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In order to achieve a balance, an adequate supply of residential land must be available within the MUSA area. By assuring an adequate supply, the City can achieve multiple goals consistent with MC's policies. They are: - Provide a variety of housing opportunities within the Community in terms of development patterns, land use, and living styles. - Encourage growth within the urban area by providing quality development opportunities. At the same time, development pressures within the rural area may be reduced. - Enhance the City's economy by providing a growth oriented environment which encourages development in an orderly manner. - Capture some of the urban development activity occurring in communities outside of the seven county area due to the leap- frogging caused by restricted development opportunities on the fringe of the Metropolitan Region. While 140 acres are zoned residential within the MUSA and are current- ly undeveloped, discussions with landowners indicate that the majority have no interest in developing this land in the near future. With less than a one year supply of urban lots, it becomes imperative for the City to encourage additional development. Reconfiguration of the MUSA area would bring additional land into development by willing landowners. It also would help to keep the price of urban lots lower by increasing supply thereby helping to achieve both City and Regional goals of affordable housing. Figure 3 illustrates those areas in the City for which preliminary plats have been submitted and are proposed to be included within the 2000 MUSA area (separate amendment). The plats are in various stages of the review process. Only one, Windemere Woods, with 51 lots, is in the 1990 MUSA area. All are proposed to be developed at urban densi- ties and comprise a total of 342 lots. Collective and individual discussions with the developers indicate that each of the developers expect a three to five year time frame for full development of the plats. If current trends continue with approximately 200 building permits issued each year, of which 43% are in the urban area, the proposed plats represent approximately a four year supply of urban lots. If the City is successful in encouraging more development within the urban area, this supply could represent less than a four year supply. The five year historical average number of new residential building permits issued is 135 permits per year. In the last two years, 44% of the permits issued have been for homes in the urban area. If it is assumed that housing starts will decline_ somewhat over the next 12 years (due to economic cycles, cost of homes, interest, etc.) to 75% of the five year average, 100 permits a years would be issued. If the 7