With a growth rate triple its historic average, the city of Turlock experienced rapid growth in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The City experimented with building permit caps in the early 1990’s to address growth impacts on infrastructure. However, it didn’t want to constrain new housing opportunities or economic stimulus. The City was also receiving numerous requests to annex parcels of land for commercial purposes on a piecemeal basis.
The City wanted to find a better way to manage these requests, recognizing that sprawl development contributes to problems such as declining air quality and skyrocketing health care costs. It appreciated that a community’s fiscal well-being is intricately connected to health-supportive land use and transportation policies.
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This summary is one of a four-part series of healthy community success stories, created by the Local Government Commission through funding from The California Endowment. Thank you to Debbie Whitmore (Deputy Director, Development Services Department, City of Turlock Planning Division) for contributing content for this summary.