Some states, such as Maryland, have areas with 50-acre zones, and California's Napa Valley has zones of one house per 100 acres or more. Many areas already have large areas zoned for one-acre development, and changing that would be politically difficult, it not impossible. And there is no political downside to doing that because you are not changing the underlying zoning. You just separate lot size from density, which they can do under current law. People just don't know what better development looks like.
Successful communities are the communities that essentially create a plan and stick to it.
If you say no to bad development, you almost always will get better development in its place. The statewide book grew out of a similar volume the Conservation Fund developed for the Shenandoah Valley two years ago, which has had more than 6,000 copies distributed, and two printings. It has stirred interest in creating better growth, and McMahon has since given talks in every county in the valley at least once. Based on that success, the Virginia Environmental Endowment approached the Conservation Fund to create a similar book for the entire state. Volumes are in the works for Maryland and Pennsylvania as well.