"Spending too much time in the car driving from home to work to school to children’s activities to shopping...? Does it seem like too many houses and businesses are being built on the open space that remains in your community? Or maybe you wonder — why do old industrial sites sit abandoned or underused year after year — while new factories and office parks pop up near interstates on former farmland?

    Many of the issues that affect our quality of life in the Northern Middlesex area are regional in character or have regional impacts. Transportation investment decisions affect the location of new development and levels of traffic congestion. The loss of open space destroys the habitat networks wildlife need to survive. Decisions that may seem purely local, such as zoning patterns, can in fact have impacts far beyond local borders." - 2020 Vision Plan

Growth management is a tool used to develop strategies that will enhance quality of life throughout the region.  The 2020 Vision is a baseline strategy that NMCOG uses in all productivity plans for the region's communities.

Growth Management:

2020 Vision: Planning for Growth in the Northern Middlesex Region

Town of Billerica Smart Growth Plan