Industry News from Connecticut, Maryland, Iowa, California and Arizona
Connecticut

Governor M. Jodi Rell recently signed legislation (H.B. 6570) that seeks to guide new development according to Smart-Growth principals. The legislation seeks to encourage a mix-use of housing opportunities for residents and focus growth near existing transportation infrastructure. These areas located near transportation hubs would be designated “priority funding districts” where state funding would be limited to.  The ambitious goals of this legislation brought together disparate interest groups, including the Home Builders Association of Connecticut and the Sierra Club, in support of the legislation. Bill Ethier, executive vice president of the state HBA, notes “There’s a small, but probably growing, section of the market that wants that kind of development, and they should be served.”

Maryland

Prince George’s County has recently enacted a law that bases new home development on the availability of police and fire protection.  This rule has decreased the availability of homes for families in this Washington, DC suburb.  The rule “requires police emergency calls, on average, to be answered within 10 minutes and nonemergency calls within 25 minutes. The legislation also sets a response time limit across the county of 10 minutes for advanced life support.  F. Hamer Campbell of the Maryland-National Capital BIA said that this bill “had unintended consequences on shutting down more than the council thought,” especially on the rural outlying areas of the county.

Iowa

New erosion rules in the area surrounding Des Moines has decreased the affordability of new homes.  Iowa builders have been pitted against the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities over strict ordinances covering erosion.  These added burdens are both regulatory, with storm water permits, and financial.  It is feared that “Developers of builders could be asked to put money down in performance bonds or cash security with cities to cover the costs of environmental damage.”  Attorney Chuck Becker predicted “This could become a mechanism the developers look at and say, ‘This city has stringent construction requirements.  We don’t think we can pass those costs along.”    

California

The city of Indio has proposed requiring builders to find alternative sources of water for new home construction. According to Mark Wasserman, an Indio city employee, developers use approximately 37 million gallons of water per day during the hottest days of summer. Critics of the proposals claim it is poor municipal planning, not builders, that is responsible for the water shortage. Ed Kibbey, executive director of the BIA Desert Chapter,said, “They are putting this entirely on the building community and they’re not doing anything to curtail wasted water by those who already live in the city of Indio.”

Arizona

A coalition of Arizona civic and business leaders is set to ask Arizona residents to vote on a plan to conserve land the state holds in land trusts. The Arizona Constitution, along with the federal legislation granting statehood in 1912, requires that federal land given to the state be sold for the “highest and best use.” Based on this arrangement “Existing laws force municipalities and conservation groups to compete in a nearly impossible uphill battle with deep-pocket developers for some of the state’s most desirable remaining desert.” Arizona has become a haven for those escaping either weather or higher home prices in other parts of the country, especially California.

California

A study by CSU Sacramento economist, Robert Fountain, has found that the rapidly growing North Natomas area has been a financial windfall for the Sacramento region. The study was prepared as area landowners are asking the city of Sacramento to annex between 6,000-10,000 acres in the North Natomas area.  The study found that, “Last year alone, builders sold $995 million worth of homes in North Natomas. That included $473 million in wages for the (construction related) workers and the generation of $75.7 million in taxes.” Less quantitative, but no less important, is the sense that  the region is a growing area, with a “progressive, entrepreneurial environment” that is seen as a sell corporations and residents outside the area. This is threatened, Fountain notes, because “North Natomas is quickly approaching build-out.” [ return to top ]