TABLE OF CONTENTS Land development is faced with the issues of satisfying demands of human needs while also meeting the requirements of environmental restoration and preservation. Our past actions as a society have resulted in significant impacts to the environment due to human consumption and the mismanagement of our natural resources and hazardous waste. To prevent continued degradation of the environment, environmental regulations were established to ensure responsible actions toward the protection and maintenance of the environment.
Land development processes involve many activities that have environmental impacts. Site selection, planning, grading, construction, and landscaping all require many decisions that shape neighborhoods, towns, and regions in profound ways. These decisions result in changes to the existing landscape that are long term (in human scale) and commit natural resources in a way that affects future options. As these decisions have become more and more complex, natural ecosystems have not been able to accommodate the outputs of development. Consequently, government environmental policies and regulations were developed to preserve a quality of life for our citizens through vital natural resource protection, preservation, and/or mitigation strategies. Regulations have allowed standards to be set, which prevents ad hoc actions with uneven consequences. This has allowed for land development to proceed with managed consequences while improving overall environmental conditions.
This chapter traces the development of environmental...
