Posts


Attempting a “SlowDown” in Stafford County

by Dave Rollo

Stafford County, Virginia, is one of the oldest counties in the United States. Unsustainable development threatens its agrarian culture and residents’ quality of life. Uniquely, the local government has tools to measure the negative impacts of growth. However, they continue to incentivize big-box commercial and retail development. They are changing zoning, extending infrastructure, and failing to increase impact fees. The county’s supervisors are serving developer interests, and a developer currently serves on the planning commission.


Envisioning a Steady-State Comprehensive Plan

by Dave Rollo

”Economic growth” is commonplace in the daily news. We assume it’s a good thing, that a 2–4 percent increase in GDP is beneficial to all. Likewise, we hear that our communities are growing, and we see a 2–4 percent increase in population as reasonable and benign. Meanwhile, visionary community leaders are busy planning for a steady feed of single-digit annual growth. So we’re in good hands, right?

But what the news reports miss is that any steady rate of growth is an exponential function that contains within it a knowable doubling time.