Our tax money subsidizes new sprawling developments, rather than improving our existing communities. Sprawl costs our cities and counties millions of dollars for new water and sewer lines, new schools, and increased police and fire protection. Those costs are not fully offset by the taxes paid by the new users. Instead, sprawl forces higher taxes on existing residents and hastens the decline of our urban tax base. Sprawl crowds our children's schools.
Sprawl creates crowded schools in the suburbs and empty, crumbling schools in center cities.
New development puts more children in suburban schools, but does not pay for the new schools that inevitably must be built. Solutions Smart growth provides a range of solutions to the problem of sprawl. Smart growth means planning our communities so that our streets will be safer, our neighborhoods will be nicer places to live, our air and water will be less polluted, and our parks, farms and open space will be protected. In neighborhoods across the country, the Sierra Club is helping Americans protect the environment by leading the fight for smart growth. Communities that are adopting smart growth policies have seen great rewards.