Balancing Housing Growth with Rural Preservation

Preserving forests, farms, watersheds, and access to the coastline are all ways to maintain the rural character that helps make us unique. Requiring residential lots of three to five acres throughout a community is not a good strategy for protecting rural character. This "large-lot zoning" fragments landscapes, destroys wildlife habitats, and is a highly inefficient way to use our land. Imagine how much forest must be cut to accommodate a subdivision of five-acre lots.