Development dilemmas

London Free Press Editorial. October 30 2006

Urban sprawl. It's been a smouldering election issue in every community in North America since the 1950s, probably before. And yet it persists.

Never mind that Southwestern Ontario is the most productive agricultural area in the country or that we are swallowing up rural land at an alarming rate.

The real issue is whether urban taxpayers can afford to keep up this kind of growth.

Let's get one thing straight: growth is desirable, necessary and inevitable. That's not the issue. The question is how we should grow.

The problem is that land at the edge of the city is cheap and land inside is significantly more expensive.

On the other hand, it costs considerably more to service land with such requirements as roads, sewers, libraries and firehalls on our periphery than it does within the city, where those services already exist.

At present, London is growing in every direction. That is not common among municipalities, which choose to concentrate development in one area so investments in services can be efficient.

Municipal politicians often have their campaigns considerably funded by developers, and elected council members are under great pressure from the industry to approve new developments on the periphery of the city -- that's where land is cheapest.

But do they know how much this will cost taxpayers in the long term?

The city has already broken its own rules on the urban growth boundary on more than one occasion, and it is facing increasing pressure to review the boundary again. Meanwhile, deficiencies in the Urban Works Reserve Fund are only now being addressed.

Meanwhile, developers are being encouraged by city staff to think of new ways of building subdivisions to make better use of land, services and the natural environment.

Ultimately, these will become friendlier neighbourhoods. It's not going to happen overnight, and developers won't be able to accomplish it without receptive home buyers, but it's all a step in the right direction.