Statistics Gathered from the 2001 Regional Visioning Project:
The Cumberland Region covers approximately 3.4 million acres of land. 45% of the land is in rural uses, with another 34% as forest. Adding the 7% of the area that is made up of environmentally sensitive lands (rivers, stream side areas, and floodplains), the Region can be considered only 14% “developed.”
A national standard designates land as “urban” at a density of more than 1,000 people per square mile. The Cumberland Region has 238,372 acres of land meeting this criterion, up from 188,840 in 1990, for an increase of 26%.
While the average density of these “urban” areas is still only 4.79 people per acre in 2000, the Cumberland Region is seeing an increase in these densities from 4.52 people per acre in 1990. This increase demonstrates increased levels of investment within the urban areas.
Currently in the Cumberland Region, 510,342 acres of the 3.4 million acre land supply are “developed.” This development has occurred during the life of the region. With 467,181 new people forecast for the Cumberland Region, the density of recently built housing suggests that if the current pattern of growth continues, an additional 316,803 acres of land will be developed. To put this in perspective, all of Davidson County holds approximately 337,000 acres.
With 580,242 acres of land within CRT city limit boundaries, the fact that only 238,372 acres meet the definition of “urban” tells us that there is much rural land and low-density land within current city limits. The Public Law 1101 Urban Growth Boundaries could more than double the amount of land inside city limits. However, the forecasted growth of 316,803 acres will require only a small portion of the new Urban Growth Boundaries.
While urban areas are seeing an increase in density, the total “developed” areas, defined as having at least 1 person for every five acres, are being developed at relatively low density. The average density on these primarily residential lands is 2.68; however, on the lands developed within the last ten years, the average density has been only 1.47. This shows that substantially more land is being converted for housing for each new person moving to the region than before.
This amount of low density land consumption amounts to an increase of land developed by 62% while the population increases by only 34%, resulting in expensive and inefficient infrastructure needs.
