Supposedly, the sprawl problem is pollution and such issues as waste treatment are raised. We recently read about the pollution of the Minnesota River, which isn't caused by the Twin Cities, it's all of those rural areas. If a new city wants to start up, make them pay to build or connect to sewage treatment facilities. Remember that for a good part of their history, Minneapolis and Saint Paul didn't have sewage treatment either. That was in the late fifties, or maybe the early sixties.
Pollution is increased when population density increases.
For those who are interested in more on lrt, a lot has been posted this week on mpls-issues. All rights reserved.