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Show Within the Capital District, suburban and rural land is being developed at a faster rate than overall population increases. A study of land development undertaken by CDRPC in 1999, which analyzed satellite imagery from 1986 and 1997, indicated that during this period approximately 15,000 acres of land were developed on previously undeveloped land - a 15.8 percent increase in land consumption. There was approximately a 3.4 percent increase in population during the same period (~26,210 persons), which means that the region developed land at 4.65 times the rate of population growth during this period. As a result, the ratio of population per developed acre was 1.75 persons per acre of new development. A map of this growth, called "Capital District Suburban Growth 1986-1997" can be viewed at http://cdrpc.org/GrowthPatterns.html. This trend has also been documented for upstate New York as a whole. A Brookings Institute study titled "Sprawl Without Growth: The Upstate Paradox" [1] analyzed the growth and development trends and population in Upstate New York and found that: • Despite slow population growth, 425,000 acres of Upstate New York were urbanized between 1982 and 1997, resulting in urban sprawl in the form of declining density. The total amount of urbanized land in Upstate grew by 30 percent between 1982 and 1997, while its population grew by only 2.6 percent, reducing the density of the built environment by 21 percent. • Compared with other Upstate regions, Western New York sprawled less between 1982 and 1997, and Central New York sprawled more. All Upstate regions have falling population density, but Western New York's density dropped only 16 percent between 1982 and 1997. Meanwhile, Central New York-which 1/7/2010 Effects of Alternative Development Sc… cdtcmpo.org/policy/june07/wa-doc.htm 13/60 |
