A. Bruce Dotson Research

On-going Research on Countryside Conservation and Growth Management

My research focus for the past several years has been upon the successes and failures that communities have experienced in containing development inside designated growth areas and avoiding spillover or leapfrog forms of sprawl. Initially this research was conducted about a dozen of the leading jurisdictions that frequently serve as models for other communities. My emphasis now has shifted to looking at communities as parts of metropolitan and megapolitan constellations to be able to distinguish local versus regional impacts of growth management. My findings have convinced me that communities need to plan for inevitable rural housing growth by establishing towns and villages, or corridors, where rural development can be directed rather than to simply allow it to spread randomly. We plan carefully for our urban and suburban areas yet believe that if we simply declare our rural areas "off limits" that it will be so. My research suggests that this is not the case and that positive planning is needed throughout a jurisdiction.

Infill Development Strategies

My interest in protecting and conserving the countryside is matched by my interest in promoting infill development within established growth boundaries. This has been pursued through a number of public service and consultant research works. I served on Albemarle County's DISC Committee (Development Area Steering Committee)which developed a concept called the "neighborhood model" emphasizing pedestrian friendly mixed use/varied density development patterns. As a consultant, I later served as a member of a planning and design team that developed the Crozet Master Plan applying this model to a designated growth area in western Albemarle County. Most recently, I served as a member of a consulting team that developed a new downtown form based zoning ordinance for Crozet in order to make development in the downtown more competitive with suburban centers and to create the type of downtown environment envisioned by the citizens of Crozet in their Master Plan.