Why Is This Important?
Good growth management policies are necessary to balance the county’s needs and preserve its high quality of life.  Directing growth to already developed areas can preserve the county’s character and lead to reinvestment in existing neighborhoods.  Development away from urban centers where jobs are located can result in long commutes, traffic congestion, and air pollution from automobiles, as well as the loss of open space or agricultural land.

What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where a community balances land uses to meet the need for housing, commerce, infrastructure, agriculture, parks and open space, and habitat protection.

How Are We Doing?

  • In 2005, 37 percent of the land in San Mateo County was urban, compared with only 26 percent for the entire Bay Area.  This is primarily because of a lower proportion of land used for agriculture in the county compared with other counties in the region. 
  • Residential land accounted for over half of all urban lands (51 percent), a slightly higher percentage than for the entire Bay Area (49 percent).
  • Major infrastructure, which is mainly roads and highways, accounted for 26 percent of urban land and 9 percent of all land in the county, in total over 26,000 acres. 
  • The amount of the county’s urban land increased slightly from 2000, primarily because of land formerly classified as rangeland being converted to a residential or commercial use.
  • Forest lands accounted for nearly half of all non-urban land (and 32 percent of total land in the county), followed by rangeland and agriculture land.

By 2050, San Mateo County’s population is projected to grow to roughly 820,000, an increase of nearly 90,000 residents.  Absent good policies to accommodate this growth in a sustainable manner, development may occur in ways that could negatively impact residents’ quality of life.

Data source: Association of Bay Area Governments

 

Data source: Association of Bay Area Governments

 


Planning for Sustainability
The American Planning Association’s goals and policies for sustainable land use include: • Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels by promoting: (a) compact development that minimizes the need to drive, (b) a mix of integrated community uses (housing, shops, etc.), (c) pedestrian friendly development, (d) transit-oriented development, and (e) local food production and agriculture that reduce the need for long-range food transport. • Reduce activities that impact the natural environment through: (a) guiding development to existing developed areas, (b) maintaining a well defined “edge” around each community that is protected from development, (c) remediation and redevelopment of brownfield and other contaminated sites, and (d) creating financial and regulatory incentives for infill development (or elimination of disincentives). • Meet human needs fairly and efficiently by eliminating disproportionate environmental burdens and pollution experienced by historically disadvantaged communities.

 

See appendix page 76, CLICK HERE. Researchers: Brittany Bendix and Joe Rois