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About this Project
"Grappling with Growth" is an ongoing Detroit News series examining the costs and quandaries of the latest suburban boom.
July 7, 2002: Region goes deep in debt to pay for outward expansion.
July 8: Three communities' philosophies: Build. Retain. Restrict.
July 19: Suburban political power shifts with the population.
Aug. 13: Few suburban businesses mean higher taxes for residents.
Sept. 4: Renewal projects rejuvenate aging Ferndale.
Sept. 29-30: Suburban growth forces some districts to build new schools, while others must find new uses for those they close. Traffic gets worse as Metro Detroiters move farther out with no meaningful mass transit options.
Dec. 22: Momentum builds for a "Smart Growth" plan in Michigan.
Dec. 23: How communities in Maryland and Pennsylvania are curbing development on the suburban fringe.
News updates
 Towns want developers to pay for roads, sewers
Oakland has new land-use map
Lenox Twp. watches growth as sprawl creeps north
Growth of townships faces scrutiny by state
Leaders debate sprawl, plan transit authority
Sprawl swallows Macomb farmland
State law preserves more open spaces
Make sprawl laws?
To limit suburban sprawl, governor-elect Granholm and state legislators want to preserve farmland, redevelop older cities and intensify land use cooperation among local governments. Builders argue that most land use reforms would infringe on property owners' freedoms and drive up housing costs. Whose side are you on?
Special Reports Archive
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The Detroit News
© Copyright 2002 The Detroit News.
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The search for solutions
Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News
Last year, Lancaster, Pa., farmer Jim Charles preserved his 102-acre farm in exchange for $450,000 in county money. He could have sold it for $2 million to developers who would have built subdivisions on the land.
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2 states put brakes on runaway growth
MACOMB TOWNSHIP -- With strip malls, subdivisions and lines of brake lights at every corner, 21 Mile Road is a generic, suburban blur. But 21 miles north of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, strict zoning preserves a verdant landscape of horse farms along quiet lanes. 12/23/02
Pennsylvania pays to save farms
LANCASTER, Pa. -- Beyond the borough of Millersville, past Nino's Pizza and Barley's Barber Shop, past a speed trap and one last row of cookie-cutter colonials, a farmer draws a line in the soil with his holey boots and stops the suburbs dead. 12/23/02
Maryland pioneers planned growth
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Twenty-one miles north of downtown, outside the official "Urban Rural Demarcation Line," John Bernstein climbs a rise behind his Civil War-era farmhouse and sees a half-dozen old country manors in the distance. Two giant sycamores, as big around as compact cars, frame the path down his front yard to a narrow lane weaving through horse pasture. 12/23/02
Strategies for land use intensify from coast to coast
Incoming Gov. Jennifer Granholm is following the lead of many others as she proposes Smart Growth reforms to manage Michigan's landscape. 12/23/02
Traffic woes drive off charm in Nantucket
NANTUCKET, Mass. -- When T. Michael Burns signed on last year as this quaint island's transportation planner, "I was told there's three things you can't touch: The cobblestones, the monuments in the street -- and you're not going to put a stoplight on Nantucket." 12/23/02
The search for solutions
Michigan to tackle unchecked sprawl
After decades of rapid development away from Michigan's cities, bipartisan momentum is building in Lansing for tighter growth controls at the outer reaches of suburbia. 12/22/02
Lansing dodges border battles
Michigan legislators missed a chance this year to solve an age-old, statewide border war between cities and townships. Instead, a popular idea got shelved, highlighting Lansing's gridlock on land use issues. 12/22/02
Granholm's Smart Growth plan
"The unplanned, uncontrolled consumption of open spaces not only impairs the quality of our land, water and ecosystems, it also threatens our social and economic well-being if not met with strong leadership and vision," Gov.-elect Jennifer Granholm said this year in unveiling her plan to curtail suburban sprawl. 12/22/02
Monday, Sept. 30, 2002
Metro commutes tax time, wallets
California sets strong mass transit example
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2002
Student migration
Schools pay price as suburbs change
Districts splinter some neighborhoods
Districts recycle empty buildings
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002
Fixing Ferndale
Aging Ferndale discovers formula for staying vibrant
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Residential vs. commercial
Suburbs struggle to spread tax burden
Monday, July 19, 2002
Suburban politics
Suburbs battle for people, power
Monday, July 8, 2002
The costs of growth
Growth management challenges 3 suburbs
Macomb County
Public water ban saves Ray farmland
Wayne County
Aging Livonia competes with newer suburbs
Oakland County
Lyon Township barely manages boom
Sunday, July 7, 2002
Outward expansion
Increasing sprawl strains suburbs
Part II: Balkanized region
Part III: Costly competition
Part IV: White flight continues
Part V: Builders tout benefits
A Portrait of Two Communities
Builder says local laws price homes out of reach
Builders keep mapmakers busy
Failed policies create sprawl
Church outlives Macomb farms
The Growth of Metro Detroit
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