by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel
They’re getting old now, but I still know people who lament the urban sprawl they think ruined Denver. They miss sleepy little towns that used to be miles away from Denver and have completely separate identities — places like Parker, Golden and Louisville. Today it’s one giant “metroplex,” as the Census Bureau calls it, and Colfax Avenue is the longest commercial street in America.
No single developer caused that extensive sprawl. No single building was said to have ruined the region. But when strung together mile after mile, the result is one giant “conurbanization,” another $10 government word. There are now 149,000 houses in Douglas County, 272,000 in Arapahoe, 200,000 in Adams, and 256,000 in Jefferson — all built one at a time. It is the “cumulative impact” that results in a Front Range metropolis covering 8,400 square miles.
Every house had a building permit, but not from the same authority. No one permitted them all, which has always been the issue with “cumulative impacts.” Our system is designed to guard against abuses by any person or business, but not necessarily to consider the impacts of many developments over a long time period. I once served on a “smart growth task force” Colorado Gov. Roy Romer assembled to try to get a handle on sprawl, but it was really little more than an attempt at statewide zoning, without legal authority or widespread public support, so it went nowhere.
We deal with the issue of cumulative impacts, though, in many other areas, from endangered species to western water.
