Memphis Begins To Reconsider Its Sprawling Growth Pattern

[M II A II R II K]

MEMPHIS WANTS TO SHRINK


February 13, 2017

Read More: http://www.moderncities.com/article/...o-shrink/page/

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Memphis shares a similar story with sprawling Sun-Belt cousins such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville and Nashville. For decades, municipal borders grew as neighboring communities were annexed into Memphis as a way to capture much-needed property tax revenues and 'grow' the population base.

- Between 1960 and 2010, annexation grew the City's footprint by 240%. As the City's borders grew, density took a back seat as the population per square mile dropped by 53%. Now, a task force has taken a data-driven approach to reconsidering Memphis' sprawling footprint and is recommending that the City de-annex several neighborhoods it had previously swallowed up under past attempts to grow.

- Since 1998, the City was particularly keen on adding land. During this time the Memphis City Council approved 15 annexations, pictured below, which added approximately 111,228 residents. Neighborhoods like South Cordova and Southwind-Windyke have long despised these annexations, complaining that their property taxes were absorbed into Memphis' general budget while services related to infrastructure have largely been neglected by their new municipal providers.

- Memphis formed a task force tasked with examining when and where de-annexation makes sense. In essence, Memphis is looking to slowly de-sprawl itself. If their recommendations on de-annexation are approved, such actions would not be enacted until 2021, after the next municipal election. Memphis' sprawling landscape happened over several decades, so it would be reasonable not to expect the unfurling of these corrections to happen overnight.

- With Memphis 3.0, the City is looking to form a neighborhood-based comp plan. Sought to be a two-year long, community-driven process, City officials are already knee-deep in various outreach efforts to gather input from citizens across the city. The ethos of this process is to discover how to build neighborhoods where people want to live, and craft city policies and direct municipal expenditures towards creating these kinds of neighborhoods. This bottom-up approach that focuses on creating stronger neighborhoods perfectly aligns with efforts to right-size the city's footprint.

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[memph]

I wonder what the density change would have been if Memphis didn't annex anything since 1960. Population loss was quite significant in those areas so I wouldn't be surprised if the drop in density would still have been pretty big.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by memph

I wonder what the density change would have been if Memphis didn't annex anything since 1960. Population loss was quite significant in those areas so I wouldn't be surprised if the drop in density would still have been pretty big.

are you from memphis, originally?

[mhays]

The article is WAY off on percentage land growth. It grew by more like 140% than 240%.

[Crawford]

All American cities sprawl, of course, and Sunbelt cities especially, but Memphis, I think in part because of race issues (highest % black U.S. metro) really, really sprawls.

But wealth is pretty concentrated on or around a single arterial than bisects the metro.

[ardecila]

De-annexing portions of Memphis proper will not do a lick to "de-sprawl" the metro. After all, nobody is telling people they can't build more houses in Shelby County outside of city limits.

All this will do is de-centralize power and make it more difficult for the region to coordinate on issues like housing, education, and transportation.

It is interesting that Sunbelt metros tend to be politically conservative, but from a governance standpoint they seem to be far more friendly to large, unified municipal governments whereas Northern cities tend to be pretty fixed; growth areas on the fringe are all independent suburbs.