What is Smart Growth?
Smart Growth directs the State to target programs and funding to support established communities and locally designated growth areas, and to protect rural areas. The Priority Funding Areas Act provides a geographic focus for the State’s investment in growth-related infrastructure. The remaining four components complement this geographic focus by targeting specific State resources to preserve land outside of Priority Funding Areas, to encourage growth inside Priority Funding Areas, and to ensure that existing communities continue to provide a high quality of life for their residents. Smart Growth has four straightforward goals: • Support existing communities by targeting resources to support development in areas where infrastructure exists; • Save our most valuable natural resources before they are forever lost; • Save taxpayers from the high cost of building infrastructure to serve development that has spread far from our traditional population centers; and • Provide Marylanders with a
