Building Boom Brings Controls As construction surges, some towns tap the brakes by Kathy Price-Robinson Growth controls are to a building boom as a gel hammer grip is to a hammer — something to cushion the impact. And with much of the nation booming over the last year or two, communities and states across the country have been creating and applying growth-control regulations in a way not seen since the 1980s. "When there's a recession, people don't get torqued about building," observes Bob McNamara, a planner with the National Association of Home Builders. But when building accelerates, the resulting loss of open space, strained municipal services, traffic problems, and "urban sprawl" generate much public concern about growth's less