Category Archives: Smart Growth 101

Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. The term ‘smart growth’ is particularly used in North America. In Europe and particularly the UK, the terms ‘Compact City’ or ‘urban intensification’ have often been used to describe similar concepts, which have influenced government planning policies in the UK, the Netherlands and several other European countries.
Smart growth values long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over a short-term focus. Its goals are to achieve a unique sense of community and place; expand the range of transportation, employment, and housing choices; equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and promote public health.

Words still have meanings

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I posted the first “words have meanings” last August. Check out the original post here. It was a longer post with some pictures & examples. This is a followup. Still an issue so I’ll keep re-posting. Developers continue to mis-label projects to curry favor with local government officials who don’t know any better. Terms with actual meanings are definitely bent to suit marketing purposes. Making matters worse journalists happily regurgitate developer characterizations. This is unfair to the public that genuinely desires more responsible smart growth development.

“Main St.”, “Mixed Use”, “Village Center”, “Walkable” ect. are all terms that have meanings.

Developers and marketing teams use of these buzzwords demonstrates they understand people want better communities. Problem is when we allow developers to mis-use terms without challenge we let those we represent down who then expect certain end products.

Just because a project smushes together incompatible single use buildings that would otherwise be separated and buffered on a small parcel doesn’t make it a mixed use project. Walking from your car to a single use building on a sidewalk does not make a project “walkable”. To qualify for these labels projects need measurable qualifiers.

  • Appropriate density.
  • Functional street grids
  • Vertical mixed use buildings or in a horizontal project compatible uses and context sensitivity. 
  • Actual functional walkability. The presence of sidewalks alone don’t make a project walkable
  • Diversity of architecture that respects heritage of the neighborhood
  • Complete streets
  • A measurable positive municipal return on investment and cash flow over multiple lifecycles – mixed use uses land more efficiently. 
  • Low impact on existing neighborhoods. Should reduce traffic not increase.

Top 5 characteristics of mixed use. 

Here is what spurred this post today:
‘Main street’ concept takes shape at Sterling Ridge

Mixed use "Main St." Village center?

Mixed use “Main St.” Village center? Really?

Not a mixed use. This is a low density auto-centric strip development with (maybe?) some bells and whistles. This isn’t necessarily a terrible project for what it is. But please. Label it correctly. This is a dual use project. 

What’s really sad is this is actually better than some of the projects that have been mis-labeled here in Lower Macungie from 2009-2013. (Hamilton Crossings, Allen Organ Development and most absurdly and blatantly incorrect the Jaindl warehouse development) The Allen organ development is a “dual use” project. Meaning we took uses that under our old ordinance would have been separated and buffered and allowed them to be built much closer together. The project lacks the meaningful integration to make it mixed use. It’s not a “neighborhood”. It’s commercial slammed against residential.

Sprawl’s Hidden Subsidies

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I’m away for the week with my business partners shooting back to back destination weddings in Bermuda then Jamaica. (plug for my business here)

Didn’t want the blog to go dark for a week so decided to pre schedule a cross post from James Bacon over at www.smartgrowthforconservatives.com

If you are right of center politically and you think that smart growth is just for tree huggers or crazily some wacky agenda 21 conspiracy theory to take over the world then you should spend 5 minutes to read this post.

Then if the argument makes sense purchase Pamela Blais’s Perverse Cities and read it. Conservatives are missing a tremendous opportunity to re-frame the debate over growth and development in line with the principles of fiscal responsibility and free markets. I never will understand why. But it’s never too late to change.

Sprawl’s Hidden Subsidies

perverse_citiesby James A. Bacon

If planning and regulation were the answer to sprawl, then the Toronto metropolitan region ought to be a smart growth paradise. Toronto has a sophisticated, multi-tiered planning process, starting with an regional plan, plans for 30 upper-tier municipalities, and plans for 241 lower-tier municipalities (towns and townships, mostly). Yet outside the city of Toronto itself, which is undergoing a condo boom, there isn’t much to show for it.

The various municipal plans, which are comparable to Virginia’s comprehensive plans, define urban boundaries, control densities and show where growth should take place. The goal is for 40% of all new residential units to be built in already-urbanized areas. “That’s not happening,” says Pamela Blais, a city planner and principle of Toronto-based Metropole Consultants. “All the plans said all the right things. … [But] the regulatory approach isn’t sufficient to bring about the change.”

pamela_blais

The failure of regulation to halt sprawling, auto-centric development was the basis for Blais’ 2010 book, “Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy and Urban Sprawl.” She had researched and written the volume to figure out how the planners’ plans had gone awry. If smart growth made so much sense, and if planners had the power to bring it about, why weren’t developers and home builders doing what they were supposed to do? Something else had to be going on, she reasoned, something that was not commonly recognized.

As she delved into the subject, Blais found that real estate development is guided by massive hidden subsidies that shift costs from inefficient, land-intensive development to efficient, compact development. These invisible subsidies work at cross purposes to the regulations. As it turns out, developers follow the dollar.

Blais describes herself as a pragmatist. “It’s not an ideological argument I’m making,” she told Bacon’s Rebellion. “I’m interested in getting better cities. I’m happy to talk to everybody on the whole spectrum.” But her approach to urban development is one that fiscal and free-market conservatives can appreciate. The system for pricing public goods such as roads, water, sewer, electricity and public services bears little relationship to the cost of providing those services, she argues, with the result that a tangled skein of hidden subsidies incentivizes low-density development.

“Everybody thinks [sprawl] is the the invisible hand of the market. It’s a highly distorted market,” she says. “I’ve been arguing, let’s remove the distortions and take it from there. Remove the distortions and you’ll get a different development pattern. That should be the starting point.”
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Followup to #repairpriorities post

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Read this in today’s paper.

Now the danger here is I know very little details about this project aside from what I read in this article this AM. So if I’m missing something here please fill me in.

Summary: 

Pennsylvania is committing $5 million to help ease traffic into Pocono Raceway.

The announcement came during a Pennsylvania Capitol ceremony celebrating Pocono Raceway’s estimated $257.5 million contribution to the region’s economy in 2013.
– Express times

 

Yesterday’s post about a recent Taxpayers for Common Sense and Smart Growth American study highlighted an alarming deficiency between money spent on road expansion projects and money spent on maintaining the existing road network. This fundamental problem is one of the reasons we just faced a gas tax. (now the 5th highest in the nation)

In my opinion above is exhibit ‘A’. How can this not be classified as a transportation pork barrel project?  What am I missing?

It’s 5 million dollars spent on hyperlocal capacity improvements to benefit one racetrack seasonally.  This road widening serves literally no other purpose that I can gather from a quick google map recon and a little familiarity with the area.

When we talk about Pennsylvania spending a disproportionate amount on road expansion (providing marginal benefits) compared to maintaining the roads and bridges we currently have in place, unless I’m missing something this really should be viewed as the poster child for the problem. Why on earth is a Republican Governor supporting this? (could have something to do with an election coming up..)

5 Million dollars for road widening project to service exclusively Pocono raceway.

5 Million dollars for road widening project to service exclusively Pocono raceway.

 

 

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Pennsylvania spends more on road expansion than repair

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Pennsylvania spends more on new road expansion than we do on maintaining our existing network – despite financial liabilities mounting & conditions not improving. Meanwhile, we just raised the gas tax.

Here is a link to an eye opening study by Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common sense.

State departments of transportation (DOTs) are spending more money building new roads than maintaining the ones they have—despite the fact that roads are crumbling, financial liabilities are mounting and conditions are not improving for America’s drivers.
-Executive Summary

Here’s the statistical breakdown for PA:
*dollar figures in millions

Average annual state expenditures on road expansion versus repair, 2009–2011

Average annual state expenditures on road expansion versus repair, 2009–2011 From “Repair Priorities 2014 Transportation spending strategies to save taxpayer dollars and improve roads.

So we have above representing Pennsylvania’s most recent spending reality. (Again remember, we just raised gas taxes to address a “crisis” level concern. Which of course is pretty much universally acknowledged as a band-aid at best.) This in my opinion is a problem in and of itself, but meanwhile here are the results of this failed strategy…

Screen Shot 2014-03-12 at 2.23.40 PM (1)

Here is another little tidbit from the report PA specific:
Pennsylvania as stated above is spending 877 million a year in repair. What’s the liability? 2,203 million. That’s a deficiency of 1,326 million annually.

Pennsylvania reflects the Nationwide trend of spending billions for marginal benefit. “States spent $20.4 billion on road expansion each year between 2009 and 2011. During that time our state-owned road network increased by 8,822 lane-miles, less than 1 percent. Meanwhile, America’s driving measured in vehicle-miles traveled, remained fairly stable during this two-year period, yet traffic congestion in urban areas did not change. It’s a statistical fact: States’ investments in expansion are yielding little gain for drivers despite the substantial cost.”

My question is whose going take some leadership in Pennsylvania? Road conditions are deteriorating yet our spending problems are focused on expansion which at best provide negligible results in level of service improvements. Whose going to break the broken cycle?

I’m looking towards our local state officials for leadership here. @Senator Pat Browne, @Representative Ryan Mackenzie, @Representative Justin Simmons, @Representative Michael Schlossberg (House transportation committee). Anyone paying attention to this?

 

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Seaside FL. the textbook for Traditional Neighborhood Development

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American Makeover Episode 2: SEASIDE, FL THE CITY OF IDEAS

Seaside, FL. Building a traditional neighborhood from scratch. It was a process that started some 30 years ago in Florida. Today the town stands as a testament to tried and true placemaking principles and the traditional development pattern. Of the 600 or so master planned communities in the United States there are a couple examples here in PA that were probably inspired in some ways by Seaside. It’s my hope that a Traditional Neighborhood project is someday built in Lower Macungie. The above 15 minute short film is perhaps the best synopsis of the ideas that make TND developments work.

Idea #1: Create a Town

As in: Not a subdivision or collection of pod like subdivisions. Town implies something. Place implies something. This “something” is typically missing in conventional projects — complete (many uses), complex (mixed uses), compact (close and convenient), connected (through multiple modes of transit and a robust network of route choices).

Idea #2: Incremental growth
Keep debt minimal. Build in small increments, as demand materializes. Avoid the desire to artificially induce large scale projects. Projects should be required to mitigate there impact. Taxpayers should not fund infrastructure projects that do not gaurantee a return on investment.  If they can’t and require subsidies to do so, chances are it isn’t a solid investment of taxpayer dollars over the long term.

Idea #3: Versatile Infrastructure
See number 2. Infrastructure should be able to pull double (or triple) duty. Avoid the wasteful and costly sprawl practice of directing new investments to fringe developments where taxpayer ROI is low or negative.

“Is urban sprawl to blame for municipalities going bankrupt?”

Idea #4: Incubator Retail 

Low-cost opportunities for proof-of-concept encourage creative experimentation. Some of these experiments will thrive. Some will fail. But entrepreneurs are (and should be) the ones who shoulder the risk while seeking the rewards.

Idea #5: Progressive Retail
Once established, thriving businesses can upgrade to permanent, higher-end space. Part B of Idea 4. A successful business will grow naturally.

Idea #6: Mixed-Use Buildings
Markets don’t necessarily support large, mixed-use buildings early on. Start with modest, one story buildings that can expand over time or be redeveloped to incorporate additional uses once demand has materialized. Organic growth.

Idea #7: Live/Work Units
The “little house on the prairie” is not the only American Dream. We also dream of being our own boss and the live/work unit is the perfect vehicle for serving that dream. Plus, they allow for the development of retail with dispersed risk. Oftentimes developers who fear these investments are the first to admit after build out they are the best selling units.

Idea #8: Agnostic to Style. Form & Function over design standards. 
Get the form right above all else. How do buildings interact with the street. Are streets safe for all users not just cars? Does one mode of transportation dominate all others. Recognize and pay special attention to the impact transportation investments have on land uses, community form and function. Culture, economics, climate, and fashion will dictate the style game. In sprawl communities we over regulate design standards as an alternative to fixing the core issues.

Idea #9: Celebrate Civic Buildings
Reserve civic sites up front, but let the community champion their visioning, process and programming.

Idea #10: Amenities for Everyone
Don’t hide or privatize amenities. The most desirable aspects of community should be accessible sources of civic pride.

Idea #11: Good Street Geometry = Free Range Kids
When streets are skinny, pedestrians rule. Avoid STROADS. Build roads to move cars and streets to to generate value. Never try to combine both. Otherwise you end up with a futon.

Idea #12: Recover Trusty Traditions 
Patterns evolve for a reason. There is wisdom in tradition. Sprawl was an over-reaction to our love affair with cars. Cars aren’t going anywhere. Nor do smart growth advocates want to limit their usage. It’s a matter of preference. Today more and more often people no longer want to spend a quarter of their lives locked in commute. People are seeking community. The market reflects a desire for walkable, connected communities.

Idea #13: Work with Nature 
Embrace and incorporate natural responses to climate.

Idea #14: Pervious Streets
Streets can and should help manage their own impacts. Above all else this is a matter of dollars and cents. We simply cannot afford to continue to pay for inefficient development practices.

Idea #15: Original Green – Less is More
Original Green solutions can solve problems, save money and perpetuate a tactile, craftsman ethos. When we try to regulate our way out of problems the solutions are usually costly.

Idea #16: Vision = Seeing Beyond the Present
“The discipline of vision is not being sunk by present circumstances, reduced to the present circumstances, which often are nothing.” — Andrés Duany

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Gas Tax – Economics – Transportation – Better Places

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It’s time to stop putting off tough conversations. No one encapsulates the message better then Strongtowns.org. This short piece by streetfilms.org does a great job of giving a concise overview.

It’s all about re-examining the intersection of financing, design and long term financial viability of our places. The top down gas tax system is failing. The answer isn’t raising the tax. In fact, the answer isn’t in the inefficiencies of a top down system at all. Our system is one where localities get back nickels and dimes on the dollar. It will never workout over the long run. The math doesn’t work.

Let’s scale back DC’s role in the equation. Turn the system on it’s head. Return local control. Make developers pay the true costs of projects by rolling back big gov’t subsidies. Then municipalities will start only building the supporting infrastructure that they can actually afford to maintain. Organic incremental growth is healthier for our local economies. That is the financial foundation of smart growth. 

http://www.streetfilms.org/

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Ebike deregulation clears transportation committee

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle

Part of smart growth is advocating for optional alternatives to automobiles. Folks like myself don’t want to stop driving or stop others from driving cars.  I like my car. I just want alternatives so I’m not forced to spend such a large chunk of my life in it. This is a trend with young adults nationwide who have less interest spending a quarter of their life in commute. Communities that grow in a way where a family can get by (if they choose to) with 1 car will be at a competitive advantage.

By design I live close enough to work to walk or bike if I choose. It’s something I enjoy doing. Once there, my office is located on a traditional Main St. where services like our bank and accountant are each less then 3 blocks away. We also have a half dozen lunch options within walking or biking distance.

Think about your household. How many cars? Now calculate how much it costs to own, insure and maintain them. Imagine the money saved by getting rid of just one. Complete streets, walkable communities and mixed land use policies allow options. That’s what it’s all about.

Recently, I started exploring the option of purchasing an Ebike.  Ebikes have been surging in popularity over the last few years. Ebikes are used by people with disabilities and seniors who like the extra assistance, those who want to reduce their carbon footprint and those who simply want to save a little gas money. Ebikes are not mopeds. They are bicycles powered by pedals with optional electric power. Ready to ride or kits to convert regular bikes have come down in price to a point where they are a viable option for those who want a little freedom from the car. I’m perfectly fine with pedals, but on a hot day the extra electric boost is great.

The issue I and others have run into is that ebikes are highly regulated in Pennsylvania. Most states treat bicycles with power assist as bicycles. Pa’s dated law classifies electric-assist bicycles as motorized pedalcycles or mopeds and therefore requires them to be licensed, titled & insured.

Federal law is very clear and treats Bicycles with electric assist of less then 750 watts of motor output and <20 mph top speed as bicycles and laws apply as such.

Last year state Senator Matt Smith proposed legislation legalizing pedal-assist electric bicycles. Senate Bill 997 deregulates pedal-assist electric bicycles treating electric bicycles the same as regular bicycles, meaning riders are not required to have insurance or register the two-wheeler. This would bring PA law in line with federal law which draws a distinction between ebikes and mopeds. Most smart growth policy is about deregulation and common sense reform. This falls squarely into that category.

SB 997 cleared a hurdle passing in the transportation committee by unanimous vote on Feb 4th. The measure now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

Read more:
Proposed Pennsylvania law would allow electric bikes without insurance, registration

 

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Our evolving relationship with the automobile.

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New love is always most intense and passionate at first. No, America is not abandoning the car. But the love affair has plateaued. Don’t expect a breakup though. There will be no nasty divorce. What has happened is we’ve slowly settled into a new comfortable perhaps less obsessive relationship with our cars.

Most people will tell you that love can make you do some funny things. Our initial  love affair with the car was reflected in our reactionary 1950’s planning policy. At the time we were so blinded by the intensity of our new relationship that we abandoned traditional neighborhoods. We installed compartmentalized Euclidean zoning codes which led to isolated, disconnected pods of development. We weren’t thinking straight, but it was all good at the time cause the relationship was still shiny and new.

That love has unfortunately led to some unanticipated side effects. Communities became isolated lacking a sense of place.  Folks lived far from the places they worked. People spent huge chunks of their day isolated in cars commuting back and forth. And the new pattern was also very expensive and the only way to fund it was to double down on it. So we got trapped in a cycle. But blinded by love we didn’t see. Or more accurately we didn’t want to see.

No, there will be no divorce but today we are returning to a more healthy balance. Most people will tell you for any relationship to last you need balance. Young professionals are returning to the cities and 1st rung walkable suburbs in droves. Folks no longer want to spend a quarter of their life in cars. Survey after survey show people want connectivity. They want to live in places, not nebulous collections of isolated pods. They want options. It’s a lifestyle choice but also it’s a financial reality.

No, America is not breaking up with the car. We’re simply moving on to the realistic sustainable phase of our relationship with the auto. We now want other options in addition to our cars. We don’t want to spend every second with them.  We want a life outside of them. In the end this will lead to a much healthier relationship with the auto. The trend is undeniable. It’s time for governments both large and small to acknowledge it.

The chart below shows vehicle miles traveled, forecasts vs. actual. The black line represents the plateauing of miles driven. The colored lines are predictions by various levels of gov’t. Driving habits have changed but government remains locked into development patterns that reflect a love affair that’s cooled. 

Chart from Eric Sundquist of the State Smart Transportation Initiative. For the past decade, state and federal governments have consistently overestimated future growth in U.S. road travel.

Chart from Eric Sundquist of the State Smart Transportation Initiative. For the past decade, state and federal governments have consistently overestimated future growth in U.S. road travel.

 

 

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Market solutions to land use issues – Highway Congestion

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I believe in market-based, fiscally conservative solutions to land use and transportation challenges faced by the nation.

These issues are highlighted locally. The proposal to reconstruct and widen Route 22 from four to six lanes between 15th & Airport Rd. will cost about $175 million dollars. Huge amount of money. We’re all paying for it in the form of the gas tax passed by the PA legislature.

Most acknowledge Rt. 22 has reached critical mass (in terms of convenience). The issue is how we address it. So on the horizon is a widening project with no accountability for results with a high likelihood that in 10 years the 6 shiny new lanes will again be gridlocked. It’s happens enough with widening projects all around the nation. Agency throws money at a highway but it rarely  fixes the underlying issues. In enough cases to raise alarm bells the new lanes simply fill up. So why do we repeat the same mistakes?

Big picture the vicious circle is astronomically beyond our ability to pay for. The system is unsustainable. This is evidenced by the crisis level of infrastructure issues in the United States. Here in PA most believe the gas tax increase won’t fix the underlying issues. It’s another bandaid.

So what’s an alternative? Is there a market based-conservative approach? I believe there is and a model is out there.

In Virginia through a public/private partnership a private company helped fund the installation of express lanes on I-495. The company Transurban financed, designed and built the project with review and oversight from VDOT. The company operates and maintains the Express Lanes.

Widening projects happen because people complain about congestion. Since highways are a public good and should be available to everyone it’s important we don’t create barriers. A dedicated express lane doesn’t. It just creates a market for convenience. Those who want to pay for convenience pay for it. Those that don’t, aren’t forced to.

Here Jim Bacon talks about the 495 express lane project in Virginia. The program has so far seen lower then expected revenue.  Jim attributes it to reduced traffic overall and the recession. Personally I’m ok with that, since the alternative would have been traditional funding mechanisms. (aka taxpayers). Based on what I’ve read this will eventually be a profitable venture for Transurban. Alot of the issues were timing.  And again, if it never does become profitable then the risk was all on them not taxpayers. That’s what the market is all about.

The express-lanes concept is appealing for several reasons. First, the private sector raised most of the money to pay for the expansion of Interstate 495 capacity — money the state did not have — and assumed the financial risk should traffic and revenues prove disappointing. – Bacons Rebellion 

 

 

 

The ridiculousness of minimum parking standards….

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#BlackFridayParking Live Feed – Visit the live feed here.

Today, across the nation strongtowns.org is helping to document in photos the absurdity of minimum parking requirements. There isn’t a more anti-business policy a town can enact than minimum parking regulations.

From Strongtowns.org – For years, American cities have required businesses to provide an amount of parking based on the anticipated peak demand. That peak demand is commonly believed to be “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving. Cities disregard that businesses may not find it in their interests to devote valuable space and resources to providing parking spaces that will only be used once or twice a year. (or as most of these photos demonstrate…. never) Ostensibly the greater apostasy — from a regulatory standpoint — would be for a driver to show up in their automobile this Friday and not be able to quickly find a place to park. (#ohthehorror!) To avoid that horror, we set aside all of our “pro-businesses” inklings and roll out the red tape of parking minimums.

Fortunately, many cities have repealed minimum parking requirements. Many more are considering taking such a step. Let’s give them a push by helping them see the folly of their ways.

 

Here are some I added to the #blackfridayparking live feed from LMT and another Scott Alderfer posted from nearby South Mall. In every photo there is ample parking. Sure, if you want a spot 50 feet from the front door you might have to circle for a minute…. #horrors!!! But if you don’t mind walking a reasonable distance in each example there is literally a sea of wasted prime commercial space that’ll never be used in any meaningful fashion and will never provide any value to our community.

Each photo demonstrates overbuilt parking on the single busiest shopping day of the entire year.

South Mall, Allentown PA.#PoorParkingPlanning #TooManyParkingSpaces #BlackFridayParking pic.twitter.com/nvcROJNRdF

Black Friday 11am. Counted rows and rows of empty spaces that will never be used. This is wasted space on our most critical commercial corridor. Surface parking is the absolute lowest use of prime space. For years and years we’ve over regulated parking.