The fastest growing residential areas in Arizona are Phoenix, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler. Sprawl development costs more public money to construct than developers pay in impact fees, and more to service than it yields in taxes. Scottsdale charges twice as much in impact fees for undeveloped areas, but this covers only water and sewer. Sprawl means greater reliance on automobiles. In 1996, Tucson s VMT was increasing three times faster than its population.
Sprawl makes public transportation systems less efficient and less available to more people.
Development in the Phoenix area consumes an acre an hour. The public supports controlling sprawl. A 1997 Morrison Institute survey found that more than three quarters of Phoenix-area residents think that the population is growing too fast and more should be done to protect the desert.