A Quantitative Analysis of Factors Influencing Residential Location in Reservoir Recreation Areas

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Abstract
Residential utilization of multipurpose reservoirs has increased at an accelerating pace during the past two decades. The environmental impact of reservoir-oriented development should be recognized in policies developed during project formulation. However, existing urban and regional location theory has not considered the spatial structure of vacation housing. This study attempts to contribute to our knowledge of regional location patterns through a comparison of factors influencing the location of permanent and seasonal residential development and to lay the foundation for a residential model to forecast reservoir-oriented land development. Utilizing data for the Lake Sidney Lanier, Georgia, reservoir area, the analysis indicates that permanent and seasonal residential development responds to different micro-locational factors. Key variables influencing shoreline residential location are quality of road access, accessibility to Atlanta, accessibility to the shoreline of Lake Sidney Lanier and the availability of public utilities. In the case of non-shoreline land in the surrounding area, key residential location factors are simply the availability of public utilities, quality of road access and the absence of ground cover. Results of the analysis indicate that through road relocation planning and effective controls on access to the shoreline from adjacent property, it may be possible to guide shoreline residential development to meet predetermined public land use objectives.

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