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CARB Moves to Implement CO2 Emission Cuts; Profs Critical of Economic Analysis
Uninhibited by the economic crisis and the projected $41.8 billion state budget gap through mid-2010, reports Associated Press writer Samantha Young, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) moved to implement the state's landmark 2006 law (AB 32), which requires greenhouse gas emission cuts to 1990 levels by 2020, unanimously passing the nation's most ambitious climate-change counter plan -- to institute a carbon cap-and-trade program for power plants and other big polluters, improve vehicle-fuel and home-energy efficiency, invest in dense mixed-used development near transit, and generally promote green technologies.
''When you look at today's depressed economy, green tech is one of the few bright spots out there, which is yet another reason we should move forward on our environmental goals,'' stressed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols saying ''California, again and again, has pushed for higher levels of efficiency in our electric sector, our buildings and appliances, and time after time it turns out efficiency measures have not only saved us money but leaped our economy ahead.''
Nevertheless, wrote Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters a day before the CARB vote, the Legislative Analyst's Office and some top independent economists who reviewed the plan cited serious shortcomings.
In a paper for Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello, the office worried that ''the plan's evaluation of the costs and savings of some recommended measures is inconsistent and incomplete.''
UCLA Professor Matthew Kahn and Harvard University Professor Robert Stavins wished their assessments could be more positive.
''While I support the Governor's broad AB 32 goals, I am troubled by the economic modeling analysis that I have been asked to read,'' wrote Professor Kahn. ''AB 32 is presented as a riskless 'free lunch' for Californians. These economic models predict that this regulation will offer us a 'win-win' of much lower greenhouse gas emissions and increased economic growth. I would like to believe this claim but after reading through the economic analysis and the five appendices there are too many uncertainties and open microeconomic questions for me to believe this.''
Professor Stavins was equally disappointed.
''I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the economic analysis is terribly deficient in critical ways and should not be used by the state government or the public for the purpose of assessing the likely costs of CARB's plans. I say this with some sadness, because I was hopeful that CARB would produce sensible policy proposals analyzed with sound scientific and economic analysis.''
In response to the criticism, reports Sacramento Bee writer Jim Downing, the CARB passed a resolution pledging a deeper economic analysis of the plan and work on details over the next two years, with most of its policies and 31 specific rules taking effect in 2012 or later.
Forward-thinking business advocates and conservationists are optimistic.
Environmental Entrepreneurs co-founder Bob Epstein pointed out that new California companies, formed partly in response to the state's sustainability push, have already attracted more than $2.5 billion in private investments this year alone.
And with much of the planned emission cut contingent on an EPA permit for California's new fuel-efficiency standards higher than national, a request denied last year, state Sierra Club Director Bill McGavern predicted a shift once President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated next month.
''Our president-elect has called for stimulating our economy,'' he said. ''I think he and the Congress will be looking to the state of California, and these measures can serve as a model for the rest of the country.'' -- Sacramento Bee
12/11/2008
Resource(s): www.sacbee.com/
Citing 1949 Housing Act, Editorial Urges Caution When Using Federal Funds to Fight Sprawl
Federal recovery funds should fight sprawl and spur smart growth in Connecticut and nationwide, says a Hartford Courant editorial, cautioning against repetition of the mistakes of the 1949 Housing Act, which sought to eliminate slums and covered two-thirds of ''urban renewal'' costs, but caused large-scale demolition of historic neighborhoods for apartment towers and civic buildings, and -- together with the equally misguided federal decision to run the new interstate highways through downtowns -- pushed cities into a long decline only recently stopped or reversed.
If the massive public investments ''are to do more than create temporary construction jobs, they ought to be part of a sensible plan,'' the editorial points out, echoing New York Times columnist David Brooks' call for a ''larger social vision.''
Since the outgoing administration lacked such a vision, the editorial observes, President-elect Barack Obama's readiness ''to get money out for 'shovel-ready' projects could preclude proper planning on the federal level, thus punting the problem to the states.''
Convinced that a ''shovel-ready'' criterion isn't sufficient, the editorial wants the money to be spent ''to strengthen town centers and connect them with modern transit.''
Seeing the state's Conservation and Development Policies Plan -- organized around ''growth management,'' or smart growth -- as a possible framework for infrastructure investment, the editorial expects the federal money to help revitalize already built areas, improve transportation options, and save ''open space and other environmental, cultural and historical resources.'' -- Hartford Courant
12/14/2008
Resource(s): www.courant.com/
Opinion: Drastic Spending Cuts May Not Be Best Action to Fight Deficits
''When your car is skidding on ice, the first reaction is to slam on the brakes. But experience tells us that a lighter touch will actually keep us from careening off the road,'' writes House of Representatives Democratic Deputy Speaker and University of Hartford Economics Professor Demetrios Giannaros in a Hartford Courant guest opinion, cautioning the state against attempts to fight rising budget deficits with ''drastic spending cuts,'' which would inflict more pain on residents.
In the current economic crisis, he writes, Connecticut is perhaps ''a year behind the national trends'' and depends more than many other states ''on the financial, insurance and export businesses'' -- all plagued by particular retrenchments, ''slowly crippled by fear,'' and, in turn, responsible for further fiscal contraction, higher unemployment, income and tax-revenue loss, and deeper budget deficits.
The budget accounts for about 11 percent of the state economy, the deficit grows ''with a reduction in spending and investment by either the government of the private sector,'' and the ''greater the reductions, the faster our economy goes down,'' he explains, noting that similar policies by Republican President Herbert Hoover after the 1929 crash, along with tightened bank credit, worsened the depression until Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt began to implement his New Deal in 1933.
Consequently, he continues, to stimulate economic recovery and avert job losses, the state should avoid tax increases and significant spending reductions; expedite long-term infrastructure projects already approved by the General Assembly for bonding, including investment in transportation, bridges, colleges, universities, schools, public safety and environmental protection; and solve the current 2009 deficit problem by cutting wasteful programs and using the $1.4 billion ''rainy day fund'' savings, in coordination ''with the pending economic recovery stimulation actions to be taken by President-elect Barack Obama.''
In addition, the state should avoid steps that would ''reduce the income sources of the poor and needy, for humanitarian reasons but also because they spend 100 percent of their available income,'' the House deputy speaker and macroeconomics expert points out. ''During a recession, a dollar taken from the poor reduces economic activity more than does a dollar taken from other income classes.''
And to close the 2010-11 budget gaps, he adds, the state should ''reduce future spending commitments -- through things such as a more aggressive use of smart growth and regional government to take advantage of the economies of scale -- and cover the difference through an 'economic recovery bonded fund' financed by the federal government.'' -- Hartford Courant
12/7/2008
Resource(s): www.courant.com/
Critics Slam Everglades Land Purchase Deal
In a move hailed by Republican Governor Charlie Crist as ''the most historic step taken toward true Everglades restoration,'' but opposed by the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, questioned by South Florida lawmakers, including Republican Representative Juan Zapata, and called by a Tallahassee Democrat editorial ''dubious, rushed and arbitrary,'' the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board approved a $1.34 billion purchase of 182,500 acres from U.S. Sugar Corporation, though the state needs at most 45,000 of those acres for the Everglades cleanup efforts.
''We are in the midst of one of the most severe economic recessions in the history of our region, our state and our nation,'' wrote Representative Zapata recently to SFWMD Chairman Eric Buermann. ''Yet your agency, through an unelected board, is preparing to spend $1.34 billion on land for what appears to be nothing more than a corporate bailout.''
Losing money and incurring enormous debt, the Tallahassee Democrat editorial observes, U.S. Sugar will lease the land back at ''the bargain price of $50 an acre,'' about one-fifth of market rate, for six years of a seven-year contract, to complete farmland conversion for water storage and filtration.
And that's the most important part of the deal ''to environmentalists and the ecosystems south of the Everglades,'' the editorial points out, wishing its other parts were also more in the public interest rather than that of U.S. Sugar.
''Most Floridians no doubt support continuing efforts to clean up the Everglades ecosystem. But all parties need to go back to the negotiating table until more certainty and clarity can be gained in this hugely expensive and vastly complex project,'' the editorial stressed. ''Gov. Charlie Crist has expressed overall support for Everglades restoration, which started as the Everglades Forever Act of 1994. But he needs to re-enter the discussion to ensure a sounder, smarter deal for all.'' -- Tallahassee Democrat
12/13/2008
Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage ; www.flgov.com/
Impact Fee Surcharge Viewed as Best Chance for Pasco County to Fund Future Infrastructure Improvements
To avert the potential risk of Wesley Chapel and Land O'Lakes sprawling northeast throughout the countryside, Pasco County commissioners adopted a conceptual 2050 smart-growth plan last year to steer development into 11 ''village centers'' in the 22,000-acre Pasadena Hills area, and now a committee of county consultants and local homeowners' attorneys has worked out key design and financial details, recommending a 27.8 percent surcharge on the area's home impact fees, to raise the $630 million required for its future roads, parks, schools and other improvements.
Heidt & Associates consulting firm vice president Pat Gassaway said the committee found such a surcharge necessary to build proper infrastructure for the prospective 45,000 housing units in the targeted area by 2050, with homeowners' attorney Joel Tew hoping commissioners will adopt related ordinances next year, to have them ready once the housing market recovers.
Commissioners Ann Hildebrand and Ted Schrader, notes St. Petersburg Times writer Lisa Buie, welcomed the committee's report.
The county has very few opportunities to ''get it right'' for development, but ''I think this is it,'' commented the former, while the latter described the plan as one ''we can all wrap our arms around.''
The envisioned 11 village centers, linked by a network of two-lane roads, the writer adds, will be self-sufficient and pedestrian-friendly, with development tapering down from dense downtown cores to surrounding 5-to-10-acre home lots. -- St. Petersburg Times
12/16/2008
Resource(s): www.tampabay.com/
Maui County Rezones 603 Acres for Upscale Resort Project
Though generally uneasy, the Maui County Council voted 5-3 to rezone 603 acres along the island's southwestern shore for an 800-unit upscale Makena Resort project debated for decades -- the supporters ultimately swayed by the need to save and create jobs in a time of economic crunch, with a 20-percent tourism drop over the past three months; the opponents troubled by the endeavor's uncertainties and its socioeconomic and environmental impact, reports Maui News writer Chris Hamilton, quoting Council Member Michelle Anderson, who told the majority, ''It's not smart growth, and it's not smart decision-making.''
Morgan Stanley brokerage and developer Everett Dowling promised an $800-million investment in the project within 15 years, but the firm's just reported $2.3 billion fourth-quarter loss may undercut its financial viability, and the resort's master plan doesn't match the Kihei-Makena Community Plan, she observed, adding, ''They're going to have a private beach club, so they don't have to mix with the local population to lead their ultraluxury lifestyle.''
Council Members Jo Anne Johnson and Danny Mateo, shared her views.
''I hope we don't reach the point that the financing will dry up, so the jobs we are promising disappear,'' commented the former, while the latter pointed out that the developer still hasn't submitted his pledged written guarantee to build 400 affordable housing units elsewhere in the districts, on an as yet undetermined tract.
Such units are among the top conditions of the 44 set for the project four years ago by the Land Use Committee.
Since the development is certain to affect 1,800 acres and wipe out a pristine environment, the writer notes, the other key conditions include studies on the area's archeology, water supply and prospective traffic.
These conditions helped Council Member Mike Molina overcome his doubts and vote for the project.
Also citing his belief that the current economy makes it dangerous to block business, he said, ''People say it's hard to say no, but sometimes it's even harder to say yes.''
The four other resort supporters felt the same.
Council Members Joe Pontanilla, Bill Medeiros and Mike Victorino focused on working families and their financial hardships.
A father of six, Bill Medeiros said he and his wife had to work three jobs to stay afloat, a situation many other people face.
''Unless you are in a position like that, you will never know what kind of pain they are suffering,'' he stressed, with Mike Victorino warning the developer, ''If I don't see things done the right way, you're going to hear from me.''
And Council Chairman Riki Hokama said even if the Makena Resort project isn't a silver bullet, he trusts it will help the county raise revenue and address its social and infrastructure needs. -- Maui News
12/21/2008
Resource(s): www.mauinews.com/
Judge Rejects Camas County Rezoning for Development; County Challenges Ruling
Having won his May 2007 suit against the Camas County Commissioners for violations of the Idaho Local Land Use Planning Act when they rezoned some 20,000 acres for development in rural areas, mostly far away from present infrastructure, Fairfield-based Martin Custom Homes owner George Martin said the December 3rd decision by District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee cracks the county's ''good-ole-boy politics'' and helps bring in ''smart growth,'' telling Ketchum Idaho Mountain Express writer Terry Smith, ''What I want is quality development that will pay for itself.''
Ruling that officials of the sparsely populated county -- 1,102 residents in 2007 -- failed to document their planning and zoning decisions properly, meet requirements for public hearings, and consider the prospective impact on the environment, the water table and county services -- while some also ''acted with a conflict of interest'' in rezoning specific tracts, the judge struck down the related ordinances and effectively nullified the massive farmland rezoning.
Nevertheless, the writer reports, Commission Chairman Ken Backstrom considers the planning and zoning ordinances still valid, claiming that Judge Elgee lost legal authority in the case on November 5th, when the county transferred it from his court to U.S. District Court in Boise because of civil-rights-abuse allegations included in the developer's lawsuit.
Thus the decision ''was not Judge Elgee's to make,'' he argued. ''I don't understand how he could make a ruling on that when it's been removed from his court.''
Judge Elgee, the writer notes, did not address the civil rights issue in his ruling, with Boise federal court personnel confirming acceptance of the case, without clarifying which parts of it would be heard.
The developer's attorney Christopher Simms pointed out that only civil rights questions belong to federal court, calling the attempt to restart the whole case there ''a reflection of the ongoing abuse of due process in Camas County.''
The developer thinks the county commission chairman is in ''ultimate denial,'' saying officials have hoped ''for some time that they would run me out of money and I'd have to quit.''
See the ruling details at www.GeorgeMartinJr.com/courtorder. -- Idaho Mountain Express
12/19/2008
Resource(s): www.mtexpress.com
12,000 Officials Meet to Push for Greenhouse-Gas Reduction
Held by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in Poznan, Poland, its 14 Conference of the Parties (COP 14) session brought together more than 12,000 officials, experts and activists in the strongest push yet for a radical greenhouse-gas reduction deal in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to build on the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which commits the 183 signatory nations to an average 5-percent emissions cut between 2008 and 2012.
Meeting at a December 11 high-level round table discussion opened by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, says the session's press release, ministers and other delegation heads addressed long-term cooperation to mitigate emissions, national preparations for unavoidable climate change, and prospective finance, technology and capacity building architecture, along with support for and reports on related actions.
They agreed that combating climate change requires ''the full, effective and sustained implementation'' of UNCCC goals, ''while respecting the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities'' and ''working hand in hand to enable sustainable development and enhance cooperative action on mitigation, adaptation, technology, finance and capacity building.''
They confirmed that the right to sustainable development ''presents an opportunity to transform the global economy, decoupling economic growth from emissions growth, strengthening climate resilience, diversifying economies and reducing vulnerability.''
They also called for more focus on ''adaptation needs,'' especially in response to climate changes already under way and expected in the future, particularly in the most vulnerable countries; presented a shared vision for developed countries' leadership in both mitigation commitments and actions, including a mid-term emissions cut target, and in support for developing countries ''to proactively undertake nationally appropriate mitigation actions; and expressed readiness ''to contribute to this global effort of moving towards toward a low-carbon society, in the context of their national circumstances and capabilities.''
With each minister and delegation head optimistic about a COP 15 outcome ''that can be ratified by all,'' the Poznan round table signaled the need to build further momentum ''on the many points of convergence among all nations,'' the press release says, emphasizing that the current ''financial and economic crisis should not weaken the determination to undertake decisive action.'' -- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
12/12/2008
Resource(s): http://unfccc.int/
Former London Mayor Livingstone Advises UAE Cities to Focus on Public Transportation
Having proved in his city that mass transit is good for business, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone (2000 -- May 2008), now World Architecture Congress chairman, advised Dubai and Abu Dhabi to get rid of the cars and recognize that big financial centers ''need to have public transportation'' to make individual mobility fast and easy, reports Abu Dhabi National writer Jessica Hume, a condition necessary to facilitate personal deal-making interactions, with people sitting face-to-face instead of speaking on the telephone from halfway across the planet.
Cities around the world, are increasingly scrambling to get residents out of their cars, the speaker told an audience in Dubai, noting that he reduced private vehicle traffic in central London through his 2003 congestion pricing.
In effect on weekdays from 7 in the morning to 6 in the evening, the congestion charge was initially seen by commentators and other officials as his political suicide, but central London traffic declined by about 30 percent within months, and he was easily reelected in 2004.
For Dubai, which still builds a wide metro network, such a solution would be premature, he said, stressing, ''First you put in the underground railways. Then you put in a congestion charge.''
Appointed recently as adviser to the urban planning department in Caracas, Venezuela and asked by Dubai hosts if he would accept the same role for their city, Mayor Livingstone replied, ''I'd be delighted.'' -- National
12/6/2008
Resource(s): www.thenational.ae/
U.N. Chief Calls for Collaboration, Cooperation to Curb Global Warming
''We stand on the threshold of a new multilateralism. The pendulum of history is swinging back toward the United Nations and collective action. The changes we face as a community of nations today are increasingly those of collaboration and cooperation,'' wrote United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the Lahore (Pakistan) Daily Times, predicting 2009 to be ''a narrative of tension'' in the face of ''three immediate tests,'' among which incipient climate change is the ''truly existential threat.''
There are ''only 12 short months until a key summit in Copenhagen, where world leaders will gather next December to reach an agreement to curb global warming,'' the secretary general observed, calling the just concluded round of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Poznan, Poland, important but difficult.
''Some argued that, amid our current difficulties, we cannot afford to tackle climate change. I say we cannot afford not to. The future of the planet is at stake,'' he pointed out, turning to the second key international test of 2009, the economic one.
Glad that a November emergency summit of G-20 nations in Washington showed their ability to coordinate financial policies, an effort broadened later at trade talks in Doha, Qatar, the secretary general cautioned against ''merely throwing money at problems.
Stimulus expenditures must be investments ''in a more stable and prosperous future,'' he wrote, citing the example of China, which will channel one-third of its $586 billion in economic stimulus money into ''green growth'' and infrastructure.
The Chinese have seized an opportunity to address several challenges at once -- to create jobs, conserve energy, and combat climate change. The United States under President Barack Obama plans to do the same,'' he continued, convinced that other nations should follow suit.
''Our third test is a matter of pragmatic principle,'' the secretary general continued. ''Climate change and global finance are not our only crises. Indeed, they compound other threats: food insecurity, volatile energy and commodity markets, and the terrible persistence of poverty. No nation has been spared. But it is the poorest nations that feel these blows most sharply.''
Stressing that measures ''we take to deal with the financial crisis must be in the interest of all nations,'' the secretary general concluded with a powerful message.
''In this interconnected world, the challenge is to see the nexus among these three sets of problems,'' he wrote. ''With vision, we will find solutions to each that are solutions to all. But it will take leadership to translate that vision into action, just as it will take leadership to balance our larger long-term interests against the fierce urgencies of now.'' -- Daily Times
1/1/2009
Resource(s): www.dailytimes.com.pk/
Smart Growth, Telecommuting Part of Iowa Energy Independence Plan
Created by Democratic Governor Chester Culver and the Legislature last year to ensure state leadership in the education, research, planning and investment necessary for the state's energy market transformation and its long-term sustainability, the Iowa Office of Energy Independence (OEI) unveiled a detailed plan to improve utility efficiency, save fuels, create green jobs, and promote smart-growth, including telecommuting hubs -- the last recommendation crucial to reduce sprawl and vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
Telecommuting hubs, or local offices for phone- or computer-dependent jobs, ''can keep vehicles off the road, reduce gasoline consumption, and help stimulate the economies of smaller, rural areas,'' plan drafters wrote, stressing that such offices should be located in buildings ''within walking distance of restaurants and amenities that office workers need for daily work to keep the VMT low.''
They also suggested developer incentives for infill and mixed-use projects as certain to reduce the number of vacant and abandoned properties, recommending denser urban growth and ''compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, and mixed use development with a range of housing options.''
Citing ''a unique opportunity to rebuild many parts of the state'' after the natural disasters of 2008, the plan drafters pointed out that state leaders should ''consider adding value to the recovery efforts'' by implementing these new development principles to create a better Iowa.
Under the plan's energy efficiency and conservation provisions, observes Cedar Rapids Gazette writer Rod Boshart, the state would require all utility companies to cut their retail sales at least 1.5 percent a year over the next five years and to prove they have used all cost-effective means to reduce demand before seeking permits to build additional plants.
At the same time, the state will continue its efforts to spur wind, solar and biofuel industries through partnerships with businesses, communities, public groups and other stakeholders and through investments from the Iowa Power Fund (IPF).
''Investing in the renewable energy economy will help us weather the economic challenges, and prepare us for a brighter, stronger future,'' said OEI Director Roya Stanley, she and IPF Chairman Fred Hubbell noting that the state has already received more than 160 private-sector proposals to invest almost $1 billion in renewable energy and job creation, and that the fund board was ready to invest $29 million in some 25 projects committing $180 million in private funds by the end of this year.
Click here to read the plan draft (19 pages/1.5mb). -- Gazette
12/24/2008
Resource(s): www.gazetteonline.com/
Reader Troubled by Baton Rouge Public Works Director's Policy Standpoints
Both incredulous and disappointed that Baton Rouge Department of Public Work (DPW) Director Pete Newkirk still believes his only task is to build roads and keep car travel as fast as possible, though an internal DPW audit found this approach ''out of step'' with smart growth and recommended policy changes to ensure ''complete streets'' and better development patterns, a reader, information system analyst Doug Moore, asks him in a letter to The Advocate whether he ever paused ''to think that if there were more bike- and walk-friendly streets, people would drive less'' -- that more cyclists and pedestrians ''would mean fewer cars on the roads.''
Since a November 2008 Advocate article quoted Director Newkirk as saying that the majority of the public is more concerned about moving vehicles ''from Point A to Point B'' than about ''bike paths and walkways,'' but also that more public input on road projects would ''slow the production schedule,'' the reader asks two other key questions.
''How on earth can Newkirk claim to know what the majority wants when he openly admits to marginalizing the need for public input?'' he inquires. ''Moreover, why did the DPW conduct an audit at all if its director was simply going to disregard its findings?''
Director Newkirk's ''reluctance to consider forward-looking, unconventional approaches to urban planning is extremely troubling, the reader writes, seeing it as characteristic of ''a larger, cynical, closed-minded and backward-looking contingent of Louisiana government officials.''
Still, allowing that he might have been too harsh and unfair in his judgment, he stresses, ''I hope, for the good of the city, that I am proved wrong.'' -- The Advocate
12/27/2008
Resource(s): www.2theadvocate.com/
Economic Events Slowing Sprawl in Maine
An ever older population, erratic fuel prices, and the current economic meltdown ''might do what 20 years of land-use planning has largely failed to accomplish in Maine -- slow suburban sprawl and coax development closer to cities,'' reports Portland Press Herald writer Tux Turkel, with census data showing cities slowed down their residential outflow after 2000 or even gained population, and with GrowSmart Maine President Alan Caron expecting the changes only to spread and intensify.
Mentioning the decreased number of young families in search of more space, cheaper land and lower taxes in remote suburbs, the role of the record gas prices this summer in public realization of long-commute costs, and the fiscal crisis' long-term impact in the form of reduced government spending on the schools, roads and other services that eventually turned into sprawl incentives and helped draw people to rural Maine, he said, ''You take those three things in combination, and there's no going back.''
To facilitate the change, GrowSmart Maine is supporting tax incentives and rewards for redevelopment of empty downtown mills into homes and businesses and for construction of affordable housing near city centers, also preparing a 2009 legislative campaign for a bond issue that would mirror the popular Land for Maine's Future program through investment in urban area improvements.
''You can't really save the countryside unless you make it easier for people to live in communities,'' the GrowSmart Maine president stressed, pointing out that the state's 20-year old Growth Management Act is largely ineffective.
It was to help towns spur development in built-up areas through comprehensive local plans, but their initial mandatory character has later become voluntary, with state financial incentives obviously insufficient.
Nearly half of the state's 455 communities lack such plans and even fewer back them with the necessary land-use ordinances, the writer finds, noting that now ''market forces may accomplish what sprawl fighters struggle to achieve.''
He cites examples. In Waterville, whose population declined almost 10 percent in the 1990s and went up 2 percent so far this decade, developer Paul Boghossian is converting the landmark Hathaway Shirt factory into 66 apartments, whose starting $880 monthly rents are attracting inquiries from young professionals, retirees and employees of a business center in nearby Oakland.
In Biddeford, developer Doug Sanford is redeveloping a downtown mill as a complex of businesses and 44 apartments, many already filled with University of New England students and the rest bringing in suburban residents.
In Saco, developer Elliot Chamberlain is taking the double advantage of zoning that encourages smaller lots and of utility extension to an area targeted for middle-income and affordable housing by starting development of 75 lots near a Maine Turnpike exit, with the smallest, third-of-an-acre lots selling for $75,000 or some $15,000 less than others in town.
He is also building a planned mixed-income community with homes on lots as small as 5,000 square feet.
''There is a desire,'' he said of prospective residents, ''to be closer to services, in a more dense neighborhood on a smaller piece of land.'' -- Portland Press Herald
12/7/2008
Resource(s): http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/
Editorial Urges Renewed Push for Smart Growth in Maryland
Despite prospective population growth, budget problems and local opposition, Governor Martin O'Malley ''still has a chance to halt sprawl and spare the Chesapeake Bay,'' says a Baltimore Sun editorial about his new Web-based interactive GreenPrint land conservation map and his readiness to spend $72 million on related efforts in a time of economic hardship, but concerned over ''the amount of land lost to inefficient, unsustainable and short-sighted development each day,'' it echoes environmental advocates who call for a ''revised and re-energized'' Smart Growth program.
''Growth can be accommodated; sprawl cannot,'' the editorial observes, pointing out that polluted runoff from roofs, streets, parking lots and other impermeable surfaces contaminates streams, rivers and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.
With another million residents expected in the bay's watershed within the next two decades, continuation of past development patterns would be ''catastrophic'' to water quality, especially since the Smart Growth program ''has proved relatively toothless'' in channeling development into urban areas and preserving countryside -- its incentives ''too modest and restrictions too easily sidestepped'' to suffice.
''That has to change,'' the editorial says. ''Counties that don't stick to their comprehensive plans ought to forfeit state funding for transportation, schools and other public works. And those plans need to be more rigorous, with clearly defined areas reserved for future growth. Developments that don't comply ought not be allowed.''
And though the editorial foresees ''stiff resistance from local governments,'' with planning and zoning decisions being ''their bread-and-butter'' and most political campaigns depending on developer contributions, it tells the governor that he shouldn't hesitate to push for serious Smart Growth revision when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.
''Public support for growth limits has never been higher,'' the editorial states. ''With a faltering economy, tax dollars have become too precious to waste subsidizing sprawl.'' -- Baltimore Sun
12/7/2008
Resource(s): www.baltimoresun.com/
Maryland Launches GreenPrint Land Conservation Map
Having 21 percent of land already developed and another 21 percent protected, Maryland cannot perpetuate mistakes of the past 30 years when its population grew by 30 percent but land consumption by 100 percent, said Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley at the recent launch of an online interactive GreenPrint land conservation map, part of his multi-agency Maryland: Smart, Green & Growing sustainability initiative, also proposing purchase of 9,242 acres of ecologically and historically vital forests, farms and shorelines and a $13.5 million increase in 2009 Rural Legacy Grants.
''Using the latest technology and harnessing the achievable hope of our great state's potential for a more sustainable, healthy environment and economy, we've designed GreenPrint to help escalate smart growth and maximize our resources,'' Governor O'Malley said, confident that the tool ''will revolutionize the way we make our land use decisions,'' by allowing Marylanders to work together, manage resources more efficiently, and assess ''our landscape on parcel, block, neighborhood, watershed and ecosystem levels.''
Calling these goals urgent, the governor pointed out that purchase of the 9,242 acres, which requires approval from the three-member Board of Public Works, would increase the land his administration preserved in its first two years to more than 17,000 acres, in comparison to just 2,461 acres protected over four years by his Republican predecessor.
The proposed purchase targets the state's largest private forest tract, the 4,769-acre Foster property at the border of the Pocomoke and Chesapeake State Forests, a deal helped by the Nature Conservancy, and the 4,473-acre so-called Maryland Properties along the Potomac River, an acquisition brokered by the Conservation Fund.
GreenPrint and other details at www.greenprint.maryland.gov.
12/3/2008
Resource(s): www.governor.maryland.gov/index.asp
Development Trend Swinging Back to Community-Oriented Living
Recognizing the 1980s and 1990s as the era of the great residential ''dispersal,'' during which many millions of people each year kept moving outward, ''from inner-ring suburbs to far-flung exurbs on the metro fringe,'' New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks, a conservative and hardly a smart-growth enthusiast, admits that ''the culture has changed'' and those who had often wanted a golf course ''overshot the mark,'' found no social bonds, and now are more likely to want ''coffee shops, hiking trail and community centers.''
The new trend is filling once lifeless areas with ''restaurant and entertainment zones, mixed-use streetscape malls, suburban theater districts, farmers' markets and concert halls,'' while reviving many downtown districts as ''people move back into the city in search of human contact,'' he observes, noting that The New Geography author Joel Kotkin ''calls this clustering phenomenon the New Localism.''
In step with the change, the columnist says of President-elect Barack Obama's envisioned ''once-in-a-half-century infrastructure investment'' that ''it would be great if the program would build on today's emerging trends,'' really ''encourage the clustering and leave a legacy that would be visible and beloved 50 years from now.''
To make it happen, he continues, the president-elect ''would have to create new transportation patterns,'' with ''a complex web of roads and rail systems'' as better for ''an age of multiple downtown nodes and complicated travel routes'' than the old ''hub-and-spoke'' system of highways converging on an urban core.
He also would have to ''help communities create suburban town squares'' and fund construction of charter schools, pre-K and national service centers, and similar facilities near new civic hubs.
''This kind of stimulus would be consistent with Obama's campaign, which was all about bringing Americans together in new ways,'' he writes. ''It would help maintain the social capital that's about to be decimated by the economic downturn.''
However, the columnist sees ''no evidence so far that the Obama infrastructure plan is attached to any larger social vision'' and feels ''a real danger that the plan will retard innovation and entrench the past.''
Afraid that the stimulus money will get diverted ''to refurbish old companies,'' with the auto bailout likely to cost $125 billion and other sectors in the waiting line, he warns that once the nation spends $1 trillion ''on existing structures and fading industries, there will be less or nothing in 2010 and 2011 for innovative transport systems, innovative social programs or anything else.''
And adding that social change ''has a natural rhythm'' and that economic swings are cyclical, he stresses, ''A stimulus package may be necessary, but unless designed with care, its main effect will be to prop up the drying husks of the fall.'' -- New York Times
12/9/2008
Resource(s): www.nytimes.com/
Voters Approve Nearly 72 Percent of Election '08 Transportation Funding Initiatives
Doubling the typical approval rate of other state ballots, voters across the country passed about 72 percent of transportation funding initiatives this month -- 23 proposals in 16 states to increase sales taxes, use part of property tax revenue or issue bonds, mostly for mass transit, reports the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Transportation Excellence, noting that together with the earlier endorsement of 12 similar measures in eight states, the public committed a total of more than $75 billion this year to expand transportation choices, improve performance and ensure economic competitiveness, an especially strong message to Congress in a time of financial distress.
''Americans understand that public transportation has many benefits,'' commented American Public Transportation Association (APTA) President William W. Millar. ''Taking public transportation is the quickest way to beat high gas prices and save money. It is also one of the most effective actions a person can take to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.''
Before the election, transit advocates ''wondered what was going to weigh most on voters,'' he later told Wall Street Journal writers Christopher Conkey and Paul Glader.
''It was pretty clear people voted for the future. The page has turned on transportation in America.''
The turn, the writers observe, is good news for big companies in ''the mass-transit business,'' including Siemens AG, Bombardier Inc., and Alstom SA, as well for hundreds of their small suppliers.
''When you go through an election cycle like we just went through, it confirms the strategy we put together,'' said Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. vice president of business development Robin Stimson. ''It's related to the outlook that the rail renaissance will continue to grow.''
For a complete list of the November Transportation ballots visit the Center for Transportation Excellence website at www.cfte.org. -- Wall Street Journal
12/12/2008
Resource(s): http://online.wsj.com/ ; www.apta.com/
Streetsblog Network, ClimageChangeEconomic Websites Debut
As the multilayered public discourse on national challenges, choices and prospects expands through the blogosphere, its newly announced sustainability sites include Streetsblog Network and ClimateChangeEconomic.net -- the first, bringing together more than 100 blogs from 31 states so far, all focused on smart growth, livable streets and transportation investments, especially under the incoming 2009 federal Transportation Equity Act (TEA); the other, addressing the nation's carbon intensive economy and related policies nationwide, conceived as a prime research center for lawmakers, regulators and analysts on economic opportunities in the fight against climate change.
Comprehensive and inherently complementary, both websites seek scientific objectivity, grassroots involvement and legislative results.
''Federal transportation policy has long been a Beltway insider's game, one where the highway lobby held most of the cards,'' stresses online Livable Streets Network writer Sarah Goodyear, introducing the Streetsblog Network on December 2. ''This time, a coalition of organizations called Transportation for America has come together with the aim of taking the next TEA bill in a different direction.''
The ClimateChangeEconomic website creator, former head of the Environmental Finance Center at University of Louisville (Kentucky), now E.P. Systems Group President and Chief Economist Dr. Peter B. Meyer, signaled similar reformative efforts in his e-mail invitation to the launch of the site in the National Press Club, Washington, D.C. on December 11.
''We are particularly striving to make the best research and policy models accessible to citizen legislators across the country while also providing them with a private forum for exchanging ideas with their peers,'' he wrote. ''Apart from legislators, we also hope our colleagues throughout the environmental community will find the site's public Web Resources and Library valuable for their own efforts.'' -- Streetsblog Network, ClimateChangeEconomic.net
12/2/2008
Resource(s): http://streetsblog.net ; www.climatechangeecon.net
Editorial: Mass Transit Investments Are Farsighted Way to Jolt Economy
With July-September transit ridership 6.5 percent higher than in the same quarter last year, and with November 4 electoral approval of over 70 percent of major transportation-funding measures despite hard economic times, Congress should heed this clear national call ''to action for mass transit'' and make ''infrastructure improvements a key component of any economic stimulus bill,'' says a Washington Post editorial, urging priority for projects ''that are environmentally friendly and that encourage smart growth.''
In September, the House included about $18 million for transportation in a stimulus bill that later died in the Senate as poorly crafted, the editorial observes, noting that the money would simply ''jump-start ready-to-go transit projects,'' shelved by states because they lacked funds, but it wouldn't reward the best ones, and lawmakers didn't know specifically what they would fund, ''meaning taxpayers could have ended up footing the bill for boondoggles.''
Concerned about ''scant details'' about some 5,000 ready-to-go projects, whose cost the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimates at $64 billion, the editorial quotes President-elect Barack Obama on strict conditions for economic-revitalization outlays.
''We are not going to simply write a bunch of checks and let them be spent without some very clear criteria as to how this money is going to benefit the overall economy and put people back to work,'' the President-elect said a day after he reiterated his electoral pledge to ''create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s.''
In transportation, the editorial concludes, ''The new administration and Congress should work to strike a balance between ready-to-go projects that can jolt the economy and long-term investment in public transit.'' -- Washington Post
12/9/2008
Resource(s): www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=globaltop
Economic Woes Put Smaller School Class Sizes at Risk
Increasingly aware that ''kids learn best in smaller classes,'' federal and state school officials have spent billions since the early 1990s to cut class sizes, with the average number of students in elementary classes dropping from 29 in 1961 to 24 in 1996 and 20 in 2004, but now the economic downturn and grim budget prospects jeopardize ''this smaller-is-better trend,'' reports Washington Post writer Maria Glod, citing the latest American Association of School Administrators survey of more than 800 districts, 36 percent of which felt forced to make classes larger, and often to skimp on textbooks, delay maintenance and lower thermostats.
Since about 80 percent of a system's budget goes for salaries and benefits, the writer explains, schools can net the biggest savings by trimming personnel, recruitment or pay raises, but with fewer teachers, instructors or assistants, some classes must be eliminated and their students distributed throughout the school, which also affects staff workload and ability to focus on individual student needs.
In Virginia, the Loudoun County and Fairfax County school systems can save $7.3 million and $22 million a year, respectively, by increasing their average class sizes by just one student, the writer observes, quoting Fairfax Superintendent Jack D. Dale and elementary school principal Roger Vanderhye.
''You go to it as the last resort,'' said the former. ''Class size matters. As a teacher, you end up using the same amount of time with more kids, and kids lose.''
The latter thinks his school may lose four or five of its 59 teachers and one of two assistant principals next year, starting the year with at least 30 students in most classes.
''Thirty is the absolute tipping point because then, instead of facilitating learning, you are managing learning,'' he pointed out. ''We just know that it is going to be very difficult to deliver the same level of services that our parents demand and our kids deserve.''
Last month, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said educators' fears ''that budget cutbacks will increase class sizes to unmanageable levels, put the brakes on initiatives that are improving their schools.'' -- Washington Post
12/5/2008
Resource(s): www.washingtonpost.com/
It's Not Too Late to Rebuild America's Infrastructure
Having easily surfed the Web on his laptop aboard ''a sleek high-speed train'' from downtown Hong Kong to its ultramodern airport, New York Times op-ed columnist Thomas S. Friedman landed at ''dingy'' Kennedy Airport and rode to Washington on the Acela, ''America's sorry excuse for a bullet train,'' with his cellphone connection lost three times in 15 minutes, feeling as if transplanted ''from the Jetsons to the Flintstones'' and thinking about what has happened to the nation's quality of life and infrastructure -- their decline especially painful in a time of economic crisis.
''My fellow Americans, we can't continue in this mode of 'Dumb as we wanna be,''' he writes in his column. ''We've indulged ourselves for too long with tax cuts that we can't afford, bailouts of auto companies that have become giant wealth-destruction machines, energy prices that do not encourage investment in 21st-century renewable power systems or efficient cars, public schools with no national standards to prevent illiterates from graduating and immigration policies that have our colleges educating the world's best scientists and engineers and then, when these foreigners graduate, instead of stapling green cards to their diplomas, we order them to go home and start companies to compete against ours.''
These practices, combined with ''a trend of diverting and rewarding'' the nation's best for financial rather than real engineering -- making money out of money instead of designing equipment and tools to ''improve the lives and productivity of millions'' -- precipitated the current troubles.
Like General Motors, which lost more than $72 billion in the past four years but reassigned or dismissed few executives, ''we don't need just a bailout,'' the columnist stresses. ''We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a build up. We need a national makeover.''
With President-elect Barack Obama having bipartisan support for a $1 trillion stimulus investment, ''we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we're borrowing from our kids' future, is spent wisely'' -- to train teachers, educate scientists and engineers, pay for research and build ''the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure.''
If this money is ''spent on pork, it will be the end of us,'' he warns, confident that the nation ''still has the right stuff to thrive ... the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society,'' crucial for a competitive advantage.
''China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites,'' he observes, calling the move ''really, really dumb'' in a world dependent on people's imaginations and global collaboration.
''And that's why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs,'' he concludes, adding, ''John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.'' -- New York Times
12/23/2008
Resource(s): www.nytimes.com/
Trains ''Gaining Steam'' as Right Transportation Investment for Today
''Across the nation, trains are gaining steam as the right transportation investment for our times,'' with an ever-larger coalition of public and business interests seeking rail expansion as the best multi-purpose endeavor in the face of the increasingly unaffordable ''luxury of single-purpose investments,'' writes University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Associate Director John W. Frece in a Baltimore Sun op-ed column, expecting President-elect Barack Obama to boost these efforts through his planned White House Office of Urban Policy.
A former Baltimore Sun reporter and author of a recent book ''Sprawl and Politics: The Inside Story of Smart Growth in Maryland,'' Director Frece notes that the broad coalition sees rail ''as a way to reduce greenhouse gases, to offset high gas prices, to mitigate or at least avoid highway congestion, and to save rural resources by fostering more compact, transit-oriented city living.''
Its activists, and other savvy leaders who have already initiated costly and politically difficult transit projects in their states, know that soon the nation will have no choice.
He offers four practical arguments.
''America cannot reduce emissions that cause climate change without a strategy to get people out of their cars and reduce 'vehicle miles traveled.' In the 'post-petroleum era,' the ever-higher cost of fuel will eventually render gas-powered vehicles too expensive for moving people or freight. The federal highway fund is broke, highways are no longer seen as a cure for congestion, and air and water pollution concerns about roads and driving can no longer be ignored. Finally, for national security reasons, Americans understand we have to cut our dependence on foreign oil.''
And mentioning new or planned rail lines in New Mexico, California, Colorado and the Washington, D.C. area, Director points out that voters approved $75 billion for 23 rail initiatives nationwide last month and that Congress endorsed record funding to improve Amtrak in the Northeast corridor, along with more than $3 billion over five years to help states expand rail service.
In this context, he quotes Colorado-based transportation planner Jim Charlier, whom the coalition asked to draw up a plan to link the nation's 10 biggest ''mega-regions'' through high-speed rail by 2030.
''We've built the first half of our transportation system,'' the planner said of the Interstate Highway System. ''Now we have to start building the second half.'' -- Baltimore Sun
12/29/2008
Resource(s): www.baltimoresun.com/
Think New Mexico Readying Campaign to Require Smaller Public Schools
Its traditional community schools merged over time into huge ''dropout factories,'' the state's public education system needs urgent restoration, says the nonpartisan Santa Fe-based Think New Mexico result-oriented think tank in its 2008 Small Schools: Tackling the Dropout Crisis While Saving Taxpayer Dollars report, mobilizing grassroots support for a 2009 legislative campaign to cap the capacity of new public schools at 900 students and establish smaller ''learning communities'' in larger schools by 2011.
Specifically, Think New Mexico expects Governor Bill Richardson and lawmakers to enact legislation that would oblige any school receiving state construction funds to admit ''no more than 225 students per high school grade level, 120 students per middle school grade level, or 60 students per elementary school grade level,'' with smaller learning communities required in larger schools that need additional money for at-risk students.
Dismayed by the state's high-school graduation rate of only 54.1 percent, the second worst in the nation, Think New Mexico points out that more than two-thirds of New Mexico ninth graders last year entered high schools with more than 1,000 students and the rest, those with more than 2,000 students.
Citing voluminous research documenting that ''smaller schools have higher graduation rates, higher student achievement, lower student alienation and violence, and higher levels of satisfaction among students, parents, principals, and teachers,'' the think tank notes that they not only ensure better performance of low-income children, which helps narrow ''the persistent achievement gap,'' but also cost less to build and operate.
The capital cost can be reduced by designs taking advantage of such community resources as gymnasiums, pools, libraries and sports fields, while operational cost is especially low if calculated ''per graduate'' rather than ''per student'' because of low dropout rates in small schools. -- Think New Mexico
12.05.08
12/5/2008
Resource(s): www.thinknewmexico.org
Editorial Endorses Bus Rapid Transit as Good for People, Good for Smart Growth
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and smart growth ''go together,'' says a Schenectady Daily Gazette editorial, pointing out that Capital District Transportation Authority CDTA ridership jumped together with gas prices early this year and remained high after they dropped in recent months, which means ''people had, or have discovered, other reasons for taking the bus, like convenience, stress reduction and environmental awareness.''
Speed will become another persuasive reason once BRT begins to run on Route 5 between downtown Schenectady and downtown Albany next year or in 2010, covering the distance in about the same 30 minutes it takes by car.
CDTA will make the BRT trips this fast by reducing the route's stops from 90 to 18, enabling bus drivers to keep or make traffic lights green, providing queue-jumper lanes for buses to leave traffic, pick up passengers and reenter the road in front of cars, and installing bus-stop ticket machines and real-time arrival information boards, to free drivers from selling tickets or waiting for passengers.
''The only way to make the trip faster would be a dedicated lane,'' the editorial observes, agreeing with CDTA that its bus speed predictions make such a lane superfluous, but expecting the agency to reconsider should the Schenectady-Albany run exceed 30 minutes.
Advocating ''smart-growth policies that push development projects -- residential, commercial and industrial -- along the bus line,'' the editorial calls it encouraging that CDTA's plan includes transit-oriented development (TOD), a concept also supported by the Capital District Transportation Committee, the regional planning agency.
''BRT,'' the editorial stresses, ''is a way to make a good bus service even better, more efficient and more used, while making our neighborhoods stronger, people healthier (as they walk to and from the bus stop) and our environment cleaner.'' -- Daily Gazette
12/23/2008
Resource(s): www.dailygazette.com/
New York Governor Spitzer Creates Smart Growth Cabinet
''New York's economy and environment are inextricably linked. Quite simply, smart growth is smart business,'' said Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer as he signed his Executive Order creating a Smart Growth Cabinet -- a multi-agency working group led jointly by the Governor's Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith Enck and Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure Timothy Gilchrist and focused on ways to curb sprawl and promote sustainable land use.
''Smart Growth is a bottom-up process that relies on the active participation of the communities involved,'' the governor stressed. ''My Smart Growth Cabinet will listen to local leaders and residents to find out what will work best for their communities, and then assist them in making smart growth a reality.''
The creation of the cabinet, expected to hold its first meeting in January, follows recent state Economic Development Council study findings that the two quality-of-life factors most important for locating businesses are ''access to outdoor recreation and vibrant, livable urban centers,'' and builds on the first gubernatorial budget's $2 million Smart Growth Fund and three region-specific initiatives.
The Lower Hudson Valley Smart Growth Grant initiative, says a gubernatorial press release, will help communities plan for development and economic growth spurred by major state infrastructure investment projects, including Stewart Airport, the Tappan Zee Bridge, and the Route 17 conversion into I-86.
The Adirondack Park smart growth initiative will help economic growth in targeted areas by integrating municipal planning with environmental stewardship and open space protection.
The Central Catskills program will help revitalize town and hamlet centers in the Route 28 corridor.
Growth management advocates and conservationists applauded the governor's decision to set up the Smart Growth Cabinet.
''This Executive Order moves New York into the vanguard of state smart growth initiatives across the country,'' pointed out Regional Plan Association President Robert Yaro. ''The Executive Order will help New York achieve its economic development, affordable housing, land conservation and climate change goals.''
New York League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Marcia Bystryn said, ''With this Executive Order, Governor Spitzer is leading the way in tackling one of New York's most complex challenges: urban sprawl.''
And Preservation League of New York State President Jay DiLorenzo added, ''Governor Spitzer is setting a course for New York State that will result in significant reinvestment in our downtowns, Main Streets, and older neighborhoods.''
12/10/2008
Resource(s): www.ny.gov/governor/
Annexation Slowdown Gives Central Ohio a Chance for Better Planning
To boost city tax revenue and pay for services, Columbus has for decades ''gobbled up cornfields like crows'' until the ever faster real-estate-market slide reduced its annexations from 2,133 acres in 2002 to about 100 acres both this year and last, reports Columbus Dispatch writer Mark Ferenchik, with smart-growth advocates urging central Ohio communities to seize the opportunity and make up for the slowdown and budget shortages through joint planning and regional cooperation.
''Economic conditions are ripe toward pushing people to think regionally,'' said Greater Ohio Co-director Lavea Brachman. ''We don't want to encourage sprawl. Cities have taken good advantage of annexation up to now, but it's not the wave of the future.''
Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute Senior Resident Fellow John McIlwain mentioned the merger of Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky as an example of efficient resource management and sharing services.
''We need to shift our thinking from the old pattern of cities versus suburbs and understand that they are all tied together into a holistic urban region,'' he pointed out, expecting the incoming Obama administration to encourage regionalism with housing and transportation funds. ''We still talk about cities and suburbs, but that's an outmoded way of talking about them.''
Ohio Municipal League President, Parma Mayor Dean DePiero, whose city received a $41,000 state grant this year to study consolidation of suburban emergency dispatches in a regional center, said the league may push harder for regional mergers, adding, ''What tough budgets will do is force more reluctant communities into the position of joining forces.''
Agreeing with the prediction, Hilliard Economic Development Director David Meeks noted that his city's initial concerns over some Columbus annexations because of potential increases in area traffic were eased through Columbus's ''pay-as-you-grow'' policy, under which developers had to help fund road and other improvements. -- Columbus Dispatch
12/15/2008
Resource(s): www.dispatchpolitics.com/
Editorial: Now Is the Time to Invest in Pennsylvania's Transit Future
''The need to inject billions into our economy presents an opportunity to make dramatic, transformative investment in our transportation infrastructure,'' wrote University of Pennsylvania Professor Vukan R. Vuchic and state Democratic Representative Bryan R. Lentz in a Philadelphia Inquirer guest opinion after a meeting of President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden with a bipartisan delegation of the nation's governors, stressing that ''recurring road and bridge maintenance'' mustn't preempt greater outlays on ''intercity passenger rail and urban transit,'' which ''could reduce our dependency on automobiles, decrease energy consumption, and lessen the need for repairs of the same roads and bridges in the years ahead.''
Seeing attempts to alleviate gridlock through increased maintenance and road expansion as ''comparable to dealing with obesity by loosening one's belt,'' Professor Vuchic and Representative Lentz pointed out that other nations have already learned the advantages of modern rail and urban transit and moved ''ahead of us,'' with large investments over the decades helping 15 countries ''build high-speed-rail systems, which have drawn passengers from cars and airplanes and greatly improved the economic efficiency of public transit.''
The recent gas price drop hadn't stemmed record ridership increases at Amtrak and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority trains, they noted, and the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team's World Series victory parade, which brought in hundreds of thousands fans downtown October 30, showed present area transit easily overwhelmed by regional demand, but various projects long discussed in Delaware County and the Philadelphia region were always scuttled by lack of funds.
That included construction of high-speed rail from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, which could carry passengers across the state in one hour and become part a network just proposed by Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter and Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry.
''There are many other worthy projects that organizations such as the Smart Growth Alliance and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission have advocated for years. All of them would create jobs and stimulate the economy for some time,'' the writers concluded. ''Otherwise, in just a few years, another governor in another economy will be lamenting the deteriorated state of our roads and bridges. And we will let pass this opportunity to modernize our obsolete transportation system.'' -- Philadelphia Inquirer
12/3/2008
Resource(s): www.philly.com/inquirer/
Slow Economy Gives Planners a Chance to Push Smart Growth
As it does elsewhere, the recession constrains or immobilizes most Middle Tennessee developers, but by the same token it gives smart-growth activists an opportunity to prepare a better framework for development once conditions improve, reports Nashville City Paper news correspondent Richard Lawson, noting that the Cumberland Region Tomorrow (CRT) advocacy group's agenda for 2009 focuses on regional mass transit and higher densities, with local officials and business leaders expected to confront the challenges at its April summit.
Formed in 1999, when the region ''was on pace to eat up 356,000 acres with mostly low-density development outside the urban core,'' the correspondent observes, the CRT brought together hundreds of area residents in planning workshops to reduce the land consumption to 91,000 acres and concentrate growth in urban centers.
Although several dense projects were completed in Franklin and Nolensville, ''wholesale change has been elusive, mostly because words have been difficult to translate into action,'' he writes.
''The chief impediment has been development itself. Smart-growth advocates couldn't move as quickly as developers and cities couldn't simply halt development to implement new policies,'' he continues. ''In a sense, more development was needed to help pay for the costs of previous development. It was a tough cycle to break and local government officials couldn't give much more than lip service to the idea of 'smart growth.'''
That's changed now, with local government and transportation officials continuing work on a five-year transit plan, which may be ready this month.
Its first phase, the correspondent notes, will likely introduce bust rapid transit as less costly than light rail and better suited for certain area corridors.
Still, the key goal is to position the region for new federal transportation dollars, says CRT Executive Director Bridget Jones, stressing, ''It's all coming together beautifully.'' -- City Paper
12/15/2008
Resource(s): www.nashvillecitypaper.com/
Utah Quality Growth Commission Predicts Rapid Residential Expansion Once Economy Recovers
Although Utah housing starts are down and new jobs absent, a Salt Lake Tribune editorial calls it only ''a momentary pause in our unbridled growth,'' quite sure that ''rapid, rampant residential expansion will resume as the economy and the credit markets recover,'' a prediction just reinforced by a 2008 Utah Baseline: Current Conditions, Trends and Projections report by the Utah Quality Growth Commission, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, and the Envision Utah smart-growth coalition.
Focused on air quality, demographics and economics, transportation, water, climate change, and land use, the report found that some environmental progress since the early 1990s, especially pollution-per-capita decline along the Wasatch Front, has been offset by population and economic growth, which will continue in coming decades.
At the projected annual rate of 1.9 percent, twice the national average, Utah population will jump from 2.7 million to more than 6.8 million by 2060, requiring new services, infrastructure and about 32,000 housing units each year, worsening congestion, and exerting tremendous pressure on open space, farmland and air quality.
Daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) will increase from 71 million in 2006 to 142 million in 2040, including 101 million within the Greater Wasatch Front.
Under a ''business-as-usual'' scenario, the state's greenhouse gas emissions will go up by 70 percent through the next two decades and land consumption by as much as 75 percent, though more efficient development may reduce that figure.
''Many of the developed areas will use in-fill practices, newer developments are likely to be denser in design, and many of the current scale industrial land uses such as Kennecott Copper Mines are unlikely to be replicated at the same scale elsewhere in the state during the next twenty years,'' the report observes. ''Furthermore, many newly developed areas will utilize existing infrastructure, public buildings, and commercial areas. Population per developed acre should increase and the rate of land consumption will decrease.''
But even under this best scenario, the state and ''the Wasatch Front in particular, is going to get crowded,'' and state and municipal officials need to ''re-evaluate the way they're shaping our communities and our future,'' comments the Tribune editorial, posing several urgent questions.
''Should impact fees be increased to cover the cost of new growth?'' it asks. ''Should planning and zoning ordinances be revised to allow increased density and preserve open space? Should mixed-use developments that reduce traffic and produce livable, walkable neighborhoods be encouraged? Do we need to change the way we grow or pay the price?''
Read the report at www.envisionutah.org/pdf/Baseline4.pdf (108 pages/40mb). -- Salt Lake Tribune
12/2/2008
Resource(s): www.sltrib.com/
Land Use Changes in the Works for Prince William County
Working on long-needed land-use changes for largely rural Prince William County last summer, the county's Land Use Advisory Committee (LUAC) has reportedly drawn on the U.S. EPA's Smart Growth principles in its proposals to adopt a transfer of development rights (TDR) program and concentrate most development in higher-density Centers of Commerce and Centers of Community, but conflict-of-interest complaints against two developers on the committee have tainted the idea with politics and instead, the Planning Commission may now create Urban Mixed Use (UMU) and Village Mixed Use (VMU) zones, in which builders could skip proffers in some permit applications.
''This absolutely revolutionizes how the county will grow,'' said Planning Commission Member Gary Friedman about his proposal for the Comprehensive Plan. ''It removes the problem associated with the LUAC from the (Comp Plan) discussions and just concentrates on the policy implications. All the Centers language is gone. There're no Centers of Community, no Centers of Commerce, all the dots are gone from the map . . . and the TDR are gone.''
Under his proposal, which the commission approved in an initial 7-1 vote, reports Inside NoVa (Northern Virginia) online writer Cheryl Chumley, all projects in UMU and VMU zones would have to observe a ''concurrent percentage phasing'' of their residential and commercial components, to ensure that developers don't slow down or stop once some housing is built, but simultaneously bring in revenue-producing business.
''If Phase One of a project calls for 20 percent of the residential component,'' the proposal reads, ''it must also require at least 20 percent of the non-residential component.''
In addition, the writer reports, all projects must focus on rehabilitation, span at least 100 acres, and be no more than 25 percent residential.
''These projects that come in under the first two conditions,'' Gary Friedman said, ''will be considered by the county to be in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan and will be proffer-free.''
Stressing that his proposal will protect the county's so-called Rural Crescent, revitalize blighted areas, and ensure commercial development in infrastructure corridors. -- InsideNova.com
12/10/2008
Resource(s): www.insidenova.com/
Critics Say Orange County Wal-Mart, Business Park Would Encroach on Historic Civil War Battlefield
''Virginia's irreplaceable historic landscapes, from the Piedmont to the Tidewater, are at the heart of our national heritage and their preservation is an issue that should concern all Virginians,'' writes National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) President Richard Moe in a Richmond Times-Dispatch op-ed column, hoping Orange County leaders will turn down ''commercial real-estate speculators,'' who plan a ''mammoth 145,000-square-foot Wal-Mart, a sea of parking and a 900-acre business park with three more big-box stores'' just a quarter-mile from the main entrance to the Wilderness Battlefield, where 29,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured in early May 1864, during one of the largest and important battles of the American Civil War.
Recently, he points out, ''253 eminent historians -- including David McCullough, James McPherson, Edwin Bearss and Ken Burns -- joined the chorus of Americans imploring Wal-Mart to abandon its destructive proposal.''
Although more than 2,700 acres of the battlefield are permanently preserved within the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, the NTHP president notes, the ''so-called 'Wilderness Wal-Mart' would severely degrade the wooded setting for the Civil War battlefield, promote commercial sprawl, and drastically increase traffic through the heart of the park,'' likely to make the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) resurrect its ''flawed plan to widen Route 20 from two to four lanes.''
Such paving over of a swatch of the battlefield and the park would contradict Orange County's comprehensive plan, whose 2007 revision specifically discourages development that would make widening of Route 20 necessary.
That's also why the NTHP and its allies, including the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Piedmont Environmental Council, believe Orange County should reject the current Wal-Mart and business park plans.
''There are many potential sites for Wal-Mart, but only one Wilderness Battlefield, the preservation of which,'' he stresses, ''is crucial to the understanding of our history and the education of our children in addition to the welfare of local communities.''
Details of the plans and the opposition efforts at www.wildernesswalmart.com and www.civilwar.org/walmart08. -- Richmond Times-Dispatch
12/21/2008
Resource(s): www.timesdispatch.com/ ; www.usa-civil-war.com/
King County TDR Agreement Will Protect 45,000 Acres in Cascade Mountains
In the largest transfer of development rights (TDRs) deal in the region or perhaps in the country, King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Co. President and CEO Rick Holley ensured permanent protection of the company's 45,000 acres in the Cascade Mountains forest from construction in exchange for 514 marketable housing-unit credits, whose buyers can increase their projects' density in cities, with the county partnering to allow an extra building floor or more units per credit.
''You can preserve forest like we did today, and there's no cost to the taxpayers,'' stressed Executive Sims. ''We want to keep these areas from being turned into residential development. We want development to go to urban areas. People also want to be able to hike. They want to do their mountain biking, and they can still do that within a minimal distance from urban areas.''
Expecting the forest conservation easement to help advance ''more thoughtful'' development, Plum Creek CEO Holley said, ''We always look for opportunities like this where we have areas that should be protected for multiple uses -- in this case, timber production and wildlife.''
Applauding the deal, a Seattle Times editorial points out that ''cleaning up Puget Sound begins far from the shoreline.''
Preservation of ''forestlands and watersheds around urban areas creates healthy buffer zones and limits future development with its pollution destined for the Sound,'' it says, noting that one of the deal's special benefits ''is the protection of the Upper Green River Watershed,'' which supplies drinking water for the city of Tacoma and other communities.
''Conserving forestlands gives future generations options and choices, and helps guide and maximize public investment,'' the editorial concludes. ''Protecting resources as basic as drinking water supplies is an extraordinary bonus.'' -- Seattle Times
12/10/2008
Resource(s): http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Movement Seeks to Repeal Jefferson County Smart Growth Zoning Ordinance
Despite four years of hard work and public consultation by Jefferson County officials, their new zoning ordinance enacted on November 2 angers opponents, who have engineered state legislation (HB4511) that allows a referendum on its repeal, a move Shepherdstown Observer Editors suspect as unconstitutional, while stressing, ''At a time that most residents of Jefferson County are concerned about unbridled growth in the county, the new ordinance provides far better hope for smart growth than the current ordinance that almost everyone agrees has failed.''
They cite four HB4511 provisions likely to violate the West Virginia constitution.
First, the referendum law limits participation to voters ''affected'' by the new zoning ordinance, excluding municipal residents even though they pay county taxes, elect county commissioners, and pay county impact fees if building a home.
These residents ''will be 'affected' by development density'' around Harpers Ferry, Bolivar, Shepherdstown, Charles Town and Ranson, or by plans for parkland, business parks and other county activities, the editors note, and the bill tramples their ''basic democratic rights.''
Second, they continue, the referendum would exclude even municipal residents who own land in the county, which means ''if you're a retired farmer who has moved into town, but still own your land in the countryside, you have no vote under this law.''
Third, referendum proponents don't even have to win a vote to halt a legal county zoning measure, they simply need enough qualified signatures under their referendum petition to set the ordinance aside ''until it is approved or rejected by ballot.''
And fourth, what's most bizarre, the referendum would only address the zoning ordinance, without mentioning a new county subdivision ordinance, although the latter ''is replete with references to the new zoning map and ordinance.''
Wondering how ''will the subdivision ordinance be implemented if its foundational documents are scraped'' and asking who ''could wish this state of affairs'' in the county, the editors conclude, ''The only possible answer is those who want nothing more than an absence of rules altogether.'' -- Observer
12/3/2008
Resource(s): www.wvobserver.com/
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