ABSTRACT
The term “smart growth” became popular as part of Maryland’s 1997 legislation, which provided financial and planning incentives to combat sprawl and promote compact development (Daniels, T.L. 2001a). Development was to be concentrated in growth areas known as Priority Funding Areas; and hundreds of thousands of acres of rural lands were to be “preserved” as farmland and open space through the Rural Legacy Program, which authorized millions of dollars for the purchase of development rights from willing landowners. Thus, land preservation should be seen as an integral part of Maryland’s-and indeed any major Smart Growth effort (Daniels, T.L. 2001a; Downs 2001).
