PL599 : The Class : Communities & Growth : Urban-Rural : Urban-Rural

The urban-rural periphery is a dynamic area. Located outside the city and its suburban realm, this fringe area is a buffer between urbanization and the rural countryside. In the past several decades, this rural area has undergone startling changes. Its character has been changing rapidly from a traditional production landscape or open space, to a consumption landscape as urban populations sprawl across the ground.. This means we "give up the farms and cows" and open vistas and trade them in for (large lot) residential landscapes or even highway strips (although strips can be a very rural landscape!). Why will be discussed in the next topic. Rural areas typically have fewer regulations and land costs are usually less than in the city. This is a very important factor in private development, especially when the land is within "appropriate" distance to city goods and services. Lands in the periphery that are almost ripe in terms of development timing are valuable due to their geographic position as well as their not quite having had the speculative price rise yet. Very tempting indeed.

Impacts of these new consumption landscapes include strained natural and fiscal resources, loss of open space and rural amenities, and an urbanization of the area. The US Census gives several definitions for what is urbanized. Two of my favorites are a population of 1000/square mile or uses that look urban. Just to refresh you on density, a subdivision of 1 square mile into 1 acre parces would create 640 parcels theoretically (not including infrastructure). If each parcel has a residence on it with 2.2 persons per residence, you now have an urban area.. This impacts the mother city as well. A low density city is more costly to run than a higher density one. It is more efficient to hook to adjacent utilities than to run a line across 3 vacant miles to new homes. Phoenix is as classic an example as Los Angeles when it comes to low density sprawl. Think of the inefficiencies and natural resource impacts that occur in the Phoenix-Mesa MSA as an acre an hour goes under the bulldozer. Continued flight from central cities also has economic and social ramifications for the suburbs, central cities, and the rural areas of the country.

As a matter of scale, this fringe growth can be thought of in the small scale - such as the area around Prescott (nonmetropolitan) or the Prescott area itself can be classified as the fringe of Phoenix in a more regional view. Access and proximity as well as amenities are key factors. Again, as a matter of scale, larger places can generally absorb growth and its costs easier (I did not say they'd be happy about it!) than smaller places with limited budgets. When large influxes of population occur in smaller places, the result can be absolutely overwhelming. School systems are overloaded, infrastructure and social service needs increase..... And if the growth is purely residential in nature... Which provides more to the tax base, a typical commercial establishment or a typical residence? If particular demographic groups rise significantly there can be rebellions to real or perceived needs. Educational spending has been a fairly constant source of conflict in communities that find themselves with growing numbers of families and retirees.

Much of the growth in the fringe is unregulated. (IF you really want to see differences in regulation, look through the cities and counties volumes of the Arizona Revised Statutes.) By this I mean much of it is created by individual lot splits rather than a planned and platted subdivision that had to go through the review process. In Arizona you can split a lot up to 4 times (5 lots) without being considered a subdivision- and now lotsplits larger than 10 acres are unregulated in number (it used to be a 36 acre minimum) as long as it meets zoning minimums. This has caused all sorts of problems related to emergency and regular access to the parcels, cost of utilities, illogical growth patterns... Although access deficiencies now have to be listed in the deed. A colleague at ADWR told me that finally individual wells must be registered prior to a property sale. This is a step toward really monitoring the impact of individual lot splits on rural resources (water) in Active Management Areas. I always found it ironic that platted subdivisions had to have an assured water supply in AMA areas, but not the lot splits.

Things to think about…

The role of land speculation, city annexation and infrastructure provision in growth in the fringe area

What happens when the county standards are significantly weaker than city standards in areas experiencing high growth? What are the landscape, economic and social impacts?

How land development is included in our economic cycles both locally and nationally. Think local multiplier impacts and national economic indicators Several financial advisors stated in September 2002 that the real estate bubble was likely to be the next sector of the economy to falter even with the interest rates so low. Apparently we as a nation have reached a 30 year high in mortgage defaults. If you are old enough, think back to the 1980s and the Arizona real estate economy.....

How our patterns of land consumption have changed and its impact on the periphery - what does the future hold if density patterns continue as our populations increase. Are there positives to sprawl? Is Del Webb's Anthem on I17 sprawl?

Additional reading:

Look through your local newpaper for urban rural fringe development and impacts.

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