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Using Universities As A Cover For New Development?

Posted by: Christian Madera

26 June 2007 - 2:00pm

Developers are hoping that by putting private colleges and universities within new developments, communities will be more likely to loosen land use approvals.

"The latest strategy to break up farmland for development has developers teaming up with colleges and universities, using them as potential anchors for massive new subdivisions.

"What reason would anyone want to stop a university?" developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos once asked."

"The latest proposal involves the startup University of Sacramento, a private Catholic school that hopes to build a campus for 7,000 students.

School officials had been courted by Sacramento County to develop at Mather Field. But the school announced recently it chose the rolling hills and free land that Conwy developers offered in eastern Sacramento County. The campus would be the centerpiece of the 3,000-acre Cordova Hills housing development.

A private college might be the carrot to persuade county officials to relax development limits in the area..."

"Most folks don't mind having a university close by," said Paul Hahn, the county administrator who oversees development. "They're a very desirable land use. Universities attract quality jobs. They attract research dollars. They generally have a very positive economic impact."

Full Story: Colleges a growth tactic
Source: The Sacramento Bee, June 25, 2007
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All of that only scratches the surface of what's wrong with this study. The idea that complex urban development patterns and human behavior can be meaningfully studied according to one primary criteria — density — is wrong from the start.
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