Webinar on the Effect of Downzoning on Residential Development Patterns

Modeling the Effect of Downzoning on Spatial

Residential Development Patterns in Baltimore County

Presentation by David Newburn University of Maryland

Wednesday, Septmber 17
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

 

Preinkert Field House – Conference Room 1112V
University of Maryland College Park
 

Summary

David Newburn will discuss the effect of downzoning policy on the rate of residential development and density using spatially explicit panel data of subdivisions in Baltimore County, Maryland. A difference-in-differences (DID) modeling approach is used to identify the heterogeneous effect of downzoning, including subdivision data in treated areas (agricultural zoning) and control areas (residential zoning) during periods both before and after policy adoption in 1976. He will also briefly preview results from ongoing projects regarding the effects of other smart growth policies (septic law, APFOs, Forest Conservation Act) on residential development patterns in the Baltimore metropolitan region.

DAVID NEWBURN is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland. He has worked extensively on spatially explicit parcel-level models of land-use change over the last decade. This includes several research projects to study how residential land-use patterns are affected by smart growth policies, such as zoning, urban growth boundaries, Maryland’s Forest Conservation Act, septic law (SB 236), and adequate public facility ordinances (APFOs). He is a member of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), Chesapeake Bay Program Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), and is working on an NSF Water Sustainability and Climate project in the Baltimore metropolitan region on urban development and impacts to the urban water cycle and nutrient export. His research articles have appeared in both economic and multidisciplinary journals including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, Annual Review of Resource Economics, Conservation Biology, Ecological Applications, and Journal of the American Water Resources Association.