Building up, not out

David Sanchez had the urge to grow.

Twenty years after he opened his 15th Street spa, Sanchez wanted to add a new location.

He talked with developers about expanding into a new part of McAllen but ultimately decided his prime real estate was under his feet.

Sanchez already owned an empty lot next door, so it saved him the expense of buying new property. And he found it easier to incorporate his private men's and women's spa as a 4,000-square-foot addition to his old business rather than add it in a new spot in North McAllen.

"I got the urge to want to go north and expand," he said. "I satisfied my needs by building next door."

Decades of runaway growth led to sprawling urban areas, but cities are increasingly turning to "smart growth," which emphasizes compact, dense development in the center of a city.

Sanchez's expansion onto a lot he owned next door and the addition of new businesses on nearby empty lots is an example of infill development, one aspect of smart growth.

Other Rio Grande Valley cities are introducing smart-growth-friendly plans that encourage mixed-used areas, development of walkable neighborhoods and revitalization of downtowns.

COSTS OF SPRAWL

Smart growth has gained popularity in recent years for a number of reasons — mainly higher costs for gasoline and the expense of expanding roads, water and sewer lines and electricity infrastructure.

Not only is that infrastructure expensive to build and maintain, but the resulting sprawl translates into long commutes, traffic congestion and environmental issues, said Will Schroeer, the state policy director for Smart Growth America, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. Cities can reduce sprawl by adding public transit systems, investing mostly in roads that are already built and encouraging developers to build near city centers.

In a state dominated by sprawling metropolitan areas such as Houston and Dallas, Schroeer said, the Valley can avoid some of their problems by incorporating smart growth into their planning.

"You can't steer a boat that's not moving," he said. "The faster it's moving, the easier it is to steer. (The Valley) has a lot of economic momentum you can guide."

VALLEY GROWTH

Edinburg requires developers who want to build in new areas to foot a portion of the bill to extend water and sewer services to the development, said Juan Lopez, the city's director of planning and zoning.

Land might be cheaper in outlying areas, but costs can escalate when factoring in new roads, expanded utility lines and a larger area for police and fire service, he said. The utility policies give developers a sense of how expensive it can be to expand into new areas.

When Edinburg adopted a new Unified Development Code in 2007, it reversed old city ordinances in favor of smart-growth-friendly policies.

Gone was a policy that forbade mixed uses such as apartments on top of commercial developments, he said. In were policies that required sidewalks and encouraged the addition of hike-and-bike trails.

The city also began to try to bring services such as pharmacies and video rental stores closer to residential areas.

Similar steps are being taken in McAllen, where the city is working on its own development code, said Juli Rankin, the city's director of planning. The code will implement the ideas the city included in Foresight McAllen, the master plan it approved in 2007.

In the plan, which includes a section on growth management, the city advocates elements of smart growth such as downtown living through upper-floor rentals, redevelopment of older neighborhoods and detailed annexation policies.

The city's popular strip of nightlife along South 17th Street is one result of the master plan, but City Hall is also working to develop arts and historic preservation districts near the downtown.

Hemmed in on most sides, McAllen would be a prime candidate to embrace a policy that restricts sprawl.

Rankin said the city is looking to expand to the north, but she said it will also adopt policies to increase density near its core.

"All cities are wise to maintain their urban core," she said. "Sometimes it's better to build up rather than out."

Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.