KENNEBUNK – Towns throughout York County have turned to caps on new housing permits and large lot sizes to slow down the pace of development of residential neighborhoods and communities.

Growth caps came into fashion during the housing boom of the 1980s as a way to ease the impact of new residential growth on town services. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has upheld growth caps despite legal challenges.

More than half of York County towns have growth caps, with 17 out of the 29 York County municipalities limiting the number of residential building permits.

But while such caps can slow growth, some land developers and land-use planners argue they may allow for urban sprawl by forcing growth into outlying communities that do not have caps.

Developer Michael Patterson of Patco Construction in Sanford said that growth caps adopted in some communities have forced development elsewhere.

Patterson said caps encourage builders and developers to create the lot-by-lot development along existing roads that is characteristic of sprawl, rather than invest in new roads and subdivisions.

The State Office of Planning’s land use division does not calculate developed acres in the state. But a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that about 33,600 acres were being developed each year from 1992 to 1997.

Alan Caron, president of GrowSmart Maine, said growth caps can be useful to control growth, but they can have a negative effect on affordable housing. His group has urged communities to direct growth caps to rural areas.

“Three towns in a row with growth caps means the people who most need the housing will have to go to the fourth town and that means more driving and sprawl,” Caron said.

In Berwick, where people lined up days in advance to get one of the town’s coveted 70 housing permits a year, recently voted for a new zoning ordinance to replace its 4-year-old growth cap. Supporters argue the plan should help control growth more effectively.

Still most York County communities have not considered abandoning growth caps.

Cathy Goodwin, chief executive officer of the Greater York Regional Chamber of Commerce and former chairman of Eliot’s comprehensive planning committee, said she discovered how hard it is to change residents’ opinions about zoning matters.

Eliot voters balked at approving a road through her subdivision, which included lots ranging in size from 3 to 10 acres. She said the voters did not want to pay the costs of road maintenance through the 15-home subdivision.