They enable but do not require local governments to plan and zone, and they provide little guidance from the state. It is land and energy consumptive, automobile dependent, requires a very high ratio of road surface to development served, and often is characterized as poorly planned on an area-wide or metropolitan basis. They also argue that the present land use decision-making structure leads to greater concentration of poverty and to segregation of the races. Finally, they argue that permitting present trends to continue will increase costs to taxpayers in the future, because a sprawling population requires more roads, wastewater treatment lines, and other government services. In short, sprawl is inefficient and expensive.
Some observers believe the sprawl problem is overstated.
They point to increasing productivity in the agricultural sector and argue that losing a certain amount of agricultural land is not a problem. Opponents to land use planning cite private property rights as the most important principle for determining how land shall be used. Copyright 1998 Public Sector Consultants, Inc.