| Tool | Issues Addressed | Considerations | Examples |
| Urban Growth Boundaries Define the extent of future growth in a community by establishing a boundary within which urban types of development will be permitted. Development is restricted outside the boundary to preserve the farmland and rural character of these areas. |
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Athens-Clarke Greenbelt Implementation Examples Outside Georgia |
Urban Growth Boundaries |
Guides For Implementing This Tool
Georgia Quality Growth Partnership
The Urban Growth Boundaries tool includes step-by-step guides for implementation, considerations about costs, administrative requirements, and example ordinances or similar materials that may be used for putting approaches into practice.
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/intra_nonpub/Toolkit/Guides/UGBounds.pdf
Greenbelt Alliance
An outreach document that defines UGBs, their advantages, the collaborative process required in setting it up, and jurisdictions in which they have been implemented
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.greenbelt.org/downloads/about/factsheet_ugb.pdf
Maryland Department of Planning
Outlines the development of UGBs in other states before discussing its adoption in Maryland. It outlines a methodology that local governments should follow while developing a UGB, provides key points for making a UGB successful as a growth regulators and for its integration into the comprehensive plan
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.mdp.state.md.us/info/download/Mmg12.PDF
Right-sizing Urban Growth Boundaries - Uri Avin, FAICP, and Michael Bayer, AICP
This paper describes eight steps for rightsizing the extent of UGBs. The complete rationale for applying a UGB to Frederick Maryland is included at the end of this document.
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://planning.hntb.com/pdfs/UGB.pdf
Model Ordinances
Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Revised Policies, 2000
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/planning/BVCP2000/bpbvcppolicies.htm
Lancaster Township Comprehensive Plan 2002
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.twp.lancaster.pa.us/strategicCompPlan/onlineChapters/Ch5_FutureLandUse.pdf
Maps and Ordinances for 2002 Urban Growth Boundary Decision for Oregon
On Dec. 5, 2002, the Metro Council approved a major expansion of the urban growth boundary (UGB). On Dec. 12, they wrapped up their decision-making process after more than two years of work to estimate how much new land was needed for housing and jobs. On July 7, 2003, the State Land Conservation and Development Commission issued an order acknowledging, or approving, most of the Metro Council’s decision. Citizens who participated in the process had 60 days to appeal the decision. The decision brought 18,638 acres into the boundary, including 2,851 acres dedicated to employment purposes. The decision also includes new policies to protect existing neighborhoods, provides additional land for jobs and improves local commercial centers and main streets. Prior to their decision, the Council listened to hours of testimony from residents and local governments affected by the decision.
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=2504
Tennessee Public Chapter 1101: Growth Plan for Knoxville, Knox County and Farragut, Tennessee, 2001
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.knoxmpc.org/plans/growthpl.htm
Aids For Visualizing This Tool
No records available.Georgia Implementation Examples
Athens-Clarke County, GA - The 1999 Comprehensive Plan, for Athens-Clarke County and the City of Winterville, called for the designation of "areas that are predominantly rural in character as a boundary for limiting expansion of urban development." To achieve this goal the plan emphasized that it was desirable "for agricultural areas on the periphery of the urban area to remain as productive agricultural lands by using techniques such as transfer of development rights, conservation easements and open space subdivisions." This idea, of a ring of protected greenspace around Athens, has come to be known locally as the "greenbelt." At present the greenbelt area is zoned for a ten acre minimum lot size, but a conservation subdivision can be done at one unit per five acres. Nonresidential uses are possible, but severely limited. The current regulations have, in general, prevented sprawl-type development from occurring in the greenbelt.
Implementation Examples Outside Georgia
California - In 1997, discussions began between the City of Milpitas and the County of Santa Clara regarding the future of the Milpitas hillsides. The ensuing collaborative planning effort involving the City and County was the Milpitas Urban Growth Boundary Project.
Colorado - Boulder County, Colorado experienced significant growth in the 1970s, prompting local community leaders to adopt a comprehensive plan that now provides an example of a hybrid urban-growth boundary. This comprehensive plan established community-service areas for each of its municipalities. Technically, the community service areas are not growth boundaries, although they were adopted to encourage all future urban development to occur in and around existing urban centers. Infrastructure is provided at the city level in Boulder County. Thus, the county does not play a significant role in providing water, sewer, or other urban services. Boulder County’s comprehensive plan explicitly discourages development outside community-service areas. The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) is a joint plan between the city of Boulder and Boulder County, providing shared land use decision-making in the Boulder Valley. The plan is adopted by four bodies: City of Boulder Planning Board, City Council, County Planning Commission, and Board of County Commissioners.
Maryland - Growth-associated problems like large-lot residential sprawl, loss of agricultural and environmentally sensitive land, and conflicting growth visions of the municipalities and the counties forced jurisdictions in Maryland to adopt a variety of planning tools and other measures to control development. Urban growth boundaries were one of the measures chosen to encourage growth in selected areas. In the late 1960’s, Baltimore County became the first Maryland jurisdiction to adopt such a boundary. Others followed over the next decade.
Minnesota - In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the urban service area boundary is drawn based on a calculation of the 10-year capacity to support new growth. Local planners base the location of the boundary on their employment and population projections for the region. Maintenance of the Twin Cities' urban service boundary is supplemented by regulatory controls that encourage infill development within the urban service area and discourage new development outside it. The urban service area boundary is reconsidered every five years.
Oregon - Metro is the directly elected regional government that serves more than 1.3 million residents in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, and the 24 cities in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. This web-page defines the UGB and provides links to an interactive UGB map for the Portland metropolitan area, guidelines for including land in the UGB, 2002 UGB decision and urban growth reports.
Pennsylvania - Farmland protection is a major goal in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which is home to one of the nation’s largest communities of Old Order Amish and Mennonites. Lancaster County’s program uses two strategies to protect farmland and open-space preservation in order to maintain a rural and semi-rural lifestyle. The first strategy, begun in the early 1980s, purchases future-development rights to land as a way of permanently preventing development or conversion of farmland to other uses. The second strategy, implemented when the county adopted its comprehensive plan in 1990, establishes urban-growth boundaries to limit development beyond existing urbanized areas.
Other Resources
American Dream Boundaries: Urban Containment and its Consequences
This paper by Wendell Cox uses the findings of an American Planning Association publication, Economic Development and Smart Growth by Dr. Arthur C. Nelson, to compare trends in Portland and Atlanta. While the publication it is based on analyzed the effects of Portland’s urban containment policies from mid 80’s to the mid 90’s, this paper uses the 1990’s as a reference time period.
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.gppf.org/article.asp?RT=10&p=pub/LandUse/Growth/american_dream_boundaries.htm
Controlling Sprawl in Boulder: Benefits and Pitfalls
This paper is by Peter Pollock, AICP and is a part of the Proceedings of the 1998 National Planning Conference - Revolutionary Ideas in Planning. It outlines the development of the hybrid UGB in Boulder County, the ‘service area’ concept, and compares the benefits and pitfalls of the same
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.asu.edu/caed/proceedings98/Pollock/pollock.html
Cyburbia Forum: Urban Growth Boundaries
Discussion forum about UBGs on Cyburbia, an Internet based, urban/town planning-related bulletin board
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11427
Inside the Boundaries (May 2000) - Oregon Land Use Laws Update:Urban Growth Boundaries and Future Growth
Publication by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development that summarizes proposed Goal 14 amendments and administrative changes. It clarifies the process and standards for changing UGBs and set out clear and flexible requirements for local governments on how to plan for efficient development inside the UGBs
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.lcd.state.or.us/newspdfs/publicG14.pdf
Land Use Planning Strategies-Urban Growth Boundaries
Defines UGBs and provides links to online articles and publication on the topic
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/landuse/urban.shtml
Line in the Land: Urban-growth Boundaries, Smart Growth, and Housing Affordability
By Samuel R. Staley, Ph.D., Jefferson G. Edgens, Ph.D., and Gerard C.S. Mildner, Ph.D. This study explores the experiences of four cities and regions, namely Portland (Oregon), Boulder County (Colorado), Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) and Northern California, to more fully elucidate the intended and unintended effects of growth boundaries.
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.rppi.org/urban/ps263.html
Myths & Facts About Oregon’s Urban Growth Boundaries
This fact sheet by the organization '1000 Friends of Oregon' quotes statistics and links to studies that provide valuable information for an objective evaluation of the consequences of the Urban Growth Boundary on housing affordability and related issues
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.friends.org/resources/myths.html
National Association of Industrial and Office Properties - Regional Urban Growth Boundaries
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.naiop.org/governmentaffairs/growth/rugb.cfm
Publications related to Urban Growth Boundary Issues
Prepared by California Department of Housing and Community Development, Feb 2002, this resource provides an extensive list of UGB publications, and gives electronic links as well as library addresses
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.hcd.ca.gov/hpd/ugb02_02.pdf
Setting the record straight in Growth Boundaries
A publication of the organization '1000 Friends of Pennsylvania'
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.10000friends.org/Web_Pages/Newfaqs/FAQs_growth_boundaries.htm
Speeches, Memos & Position Papers
This web page on the site of the organization '1000 Friends of Oregon' links to studies on costs of sprawl and smart growth patterns, particularly UGBs and to speeches making a case for the same in the context of Oregon.
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.friends.org/resources/res_memos.html
Urban Growth Boundaries
The study starts by tracing the historical development of UGBs in USA and proceeds to discuss and compare the adoption of UGBs in three jurisdictions- Portland, Oregon; Frankenmuth, Michigan and Midland Michigan
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://www.ippsr.msu.edu/Publications/ARUrbanGrowthBound.pdf
What is an Urban Growth Boundary? - Facts About an Important Land-Use Planning Tool in Oregon's Statewide Planning Program
Prepared by Oregon's Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) to discuss location parameters, land consumption, boundary modification and advantages of UGB in the context of Oregon
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/OITDSShared/asp/NavDisclaimer.asp?Leaving=GQGP&GoToURL=http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~pppm/landuse/UGB.html
