facilities and I �t ' EdDC t �Q`�•• ••• PM ..
<br /> employment centers.The sane
<br /> costs for a home in a 12-unit-
<br /> per-acre development located '
<br /> closer to facilities,with an equal U v , 3
<br /> mix of townhouses,garden -
<br /> apartments,and single-family
<br /> homes,would be 50 percent
<br /> lower.
<br /> Development costs vary with PLP'NNINO BC.MRD
<br /> lot sizes,distance to central
<br /> facilities,proximity to existing
<br /> f...N' evclopment,community
<br /> m
<br /> ographics,existing service
<br /> ce paeity,and the requirements '
<br /> of local codes and standards.Yet
<br /> numerous studies dating back I
<br /> to 1955 0 point toward a
<br />
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