One of the more interesting laws to emerge from the 2006 General Assembly is one that promotes the “clustering” of housing in fast-growth counties. An argument can be made that clustering makes a lot of sense in areas zoned for low-density development — say, one house per five or 10 acres. By clustering the houses together instead of smearing them across five-acre lots, developers can (a) create more green space, and (2) economize on the construction of subdivision roads and utilities. Both are desirable outcomes.
However, some observers caution that “clustering” will do nothing to alleviate traffic convestion. The same number of houses still will be served by a bundle of cul-de-sac roads that still empty into the same collector road. Nothing in the legislation promotes connectivity to other subdivisions or other collector roads. The same traffic bottlenecks will exist.
The law strikes me as a modest step forward but an incomplete one. Bob Burke has the goods in his story, “Cluster Clash.”