PARTNERS FOR A LIVABLE WESTERN NEW YORK
INTERIM REPORT OF CURRENT ACTIVITIES AND NEWS ITEMS
JUNE 22, 2005
NO MONTHLY MEETINGS IN JULY AND AUGUST.
Next Tuesday, June 28 – “Smart Growth is Smart
Business” series – 7 p.m. – Nichols School
Topic: “Creating Communities for Active People”
Quote of the month: “America’s public spaces are sized by the biggest fire engine the community can afford to buy.” – Andres Duany.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES, ISSUES, AND PRESENTATIONS
1. 11 people have signed up for our walk of the Village of Geneseo this Saturday morning, June 25. Everyone is welcome. We will be assembling at the Geneseo Village Hall at 8:30 a.m. Coffee and donuts or bagels will be served. If you would like to come and need transportation, please call George Grasser at 883-5070.
2. On July 15 George Grasser will do a presentation on Smart Growth Policies and Practices and the obstacles to their implementation at the summer meeting of the New York State Bar Association Real Property Lawyers in Lake Placid.
3. At our next meeting in September, Bill Harrington will report on his attendance at the national conference of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Pasadena, CA June 9-12.
4. The Village of Williamsville has begun drafting a “community plan” intended to establish a framework for managing redevelopment and economic revitalization in the Village.
5. The Town of Clarence is in the process of adopting new subdivision regulations. Reportedly several aspects of these regulations are not consistent with smart growth practices. The proposed regulations are available on the Town’s website.
6. There is a 60-day public comment period in effect on the new Town of Amherst zoning code.
7. The Town of Boston is debating an decrease of the minimum lot size in one zoning district from 5 acres to 3 acres. There is opposition. [Note: many suburban public officials and their constituents still believe that the consumption of more land by making the lots larger is the solution to sprawl.]
1) June 22-23 (Wednesday-Thursday) – 2005 Community Development Policy Summit, Cleveland, Ohio sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland the Local Initiative Support Corporation to address how changes in the funding and administration of federal programs could impact wealth creation in low and moderate income communities. For more information call 1-800-433-1035 or www.clevelandfed.org/policysumm
2) June 28 (Tuesday) – Nichols School Auditorium, 7:00 p.m. “Smart Growth is Smart Business” series. Presentation “Designing Communities for Active Living” by Jeffrey S. Olson – architect, consultant and teacher at SUNY-Albany. (Mr Olson replaces Tyler Norris who had to cancel because of a personal matter.)
3) August 1 to 5 (Monday through Friday) – Chautauqua Institution week of programming and morning keynote speakers on “The Land and Justice.” On August 1 (Monday) the 10:45 a.m. speaker will be William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; on August 2 (Tuesday) the 10:45 a.m. speaker will be Karl E. Case of Wellesley College and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; on August 4 (Thursday) the 10:45 a.m. speaker will be Angela Glover Blackwell, the head of PolicyLink (Ms. Blackwell, an eloquent and dynamic voice for those disenfranchised by sprawl development patterns; on August 5 (Friday) the 10:45 a.m. speaker will be Paul Goldberger, architecture critic of The New Yorker.
For more information on any of these events, contact George Grasser at 883-5070 or at ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com
The following is a selective sampling of news stories about smart growth and livable communities reported in the mass media over the last several weeks.
1) A new booklet from the Urban Land Institute, “Higher- Density Development: Myth and Fact” tries to dispel negative perceptions about higher-density development. Download at www.uli.org/policypapers - 32 pages.
2) An April survey of New Jersey voters found that 71% of voters want the State to prioritize services to existing communities rather than expanding services to new areas.
3) The New York State Dept. of Transportation has decided to include three roundabouts in the reconstruction of Harlem Road in Amherst and Cheektowaga. Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2006.
4) The Local Government Commission has prepared two new fact sheets that address the width of suburban streets – the first, “Traffic Calming and Emergency Response” addresses retrofit situations and the second, “Street Design and Emergency Response” looks at initial street design.
Available on line at www.lgc.org/freepub/land_use
or call 916-448-1198 for hard copies.
5) NY Governor George Pataki has proposed an anti-sprawl Community Preservation Act that would let municipalities hold referenda to impose a real estate transfer tax for open space programs. The Act would allow an up to 2% transfer tax on the sale price of real property in a community on the portion in excess of the municipality’s median home price. The New York State Association of Realtors has opposed the proposal.
6) Noted planner Andres Duany has called for an immediate start to the Bull Street redevelopment project in downtown Columbia, SC. The project include 771,000 square feet of offices, 60,000 sq. feet of small shops and store and 1,178 housing units – 167 single-family homes and cottages, 285 townhouses, 561 condos and apartments and 165 live-work units. Duany said that in the redeveloped area “There is no division between classes like you would see in some suburbs.”
7) The Joint Center for Sustainable Communities and the National Association of County Organizations has published “City/County Collaborations on Brownfields” – a report on how brownfields are being reclaimed. Available online at www.naco.org. - 50 pages.
8) A fact sheet on helping communities align planning with the implementation of walkable community design so people can safely and conveniently walk and ride a bicycle for transportation and exercise is available on line at www.lgc.org/freepub/land_use
9) The mayor of Ottawa, Canada, a city with one of the best public bus systems in the world, says that “light rail transit holds the key to successfully meeting the city’s growth needs over the next two decades.” Construction of a new light rail system in Ottawa begins next summer with service projected to start in late 2009.
10) A bill introduced in the Ontario legislature is designed to effectuate a development pattern that intensifies development in specified areas to preserve open space. The bill appears to have support from builders, conservationists and municipal officials.
11) More facts against big-box stores are becoming evident as more studies are completed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation found that “each dollar of sales at big-box retailers generate less employment that each dollar of sales at local retailers.” A Tischler & Associates study showed that “for every two jobs created by a big-store retailer, the community loses three as a result of local retailers going out of business.” A Civic Economics study revealed that “$100 spent at a large-scale retail chain creates only $13 worth of local economic activity, whereas the same $100 spent at a locally owned store generates $45 worth of local economic activity.”
For more information on any of these items call George Grasser at 716/883-5070.