Contact the Sustainable Use of Land Program
James M. McElfish
Director, Sustainable Use of Land Program
mcelfish@eli.org
Tel: (202) 939-3840
Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl
Date Released
January 2007
The U.S. population will grow by over 92 million in the next 35 years. If sprawl development patterns continue to prevail, what are the likely consequences for America, its communities, and its resources? This publication draws on examples from across the country to identify detrimental effects from sprawl development patterns, and to suggest why it is time to pursue changes in law and policy to eliminate the adverse consequences of our current development approach.
Planning for Development and Sewage Infrastructure: Can We Be Consistent?
Date Released
December 2005
Using Pennsylvania as a case study, ELI examines how sewage infrastructure affects land use planning.
Maryland Farmland Conservation: Supporting Sustainable Use of Land through Tax Policy
Date Released
December 2008
Maryland’s population is increasing rapidly while the state continues to lose its agricultural lands. This study explores Maryland’s primary tax measures affecting agriculture, the agricultural use assessment (AUA) and the agricultural land transfer tax (ATT), in order to determine whether these related tax programs could be improved in ways that would encourage farmland protection while continuing to benefit farmers’ bottom lines.
ELI's Sustainable Use of Land Program
The Environmental Law Institute's Sustainable Use of Land Program recognizes that wasteful and unsustainable land uses often result from perverse incentives in our existing laws and policies.