Development at the Urban Fringe and Beyond: Impacts on Agriculture and Rural Land
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Development at the Urban Fringe and Beyond: Impacts on Agriculture and Rural Land. By Ralph E. Heimlich and William D. Anderson. Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Economic Report No. 803. Abstract Land development in the United States is following two routes: expansion of urban areas and large-lot development (greater than 1 acre per house) in rural areas. Urban expansion claimed more than 1 million acres per year between 1960 and 1990, yet is not seen as a threat to most farming, although it may reduce production of some high-value or specialty crops. The consequences of continued large–lot development may be less sanguine, since it consumes much more land per unit of housing than the typical suburb. Controlling growth and planning for it are the domains of State and local governments. The Federal Government may be able to help them in such areas as building capacity to plan and control growth, providing financial incentives for channeling growth in desir- able directions, or coordinating local, regional, and State efforts. Keywords: land development, sprawl, large-lot housing, land zoning, population growth, housing, specialty agriculture, high-value agriculture, rural amenities, smart growth Contributors Charles Barnard—Wrote sections on costs of use value assessment and purchase of development rights, the effect of technology on employment location, and metropolitan agriculture. John Cromartie—Wrote sections on population and household trends, and technology and employment. Richard Reeder—Wrote the sections on local responses to growth, impacts on commu- nity and quality of life, and planning capacity. Peter Feather—Wrote the section on nonmarket benefits from preserving farmland, including water quality impacts from reducing erosion from construction sites. Cindy Nickerson—Wrote the section on State responses to growth and “smart growth.” Robert Hoppe and Penni Korb—Wrote the section on metropolitan agriculture and tran- sitions between metro farm types. Marlow Vesterby and William Quinby—Wrote sections on trends in land use and hous- ing development as a driving force. Daniel Mullarkey—Wrote the section on rural amenities and the WTO agreements. 1800 M Street, NW. Washington, DC 20036-5831 June 2001 Dedication This report is dedicated to the memory of Robert Otte, who died November 6, 2000. As Chief of the Land Resources Branch of the Economic Research Service’s Natural Resource Economics Division in the late 1960’s, Dr. Otte pioneered early research on the urbanization of agricultural land. He authored Farming in the City’s Shadow in 1974, and was co-author of ERS’s first study of land use change in urbanizing areas, Dynamics of Land Use in Fast Growth Areas in 1976. Dr. Otte was a gentleman, a gen- erous colleague, and a mentor to many land economics researchers, in ERS and other institutions, who followed in his footsteps. William D. Anderson Acknowledgments The authors want to thank editor Thomas McDonald and designer Susan DeGeorge for their tireless efforts in improving and presenting this report. The report benefited greatly from peer reviews by Nelson Bills, Cornell University, David Holder, USDA-CREES, Douglas Lawrence, USDA-NRCS, Lawrence Libby, Ohio State University, and Ann Sorensen, American Farmland Trust, Center for Agriculture and the Environment. Any remaining errors in fact and judgment are the authors’. ii Development at the Urban Fringe and Beyond / AER-803 Economic Research Service/USDA Contents Summary . .iv I. Overview . .1 II. Trends in Land Use: Two Kinds of Growth . .9 What is Sprawl? . .9 Two Kinds of Growth . .12 III. Driving Forces . .15 U.S. Population Growth and Household Formation . .15 Household Land Consumption . .16 Demand for Low-Density Development . .17 Metropolitan Expansion . .18 Infrastructure . .20 Employment, Economic Development and Technology . .23 IV. The Costs of Growth . .26 Costs Imposed by Growth . .26 Infrastructure Costs . .27 Transportation . .28 Impacts on Taxpayers . .28 Impacts on Landscape, Open Space, and Sense of Community . .31 Environmental Changes . .31 Other Quality of Life Issues . .35 An Economic Interpretation of the Demand for Low-Density Development . .36 V. Consequences for Farming . .38 Agriculture: Farming in the City’s Shadow . .38 Working Landscapes and Rural Amenities . .43 Benefits of Famland and Open Space . .44 VI. Local Responses to Growth . .50 Playing Catch Up . .50 How Local Governments Address Growth Problems . .50 Planning Efforts to Control Growth . .51 Capacity for Response in Relation to Urbanization Pressure . .52 Federal Assistance for Planning . .54 Slow Growth, No Growth, and Smart Growth . .55 Monetary Incentives for Conserving Farm and Forest Land . .57 Economic Research Service/USDA Development at the Urban Fringe and Beyond /AER-803 iii VII. Potential Federal Roles . .65 Helping Increase State and Local Planning Capacity . .65 Coordinating Local, Regional, and State Efforts . .66 Coordinating Federal Development Activities and Growth Management Goals . .67 Funding Monetary Conservation Incentives . .68 Conserving Rural Amenities As Part of Greater Agricultural and Trade Policy Goals . .69 References . .71 List of Figures Figure 1—Schematic diagram of urban geography . .11 Figure 2—Trends in developed land use, 1960-2000 . .13 Figure 3—Land base of the United States, 1992 . .13 Figure 4—Annual additions to housing area, by lot size, 1900-97 . .14 Figure 5—Additions to U.S. population 1972-2007 . .15 Figure 6—U.S. population and household change 1982-97 . .16 Figure 7—Household formation and housing completions, 1960-97 . .16 Figure 8—County typology, 1990 . .19 Figure 9—U.S. population change 1982-97 . .20 Figure 10—Sewage disposal by lot size, 1994-97 . .21 Figure 11—Water supply by lot size, 1994-1997 . .22 Figure 12—High-tech jobs grow more slowly in cities than in suburbs 1992-97 . .24 Figure 13—Private and public capital costs by community type . .27 Figure 14—Relative capital costs of public infrastructure . .28 Figure 15—Ratio of community service costs to tax revenues (n=85) . .29 Figure 16—Savings of agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands, compact growth versus “sprawl” . .33 Figure 17—Water quality impacts by community type . .35 Figure 18--Distribution of farmers’ markets . .40 Figure 19--Conceptual model of agricultural adaptation to urbanization . .42 Figure 20--Farms in 1978 out of business by 1997, by farm category . .44 Figure 21--Transitions between farm types, metro farms, 1978-97 . .45 Figure 22—Composition of land use change in urbanizing areas, 1970’s and 1980’s . .45 Figure 23—Degree of urban influence, 1990 . .47 Figure 24—Comparison of estimated urban growth boundaries and percent of area changing to developed uses, 1982-92 . .48 Figure 25--Actual and estimated easement value for cropland, by urban influence . .61 Figure 26—Costs of purchase of development rights and use-value assessment relative to benefits for preserving cropland, by urban influence . .63 iv Development at the Urban Fringe and Beyond / AER-803 Economic Research Service/USDA List of Tables Table 1—Trends in U.S. urban development, 1960-2000 . .12 Table 2—Growth-related issues, impacts, and possible solutions . .32 Table 3—Metro and nonmetro farm characteristics, United States, 1991 and 1997 . .38 Table 4—Estimates of the average amenity value of farmland . .46 Table 5—Estimated nonmarket value of land under urban influence estimated to be developed in succeeding decades . .49 Table 6—Annual recreational water quality damages due to urbanization of farmland . .49 Table 7—State implementation of smart growth strategies . .58 Table 8—Comparison of costs and benefits for protecting cropland, by degree of urban influence, 1995 . ..