Douglas leads nation in growth. (Douglas County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area)

Population triples over 10-year period to 90,000 residents

It's the fastest-growing county in the nation for the 1990s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And it's home to Highlands Ranch, the country's No. 1 planned community for 1993, reports a recent study by Arthur Andersen Real Estate Services Group.

Douglas County is booming -- largely because it has plenty of land available.

It's got 842 square miles of prime real estate, to be exact. But the land offers unmatched diversity: Gently rolling landscapes framed by a major bluff line to the south; spectacular views of steep hills of pine, scrub oak and rock outcroppings; and grasslands, valleys, buttes and mesas. And all of it ties nicely into area highways, arterials and other services.

Poised strategically on the fringe of the south metro-Denver expansion, Douglas County is riding atop the wave of Colorado's real estate boom.

Population figures have tripled over the past decade from …