ARC reports ‘dramatic’ slowdown in growth, keeps sprawl-killing program
August 18, 2009 at 2:35 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsThe Atlanta Regional Commission yesterday said that metro Atlanta experienced its slowest year in growth since 1990. Between April 2008 and April 2009, only 24,700 people moved to the 10-county metro area. (That’s after years of averaging more than 77,000 new residents each year.)
Atlanta, which had seen an average of 7,400 residents flock to the city every year since 2000, added only 3,400 new residents.
“We’re definitely seeing the impact of the recession,” Mike Alexander, chief of ARC’s Research Division, said in a press release. “We experienced slower growth in all 10 counties and in the City of Atlanta. Even so, Atlanta continues to lead the region’s growth.”
There’s a little bit of good news, though, something that’ll at least put a smile on the faces of smart-growth aficionados and urban planners. The ARC last week voted to extend its award-winning Livable Centers Initiative program until 2012. Created in 1999, the program offers grants to local governments to plan and design walkable communities where once there had been just cars and congestion.
It was expected to run out of funds and go into limbo late last year, but the $3 million promise of cash means metro residents might have a better chance of seeing blasé suburbanscapes turned into enjoyable places once the economy recovers and development begins anew.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Notice: after averaging just under 10% of the total metro area growth for several years, the city of Atlanta had almost 14% of the total metro area growth. Trend?