Americans may react negatively to the buzzwords "suburban sprawl," but a recent survey indicates the real estate industry has little backlash to fear when it comes to responsible development.

The poll, which may have questionable results considering a small sample size of 1,000 likely voters, indicates that Americans are mostly satisfied with the quality of their schools and parks, but dissatisfied with how their communities are handling transportation. The survey was by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in August.

The survey flies in the face of current federal government pronouncements and conventional wisdom, which imply that citizens yearn for federal planning and control of development.

While 67 percent of the survey respondents rated their public schools excellent or good, and 65 percent rated the provision of parks and open space similarly, only 43 percent rated the handling of traffic and congestion in positive terms. A total of 43 percent said their community was doing an excellent or good job of providing mass transit.

"People are particularly troubled by traffic congestion, and seem to want options provided in the form of both better roads and better transit," said Pat Kaplan, a realtor in Portland, Ore., and incoming treasurer of NAR.

The survey also indicated that Americans are ambivalent when it comes to creating specific solutions to address the challenge of growth. In other words, they want the benefits of green space and wide roads, but they don't want to pay for them. Approval rates for preserving open space soared to 82 percent, but support for raising taxes to pay for the land dipped to 53 percent.

The survey also indicated that the Clinton Administration and its anti-sprawl supporters are out of luck with constituents. Americans overwhelmingly prefer making development and planning decisions at the local level, with 81 percent choosing such decisions to be made by town or county government. Only 7 percent prefer decisions to be made at the state level and a paltry 3 percent at the federal level.

Nevertheless, some 41 percent of survey respondents indicate that the federal government could play a useful role by providing resources to local governments to help address growth pressures. When asked to choose just one among several options of how federal assistance could be helpful, the choice of the majority (61 percent) was "providing funding to local government to build and rehabilitate public schools." Scoring much lower were the options of providing funds to preserve open space (15 percent) and providing funds for local and regional growth planning (15 percent).

We've all heard opponents of "sprawl" argue that communities should have higher densities, a.k.a. more homes per acre. But Americans abhor this solutions. According to the survey, 73 percent saying they would not even consider purchasing a house that is closer to other houses and located on a smaller lot.

There is an exception, however, for communities designed to include parks, trees, sidewalks, and more attractive homes, the survey found.

"The survey confirms that the issues surrounding growth and sprawl are very complex -- and that there are no easy answers," Kaplan said. "Making higher-density neighborhoods more acceptable to homebuyers is one of the great challenges of achieving smarter growth, and the survey suggests that better design of neighborhoods would go a long way toward countering market resistance to houses on smaller lots."

In other news, Spieker Properties, Inc. (NYSE: SPK) is joining the ranks of real estate firms boasting outstanding third-quarter results. Spieker's funds from operations were $85.3 million ($1.10 per share) for the third quarter of 2000, compared to FFO of $65.7 million (87 cents) for the third quarter of 1999.

"This quarter's exceptional results reflect the continued strong real estate markets on the West Coast, the roll-up of rents to market, and modestly higher occupancy rates," said Craig Vought, co-chief executive officer. "We believe same-store NOI growth this quarter of 13 percent, excluding increases in occupancy and lease termination fees, sets the stage for continued healthy performance."

Published: November 1, 2000

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Lesley Hensell covers commercial real estate and financial issues for Realty Times. Based outside of Dallas, Lesley works with high-tech and real estate clients as an independent marketing and public relations consultant. She also writes for several publications, including the Dallas Morning News. E-mail Lesley at: lhensell@earthlink.net