Urban Growth Boundary (UGB)

Comment:   Its a small world.  This article was from Portland (not in Victoria) but in Oregon USA.

It's a great article and it can be read in full by clicking on the title.  I wonder if our Cox is related!

Growth boundaries stop sprawl, but author argues they stop dreams, as well

 Proponents of compact development point out that urban growth boundaries such as in the Portland area have stopped sprawl and preserved farms and forests at the city's edge. But free-market partisans have always had a countering view: Because it restricts development outside the boundary line, the UGB artificially inflates the value of property within it. That, in turn, pushes housing prices beyond the reach of many residents.

The latter argument has an ally in author Wendell Cox, a professor and former three-term member of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. Writing at the blog "Newgeography," Cox says compact development polices have increased home prices.

"For example, even after hitting bottom earlier this year, house prices in compact development markets such as California, Seattle and Portland remained as much as twice as expensive related to income than in less strongly regulated markets," he writes.