The growth of cities in the form of urban sprawl has many people on edge about the future of Iowa’s farmland. But several local experts say sprawl is not a widespread phenomenon in the state.

Urban sprawl is a complicated issue, and can mean different things to different people, said Mark Edelman, professor of economics.

Sprawl occurs when low-density, high-value housing is built on the outskirts of an urban area, or when traditionally non-urban property, such as farmland, is transformed to urban uses at a fairly rapid rate, Edelman said.

In some Iowa counties, there is a visible loss of farmland, mostly in urban areas in 10 to 12 counties, he said. In the state as whole, however, farmland area is on the rise.

“It’s primarily an issue of contention around urban counties,” he said.

Story County is considered an urban county.

Many Iowa counties are using planning and zoning tools to control the rate and patterns of growth, Edelman said.

“Land use policy can be an effective tool,” he said.

The city of Ames developed a Land Use Policy Plan in 1997 to control and outline growth for the next several decades.

LaVon Griffieon, 1,000 Friends of Iowa president, said there are many counties that use effective zoning and planning strategies, but there were also 26 counties that didn’t have any sort of protection.

“Story County has been a model for Iowa up to this point,” she said.

Griffieon said the Story County Board of Supervisors created a comprehensive land use policy using feedback from study circles from around the county.

One policy used in Story County is the “village” concept, under which medium-density housing is with mixed commercial areas, Edelman said.

The construction of Somerset Village in north Ames is an example of the village concept.

“It’s unique to central Iowa,” said Joe Pietruszynski, Ames city planner.

The success of Somerset Village is hard to measure, because many non-village subdivisions are growing at the same rate, Pietruszynski said.

The population of Ames could reach 62,000 people in the next 20 years, Pietruszynski said. To accommodate that growth, the Ames City Council, however, is planning on using the village concept in some of its other targeted growth areas in the northwest and southwest areas of Ames, he said.

In addition to the priority growth areas, the city has set up certain mechanisms such as minimum density requirements and an urban services boundary to control how and where the city grows, Pietruszynski said. Minimum-density requirements help control the amount of land used for efficient purposes, he said.

“This is one of the key tools this city has to control sprawl,” he said.

The urban services boundary surrounds the city, and controls how far out the city is willing to expand, he said.

When planning the new growth areas, the city looked at where it could extend and still stay within the boundary, he said.

“It’s where Ames has its future,” he said.

Edelman said there are other strategies being implemented around the country to help curb urban sprawl.

In Oregon, there are growth boundaries that limit how far a city can develop for a certain amount of time. If the city or a developer exceeds the boundary, it must pay a higher tax or a penalty.

Most concern over sprawl occurs when there is a strong economy, because people have the money to build new houses, he said.

Growth in a community can help facilitate economic growth.

Because sprawl and growth often happen during economic booms, many people have a hard time differentiating between the two, he said. While growth is controlled and planned, sprawl is unchecked. Even with these definitions, situations such as a rapid rise in population can make sprawl seemingly necessary or inevitable.

“It’s hard to say sprawl is a bad thing,” Edelman said.

In areas with rich farmland, sprawl should be an especially sensitive issue, Griffieon said. Many people in the metro community of central Iowa do not realize the value of surrounding farmland, she said.

“We do have a global treasure here,” she said.

The price of farmland is rising in Iowa, but urban sprawl may not be the driving factor, said David Swenson, assistant scientist of economics.

The rise in farmland value has occurred for a number of reasons, but developers have had little impact on the price of land.

“[It happens] much less than a lot of people like to think,” he said.

Most of the farm sales have been to other farmers, Swenson said.

Farmland has been increasing steadily for the last decade, after the recovery from the farm crisis, and there has been a large increase in the last few years, he said.

Swenson said most urban sprawl has not lead to higher prices in Iowa, and that many people understand that farmland here is a commodity.

“Central Iowa land is some darn good stuff for farming,” he said.

While farming has not been under heavy duress from urban sprawl, there have been measures taken to protect the farmland.

Rep. Ed Fallon, D-Des Moines, said the Iowa Legislature has tried to pass smart growth policies several times, though none has yet passed the Legislature.

Fallon said such bills have received bipartisan support, however.

“It’s a recipe for smart growth,” he said.