Landfills, casinos and power plants are the most unpopular types of new development nationwide, according to a new survey by the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Economic and Civic Opinion.
The first-time poll, commissioned by the Saint Consulting Group, asked approximately 1,000 people around the country for their opinions on developers and development.
A whopping 82 percent were opposed to new landfills being developed in their communities, while the most favored type of growth was single-family housing.
Looking at the results geographically, roughly 29 percent of those polled in the highly developed Northeast said they were opposed to most forms of new development versus 22 percent in the West and 20 percent in the South.
At the same time, about 20 percent of respondents said they had mounted active opposition to development in their community either by attending a local hearing, signing a protest petition, or engaging in some other form of activism.
“[The survey] shows that the American public is far more sophisticated about planning and zoning than we thought,” says Patrick F. Fox, president of Saint Consulting Group. “The most staggering number to me is that one in five people have actively opposed a project.”