Vote

Urban Growth Boundary

We must reign in the sprawl that is costing our region billions of dollars. Implement a Portland-style urban growth boundary and enforce it by refusing to fund sewer and trasportation investment beyond it. While this may result in "leapfrog" development somewhere beyond the boundary, the cost of a longer commute would tend to attenuate the problem. This idea would need some support from MnDOT to limit freeway growth near the boundary.

Comments

Alex 10 months ago

The urban core can only hold so many people. The population needs to go somewhere and people that live in suburbs pay for the roads they use.

Graham Family 10 months ago

Alex-- True: We do need some outward growth. But also False: Suburbanites in new suburbs do not fully pay the marginal cost of new infrastructure. Instead, the new roads are mostly paid for by taxpayers from the fully-developed part of your county and your city.

David Greene 10 months ago

The core cities are actually quite undeveloped. Minneapolis has loads of parking lots created during the '60's urban renewal" debacle. Infill development must

David Greene 10 months ago

Infill development must take priority over expanding outward. The growth boundary will not absolutely limit outward growth. It can be adjusted periodically to responding to changing conditions. We need an actual plan to grow the region, not the haphazard parochially determined expansion we have today.

Sundance 9 months ago

Having lived in Vancouver, BC which is very similar to Portland, this bad idea of urban boundaries led to VERY high housing costs and smaller and smaller homes, people living on top of each other, higher taxes, higher crime rate and congested traffic (no freeways in Vancouver city limits). Overall, a negative affect on one of the most beautiful areas of the world.

I do not want to see the Twin Cities ruined in this way.

sudbird 9 months ago

Just my idea too David. The Met Council used to rein in growth by regulating sewer and utility hookups. That all ended in the 90s and since then the rate of sprawl has been greater than that of Los Angeles. I'm looking at you, Ted.