A new study from the University of Maryland’s National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education says that the state’s growth management laws are actually encouraging sprawl! Counties have adopted so-called “adequate facilities ordinances”–laws that require infrastructure to be in place before growth can occur. This is also called “concurrency”.
But in many counties, the so-called adequate public facilities ordinances have become de facto building moratoriums because the needed infrastructure has not been built, said the center’s report, which was underwritten by home-building industry groups. Even worse, researchers said, the measures are diverting new housing from areas designated for development under Maryland’s pioneering Smart Growth law, which was adopted a decade ago in an attempt to curtail suburban sprawl.
The article from the Baltimore Sun can be found here. The full study can be found here. I wish I could say I was surprised.