Sprawl is too Costly

William Fulton, in an excellent article for Citiwire regarding the dwindling state and federal resources available to cities, makes an important point about finding financially viable and sustainable patterns of growth:

Conventional suburban communities, by contrast, are much more expensive to build and serve. In North Carolina, a study by the City of Charlotte found that a fire station in a low-density neighborhood with disconnected streets serves one-quarter the number of households and at four times the cost of an otherwise identical fire station in a less spread-out and more connected neighborhood. Another study in Champaign, Ill., by the respected consulting firm TischlerBise, found that growing within the city’s current urban service area would generate a tax surplus of $33 million, while sprawling beyond it would put a $20 million hole in the city’s budget.

It isn’t just infrastructure that costs more per capita in sprawl but also services. There are both long term and short term obligations associated with outward expansion. Growing communities need to ensure that the resources coming in can cover the additional obligations to remain solvent. If the inefficiency of sprawl proves too costly the only prudent choice is to develop more efficient and compact pattern of growth.