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Land Use Accountability ProjectLand Use Accountability Project

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An Introduction

Sprawl is a national story, threatening America’s famed open spaces, challenging our rural culture and love of nature. Yet, expansion and development, too, are essential to the American character. While neither ideal should dominate, heavily-financed interests often prevail by overwhelming, sometimes corrupting, local public policy. This project examines local experiences and “connects the dots” in order to illustrate today’s national land use story.

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  1. The Appraisal Bubble

    In 2004, years before plummeting real estate values turned Fort Myers, Florida, into a top five foreclosure capital, appraiser Mike Tipton faced a dilemma. Read more

  2. Outsiders Target Indian Land for Risky Business

    Deep in the foothills, miles above California’s Sacramento Valley, the 640-acre home of the Cortina Band of Wintun Indians lies empty except for six houses, a graveyard, and the spot where the band’s ceremonial roundhouse once stood. Read more

  1. ‘Smart Growth’ Goals Frustrated By Local Authorities

    In a pasture, along a tree-lined road, a small herd of hefty black-and-white striped “Oreo cows” — more formally known as Belted Galloways — graze near the entrance to a housing development widely regarded as one of the few examples of “smart growth” on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Read more

  2. No Sanctuary From Economic Troubles

    Investment banks and real estate developers aren’t the only ones reeling from the ups and downs of the economy. A dramatic case in point: the National Audubon Society’s 950-acre bird sanctuary on the Chesapeake Bay, which is quite suddenly facing an uncertain future due to its unique financial structure. Society officials say they’re committed to… Read more

  3. Eastern Shore Homebuilder Investigated for Storm Water Runoff

    The New Jersey-based homebuilder K. Hovnanian Enterprises is under investigation by the Department of Justice for possible violations of the Clean Water Act. Read more

  1. With Development Pressure Off, Townships and Open Spacers Flex Their Dollars

    When DeLuca Homes bought 215 acres of farmland in central Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1990s, it drew up plans for Estates at Sugarmill… Read more

  2. Residents and Developers Battle to a Draw in Bucks County

    When the bullet smashed through the living room window of Rick Patt’s Bucks County farmhouse, he was asleep. He didn’t hear the gunshot. He didn’t… Read more

  3. The Curative Challenge

    If land planners in Buckingham Township in central Bucks County, Pennsylvania, had their way, the Village of Buckingham Springs, a 151-acre age-restricted modular home community,… Read more

  1. The Battle for Wheatland

    The Wheatland Manor House was built 35 years before the Revolutionary War. The farmland surrounding it served as a focal point of a small community… Read more

  2. Dealing ‘New Jersey Style’

    Salvatore J. Cangiano enjoys a reputation as a shrewd land speculator and developer, one who isn’t shy about pressing his ownership rights through litigation —… Read more

  3. The “Soft Underbelly” of Development?

    Diana Johns had just moved into her four-bedroom, 6,500-square-foot Leesburg, Virginia, home in 2002 and was thrilled with its elegant pillars, golf-course views, and expansive,… Read more

  1. These satellite images represent many of the locations of developments and other points of interest addressed in the Land Use Accountability Project. Read more

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