How Smart Growth Solves Sprawl

Chester County farmland

Between 1982 and 1992, the United States lost an average of 400,000 acres of prime farmland to development every year. On the local level, this rapid transformation can devastate family farms and rural lifestyles. Chester County in southeastern Pennsylvania was one of those endangered areas. It is home to about 1,500 farms, but it is also Pennsylvania's fastest-growing county. From 1960 to 1995, more than 50,000 acres of land in the county were developed -- a greater amount than in the previous 300 years. To turn back the tide of sprawl, Chester County leaders took the bold step of creating a comprehensive plan that concentrates development and preserves the county's rural character.

After extensive meetings with residents and officials, the county planners released Landscapes: Managing Change in Chester County. The plan outlines four distinct types of landscape in the county -- natural, rural, suburban, and urban -- and encourages local governments to preserve each one by establishing growth boundaries within which all future development will be concentrated. As of August 2000, 70 of the county's 73 municipalities had agreed to use Landscapes as a planning guide. They -- and many others around the nation -- turn to Chester County's handbook of smart growth techniques and ordinances to foster growth at the same time they preserve farmland.

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Photo: Reprinted with permission of the Chester County Planning Commission