Communities seeking to embrace so-called Smart Growth land-use strategies to limit low-density residential development -- derogatorily referred to as "sprawl" -- need to adopt locally specific, comprehensive plans that take into account home buyer preferences, housing demand, and public infrastructure requirements, the National Association of Home Builders told Congress last week.

Further, the contractor's trade association argued that -- the Clinton Administration's proposed $10 billion Livability Agenda notwithstanding -- the federal government should encourage but not mandate such guidelines.

Testifying before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the topic of Smart Growth, NAHB Vice President/Secretary Gary Garczynski said that since the politics of growth are uniquely local and the authority to determine land use is vested in local government, Smart Growth planning should start in local jurisdictions.

"The federal government's role should be to encourage-not mandate-local communities to adopt long-term comprehensive plans that will meet the demand for new housing, public infrastructure and other services in the decade ahead," he said.

Garczynski, who has 30 years of experience in the building and land development business, said the 197,000-member NAHB supports "reasonable and market-driven land use strategies that will meet the housing needs of this country while expanding homeownership opportunities, revitalizing cities and building attractive communities."

As an example, he cited a newly formed partnership among NAHB, the nation's mayors and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The partnership's goal is to build new homes in the nation's cities and inner-ring suburbs.

Garczynski identified six key elements of NAHB's own Smart Growth Strategy, including:

• Anticipating and planning for economic development and growth in a timely, orderly and predictable manner;
• Establishing a long-term comprehensive plan in each local jurisdiction that provides ample land for residential, commercial, recreational and industrial use while also protecting open space and environmentally sensitive areas;
• Removing the regulatory and planning barriers that stop innovative planning and hinder mixed-use, infill and inner-city development;
• Planning and constructing new schools, roads and other public infrastructure to keep pace with the current and future demand for housing, and finding an equitable way to pay for that infrastructure without pitting existing residents against future residents;
• Achieving balance in the planning process by using innovative planning concepts to achieve Smart Growth's goals and enhance the quality of life for all residents; and
• Ensuring that the process for reviewing site-specific land development applications is reasonable, predictable and fair for applicants and neighbors.

"Smart Growth starts by recognizing where people want to live and the homes they want to live in," said Garczynksi. "We must remember that in survey after survey, Americans continue to show a strong preference for single-family homes in a suburban setting."

Garczynski also urged Congress not to mistake no-growth agendas for Smart Growth, saying the greatest risk of such policies is that they will compromise housing affordability, especially for first-time buyers, minorities, immigrants and median-income families.

"No-growth or slow-growth policy is ultimately self-defeating," he said, because eliminating opportunity doesn't eliminate demand.

"More than a million new households are formed in this country every year, and home builders will have to construct between 1.3 and 1.5 million new housing units annually to meet demand through the next decade."