For decades, developers have been creating smart growth communities—places with a mix of land uses and housing types, built compactly to make walking and biking easier—throughout the county in urban, suburban, and rural locations. Some communities structure their approval and entitlement process to encourage construction of this type of neighborhood. Other communities are less familiar with these neighborhoods and may present more hurdles in the approval process because the design and layout of these projects differ from conventional suburban master-planned developments.
 

Market Acceptance of Smart Growth

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Learning more about whether a new product has market longevity and whether it will be a good fit for local residents, employers, the tax base, and the greater community can help these local governments determine whether they want to encourage this new type of development. In addition to learning about the environmental and health benefits associated with compact, walkable neighborhoods, local governments are interested in finding out whether these projects can maintain their value over the long term, provide a good investment to home owners, and offer the local market a housing development that enhances the community.