How we're growing as a city

It seems almost surreal at the rate of which we have grown in the past 10 years as a city. And the weirdest thing is it seems that we've been doing somewhat wrong in my mind. Why do we have 5 big-box buildings on the same commercial land plot and then a large plot of vacant land near the freeway? And yet Meridian continues to expand upward towards Lynden? Why do the big-box stores find it easier to go outward towards our city limits causing more traffic as more people are required to take a vehicle to get there. The city has speculation over land use, why then do we have a problem with development going outward when we have a large lot of unused commercial space sitting right there?