But slow growth also has meant a relatively poor economy. Now that greater prosperity is coming to many areas, we face the challenge of ensuring that the next wave of land use development is better planned, and that we preserve what we treasure. Sprawl can happen in urban, suburban or rural settings. It is the haphazard, low-density growth occurring outside our town centers that separates where we live from where we work, where we shop from where our children go to school, where we play from where we worship. It means we have to drive our cars more than we used to, or want to, on more crowded roads.
Sprawl destroys town centers and interferes with civic involvement.
It obliterates forests and farmland. It pollutes our air. Growth can be good, adding jobs and services to an under-served area, but sprawl is not. Many believe that the forest practices referendum is an example of the potential for good intentions gone astray. The Maine Forest Service and experts from the College of Nature Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture at the University of Maine have supported these arguments.