In communities across the nation, there is a growing concern that current development patterns -- dominated by what some call "sprawl" -- are detrimental to our cities, existing suburbs, small towns, rural communities or wilderness areas. Though supportive of growth, communities are questioning the economic costs of abandoning infrastructure in the city, only to rebuild it further out. Spurring the smart growth movement are demographic shifts, a strong environmental ethic, increased fiscal concerns, and a growing understanding of how to build and sustain our communities. The result is both a new demand and a new opportunity for smart growth. For more definitions by Smart Growth advocates from across the country, click here.

 

 

 

 

Bill Allowing Temporary Moratorium on Development Advances

 

House Local Government Committee Chairman Robert Freeman, D-Northampton, has sponsored a bill that would allow moratoriums up to 18 months in municipalities that are rewriting land-use rules." For the complete Chambersburg Public Opinion article, please click here.

 

Debates over how our neighborhoods, towns and cities grow and develop can be among the most difficult and contentious many of us will ever confront. After all, nothing less than our quality of life is at stake. That makes it all the more important that advocates for improved development practices use care in explaining how and why smart growth solutions can help create better communities. Below are links to resources that can help.

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In an effort to ensure that every community is equipped with the guidance needed to repair streams as part of larger watershed restoration efforts, the Center for Watershed Protection is now making Manual 4: Urban Stream Repair Practices of the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series available permanently for free download.

This manual focuses on practices used to enhance the appearance, stability, structure, or function of urban streams. It includes guidance on how to set appropriate restoration goals for your stream, and how to choose the best combination of stream repair practices to meet them.

This Manual, released in 2004, now joins Manuals 1, 2, and 3 in the Manual Series that are now available for free download.

 

Please click here for more information.

 

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Water-quality specialists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, anticipating a need for Pennsylvania citizens to better understand pollution-credit trading, have authored "A Primer on Water Quality Credit Trading in the Mid-Atlantic Region," a publication explaining water-quality trading programs.

 The pamphlet explains how dischargers may buy and sell credits that are generated by reducing pollution beyond state and federal requirements. Publication was made possible by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Program, a collaboration among Penn State, the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Maryland — Eastern Shore, Virginia State University, Virginia Tech University, West Virginia University and West Virginia State University.

 The primer provides information needed to understand the benefits and challenges of water-quality credit trading, the mechanics of a trade and the questions that should be asked as states develop their programs. The publication is coauthored by Charles Abdalla, associate professor of agricultural and environmental economics, and Kristen Saacke Blunk, agricultural environmental policy extension associate, with Tatiana Borisova of West Virginia University and Douglas Parker of the University of Maryland.

 The audience for this publication includes farmers, citizens and local officials says Dawn Olson, Monroe County Extension director. These are all people who can help shape public policy by understanding trading — its potential and limits. How well does water-quality credit trading work and whose interests are being considered? The answers to these and other questions will depend on a state's policies for encouraging trading. The primer offers questions that citizens may want to ask of their public officials to understand how their state's program is developing and what options are available to participate in policy-making.

 Pennsylvania's program will allow point-source dischargers such as municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants to purchase "credits" from non-point sources, such as farms and other entities where precipitation and terrain influence the movement of pollutants into streams and rivers. Initially, point sources and non-point sources that reduce nitrogen and phosphorous beyond the current requirements will be eligible to generate credits for sale or trade. Abdalla says buyers are likely to be point sources that can reduce pollution more cost effectively by purchasing credits generated by others.

 Pennsylvania and Virginia are among the first states in the Mid-Atlantic region to institute a water-quality credit trading program. In October 2005, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released the "Interim Final Policy and Guidelines for Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Credit Trading," also referred to as Pennsylvania's Nutrient Trading Program. Pennsylvania is expected to release revised guidelines for its trading program by the end of 2006.

 An electronic copy of this publication is available on the Web at http://agenvpolicy.aers.psu.edu/. Single copies of "A Primer on Water Quality Credit Trading in the Mid-Atlantic Region" can be obtained by Pennsylvania residents free of charge through county Penn State Cooperative Extension office , 724 Phillips St., Stroudsburg.

 

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The Center for Neighborhood Technology has developed a Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Calculator that helps identify what green infrastructure is, and how its use saves money and mitigates the need for different types of built water infrastructure, such as sewers and detention basins. For more information, visit the Center website: http://greenvalues.cnt.org/

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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - New resource from EPA:  Smart growth scorecards and rating systems from around the country.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency compiled a set of smart growth scorecards and rating systems currently being used in communities across the country. These tools help communities choose the best policies and strategies to ensure that growth and development benefits everyone. Some scorecards will help communities understand how the local regulatory climate impacts development patterns. Others are designed to determine if proposed new developments meet community-defined smart growth goals. Please click here to access this new resource.

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Smart Growth America, a coalition of nearly 100 advocacy organizations that have a stake in how metropolitan expansion affects our environment, quality of life and economic sustainability, is a great resource for residents interested in smart growth issues. 

 

Citizens and communities looking for the most up-to-date smart growth information now have a new comprehensive resource at their disposal, Smart Growth Shareware.  Please click here for more information.

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Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County is a community-based private non-profit located at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, whose mission is to work with the county's cities, townships and boroughs to address the challenges associated with economic growth and revitalization. Through educational outreach and planning advocacy, the Partnership is designed to promote cooperative land-use strategies that will improve the quality of growth in southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly Westmoreland County - its 7 cities, 36 boroughs, 21 townships and 1 municipality.

Talking to Labor Leaders about Smart Growth is an instructive tool, since union leaders are becoming concerned about sprawl for the same reasons most Americans are – its negative components – such as traffic congestion, skyrocketing children’s asthma, lack of affordable housing near jobs, and lack of choice about how to get to work.

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In Pennsylvania, the power and responsibility to plan for land use and its regulation lies with local government, including counties. This is because the General Assembly delegated to local governments a portion of the “police power” with respect to planning and land use controls to protect the public health, safety, and general welfare. Responsibility for land use planning and regulating development is exercised through the authority granted to municipal officials by the Municipalities Planning Code (except in Philadelphia). To view the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) and related documents, visit the Governor's Center for Local Government Services, which provides a full range of assistance to local governments.

 

 

 

 

Frequently-Asked Questions about Land Use is a perspective by Tom Hylton, author of  "Save Our Lands, Save Our Towns".

 

 

10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania provided testimony on land use matters to the State Democratic Policy Committee in April.

 

 

 

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"The TND (traditional neighboorhood design) concept reminds many people of the kind of small-town setting where you stroll down to the store, bump into your neighbor and catch up on the latest news."  Please click here for the complete Central PA magazine article.

 

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"Recently, Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh regions has experienced a blossoming of environmentally sound development projects: brownfields redeveloped, riverfront parks established, walk and bike paths constructed, and greenways around the region.  Yet, while Pittsburgh deserves praise for these continuing efforts and has rightly been dubbed a green city, little has been done to control the sprawling inefficient development that has transformed once rural townships in the outer suburban and rural areas in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area."  For the entire article in the Summer/ Fall 2006 Sylvan Communities magazine, please click here.

 

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EPA today presented its 2006 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement to the City of Chicago; the  Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the City of Wichita, Kan.; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and the City of Winooski, Vt. These award winners were recognized for their innovative approaches to development that strengthen community identity and protect the environment.

 

This year’s Policies and Regulations winner is Pennsylvania:

 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development, for the Pennsylvania Fresh Foods Financing Initiative (FFFI), a public-private partnership between the state and three non-profit organizations which provides grants and loans to help supermarkets locate in underserved communities. The program gives lower-income people easier access to healthy foods and spurs development in neighborhoods that desperately need it. By restoring vital market opportunities and services to existing communities, the program reduces the pressure to develop farms, wildlife habitat, and open space; increases local farm income; and enhances the vitality of
urban and rural communities.

 

Please click here for more information on the awards.

 

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The conference will be May 11-12, 2007 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College.

 

The Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference is Pennsylvania’s annual training, networking and inspirational event for those involved with private and public land conservation. Registration begins in January 2007. Learn more at http://conserveland.org/conferences/2007/

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Balance is needed between government property takings, zoning regulations, and private property rights.  Please click here for the Urban Land Institute article. 

 

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"The Springettsbury Township Board of Supervisors has adopted a new comprehensive plan, which sets guidelines for zoning, land use, traffic and development throughout the municipality."  Please click here for the article in the York Dispatch.

 

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It's been said that "a picture is worth a thousand words." That is certainly true when trying to communicate about growth and development.  Trying to explain or discuss matters related to growth and development using only words can be challenging. Images of real projects are a valuable tool that can help people better understand smart growth principles.

Smart Growth Illustrated is a new resource with images and descriptions of great projects from across the country. Twenty real-world case studies with photos show how the principles of smart growth have worked in communities across the country and can work in your community.

Smart Growth Illustrated is now available at
http://www.epa. gov/smartgrowth/ case.htm.

According to an op-ed published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Commonwealth has spent millions to revitalize old towns, boroughs and cities while at the same time subsidizing bypasses and big-box stores that kill business districts on old Main Streets. There are steps voters can take.  Please click here for the article.

 

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Measure 37 is Oregon’s year-old anti-planning law which mandates that the government either pay property owners when zoning, environmental or other laws reduce the speculative value of their land, or waive those regulations. Since no government has money enough to pay for every rule, many local governments in the state were left crippled, without control over land use.  In addition, without the establishment of an appropriate protocol for making reimbursement claims, Measure 37-related litigation had tied up planning offices across the state. On February 2006, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that Measure 37 is constitutional.   Please click here for the article.  The court's decision may be read here.

 

As reported by the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, on September 6, 2004, the Mount Joy Borough Council adopted without question four zoning density bonuses, including a “workforce” housing density bonus. The borough may be the first in the state to have adopted these types of inclusionary zoning incentives.

The borough’s zoning ordinance was amended to provide that maximum density may be increased by one additional dwelling unit per acre when the development provides that “at least 10% of the total dwelling units be sold or leased as workforce housing to individuals earning less than 80% of the Lancaster County median income or such percentage as may be agreed upon by and between the Borough and the applicant.”

In addition, the proposed workforce housing “shall be integrated throughout” the applicable development. The first proposed neighborhood to use the density bonuses, Florin Hill, had its conditional use application considered by the Borough Council on the same evening that the bonus was adopted.