Most visible will be the renovation, reconfiguration or demolition of every unit in the city's dilapidated public housing, which is scattered in high-density projects throughout the city.

Towns recognize that high-density court-imposed projects are less desirable, he said.

These multistory, high-density projects were where whites began to push blacks who were dislocated by destruction of slums, also heavily avoided by the white population.

In his view, developers muddy the waters by affixing the smart-growth label to nearly every high-density project.

If not, they are vulnerable to lawsuits by builders seeking to build high-density projects.

He said, however, that the town continues to worry about high-density projects that would "destroy North Salem's charm."

The Millennium's developers, they say, will not go forward unless they receive a variance for a high-density project.

Mr. Brown of Regent Properties acknowledged the high-density project was unusual for Los Angeles.

In its earlier plan Holmdel, among other things, rezoned 12 sites for high-density projects.

What we plan to build is not like in Cancún, which is full of high-density projects - we are doing something extremely conservative in development.