Where did all our land go?

(Third in a series)
CURRIER and Ives New England falling prey to the bulldozer. Starter-castles swallowing land in suburbia. Middle class home prices soaring past the half million dollar mark. Roadways saturated with oversized signs guiding motorists to endless, cookie-cutter retail strips dominated by big-box stores. Old mill towns in deep trouble. Water supplies imperiled.

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Greater Boston's people ought to be asking, Is this what we really want? For ourselves? For our children? From 1950 to 2000, Massachusetts consumed more than twice as much land for development as it had in all the centuries since the Pilgrims' arrival. Isn't there a saner way to grow?

The dilemma is that a lion's share of the very growth the region has prized -- the offices and laboratories and manufacturing facilities along Route 128 and beyond -- has fed directly into the low-density, auto-dominated residential development that's triggering ever-longer commutes and consumption of the region's treasured countryside. So what's to be done?

To their credit, Governor Mitt Romney and Doug Foy, his secretary of commonwealth development, have dramatized the growth issue with two compelling arguments. First, work force -- that without more reasonably priced housing units, shortages of qualified workers can drive employers out of the state. And second, an inspiring vision of a Greater Boston region that prospers by refocusing development in its historic town and city centers.

As Romney puts it, "We would like Massachusetts to stay green, for our 351 cities and towns to be like New England villages, wonderful places to live, with housing near the centers, local shops, and children able to go to close-by schools." As for towns that say they want just two-acre lots, Romney suggests an attitude change: a town should offer a range of housing opportunities, youth to old age, "not just housing at a certain point in life when you can afford it." When towns approach state government asking for special aid, Romney says "the test is: Are you partners with us on smart growth?"

Romney made Foy supersecretary over four departments -- housing, the environment, transportation, and energy. Now jointly planning operations and budget, Foy's agencies control $5 billion, three-fourths of Massachusetts' yearly capital spending. The showpiece strategy is seeking to solve some of the housing crisis by "Taking it to the T" -- pushing housing units and commercial development on government-owned land around MBTA stations.

Opposition -- especially from obdurate towns -- can and sometimes still thwarts these new approaches. And critics note it's one thing to build high-end townhouses near transit stops and quite another to create housing units that are truly affordable to retail clerks, daycare workers, first-year teachers, and their families.

Still, the moment for significant breakthrough on Greater Boston's growth quandary may be at hand. Concerned businesses, university departments, advocacy organizations, and foundations worked from 2001 onward on the Commonwealth Housing Task Force which came up with the intriguing idea -- now partially enacted into law -- for state incentives to communities to create housing overlay districts in their downtowns, around transit stations, and in underused commercial areas.   Continued...