Making Smart Growth a Reality: Paul Vernon - CUDC Quarterly

VIEWPOINT - CUDC Quarterly 3:1 - Winter 2003

Making Smart Growth a Reality
Paul Vernon, Architect
Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio

It often seems like it’s too much to ask that our elected officials will have the nerve to realize that the status quo simply isn’t working, that we must make aggressive changes in the way we do business, realizing the answers aren’t going to be cheap or easy. Fortunately, there are times when elected officials step up to the plate. On January 14, 2003, New Jersey Governor James A. McGreevey delivered his State of the State Address, effectively declaring war on sprawl and presenting true leadership for efforts to grow smart and move forward sustainably.

While addressing perennial woes such as enormous budget shortfalls, faltering schools and excessive burdens on over-taxed, working families, Governor McGreevey made the simple suggestion that the ills of New Jersey are the result of a chain of events caused by uncontrolled development. "For years, all over New Jersey we thought if we built one more road, one more mall, one more housing development, our problems would be solved. The truth is–that is the problem." "It is time to draw the line and say ‘no more’ to mindless sprawl."

Recognizing that the continued uncontrolled development of New Jersey is irreversibly damaging water supplies, crowding schools, creating traffic congestion and consuming open space, Governor McGreevey outlined a series of initiatives and actions that we could only hope would come out of the mouth of our governor.

McGreevey acknowledged that wealthy developers have too often used expensive legal tactics, taking towns to court to beat opposition to their development efforts, so he pledged that towns in New Jersey will have the full legal weight of the state’s Attorney General behind them, giving New Jersey towns a better chance to fight developers when they need to. The governor also plans to help with the legal and zoning tools necessary to control and manage future development and said he would propose allowing municipalities to impose one-year building moratoria, enact impact fees on developers to cover the cost of new roads and schools and focus infrastructure spending in existing areas to rejuvenate existing development and redevelop brownfields.

McGreevey’s plans are not as developer unfriendly as they might appear. The proposals outlined by the governor are about sustainability. For developers who are interested in building consistent with smart growth principles, there will be assistance available from government through faster approvals and the appropriate infrastructure investments. "Let me say to those who profit from the strip malls and McMansions–if you reap the benefits, you must also take responsibility for the costs."

Additionally, McGreevey proposed making county and regional planning authorities more effective. A stronger system of regional planning will ensure that New Jersey is working with one plan towards one sustainable goal. He also called for preserving farmland to the tune of 20,000 acres a year. Reforming the open space bonding process will add $100 million over the next three years to protect open space, creating two new state parks and planting 100,000 new trees. Said the Governor, "We must do this right, we must do this smart, we must do this together, and we must do it now."

It will be some time before we know how the development industry will react to this combination of new restrictions and new opportunities. In the meantime, it is encouraging to know that somewhere, something is being done.

Actually, even in Ohio something is being done, although little has been accomplished in the way of state planning reforms since early state planning laws were amended in 1957. While new laws, initiatives and funding programs have been implemented at the federal and state level aimed at helping restore Great Lakes coastlines, water quality and wildlife habitats, the passage of Farmland Preservation legislation is perhaps Ohio’s biggest step so far towards sustainable development. Farmland preservation legislation was introduced in the 123rd Ohio General Assembly, supported by Governor Taft and passed as State Issue 1 in November of 2000 with 54.7 percent of the vote. Cuyahoga County had the largest "yes" vote, with 66.6 percent in favor. The legislation requires notification when attempts are being made to take protected lands through eminent domain and gives priority to "certified, well-planned counties" in the allocation of funds for local infrastructure projects. It requires the Ohio Public Works Commission to consider unnecessary duplication of infrastructure and makes farmland-related changes in the estate tax. Action is being taken through the Ohio Department of Agriculture and its administration of the Agricultural Easement purchase program, a $6.25 million per year set-aside of the Clean Ohio fund, which will form agreements between landowners and state or local governments to keep properties in agricultural production forever. This program enables the protection of approximately 10,500 acres of farmland in the first funding round. This may seem like a lot of acreage, but given that the area consumed by greater Cleveland grew 33 percent between 1970 and1990, while the population fell by 11 percent, one can only wonder if Ohio’s preservation efforts are too little, too late.

All over the country states are taking far more aggressive steps towards reducing sprawl and protecting the character of existing rural environments. The Smart Growth 2002 State of the States report of the American Planning Association surveys state planning reforms. It indicates that approximately one-quarter of the states are implementing statewide comprehensive planning reforms. An additional third of the states are actively pursuing their first major statewide planning reforms. Perhaps the most important statistic for the Ohio audience is that approximately one-quarter of the states have not made and are not currently pursuing significant statewide planning reforms. Ohio is on that list along with Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. It is a shrinking list, and it is past time our name was off of it.