They also agree on the problem - sprawl. Sprawl is a leapfrog type of growth that typically features houses on large lots, separates homes from jobs and stores, and requires people to drive almost everywhere. For many baby boomers and their children, sprawl is the norm. But sprawl comes at enormous costs. It gobbles up farms, levels forests, spawns traffic, destroys wildlife habitats, and pollutes rivers.
Sprawl is particularly damaging because it often eats up land faster than the population grows.
People are building homes on larger lots. And some people are buying second homes. The trends are driven largely by an economy that's making more people wealthy enough to buy homes, he said. Federal officials derived the numbers at the request of The Times-Dispatch. The pace of development probably quickened in the go-go economy of the 1990s, officials said, but new figures aren't in yet.