More people driving cars means an increase in vehicle emissions, leading to air pollution and contributing to the greenhouse effect. Often these new developments have no central community focal point where people might become acquainted. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, studies show that people living in sprawling developments gather less often in public places and feel less responsible to one another and to shared surroundings than do residents of more dense communities. Government policies, or a lack of them, can contribute to unchecked growth. And local zoning laws often support low-density development, for example, by excluding or limiting the development of apartment buildings.
Property development is the primary source of local government revenue.
Thus, local governments face strong incentives to grow, and growth is easiest to accommodate in the point of view of both the private sector and local governments in greenfields at the urban fringe. The Best-Laid Plans In Kane County, the pressures for haphazard development are being addressed by extensive planning. However, the best-laid plans may suffer from the strain of the push west from Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Elburn is a small village in western Kane County. There, the land-use plan calls for minimal development and for preservation of farmland.