January 17, 2008 issue
Taking a Smart Approach to Growth
Story by Kathleen McFadden
After World War II, when the population and the sales of automobiles boomed, cities in America began undergoing a significant shift.
Suburbs filled with single-family homes sprouted up to accommodate growing families, and as the years passed, the market demand and focus changed from small tract-type homes on modest lots to sprawling homes with bedrooms for every child and extra rooms to accommodate a variety of family activities.
Offices and retailers moved away from downtowns because cars provided just about everyone with an easy, convenient way to move from one place to another, and downtown areas simply didn’t have enough parking to accommodate all the new cars.
Along with this shift came a change in the way planners looked at how towns and cities should be arranged, and that vision has largely defined how many of us live today. Discrete zoning districts—essentially designating specific areas as residential, commercial or industrial—define the basic layout of American towns.
As a result of these factors and others, many American downtowns and urban centers—where residents had formerly lived, worked and shopped—became virtual ghost towns, with corporate office parks, shopping malls, strip shopping centers and residential suburbs linked only by roads and the increasing number of automobiles that clogged them.
By the mid-1990s, American towns were realizing the many drawbacks of this kind of planning and the urban sprawl it encouraged, and in late 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched its smart growth program to look for ways to reverse those drawbacks.
Smart growth takes a new-old look at town planning and emphasizes mixing land uses in urban areas—allowing residential and commercial uses in the same block and even in the same building, a 180-degree reversal of the discrete zoning district concept. Such mixed-use development can, according to smart growth advocates, enhance a town’s walkability and decrease traffic, while offering a number of other enhancements to towns struggling with traffic gridlock, inconsistent development, sprawl, strained infrastructure and prohibitively expensive housing.
Smart Growth in Boone
In spring 2007, the Boone Town Council commissioned the Lawrence Group—an architectural and planning firm headquartered in St. Louis and with an office in Davidson, N.C.—to conduct a smart growth audit for the town.
The intent of the audit was to determine if Boone’s policies and regulations support the concept of smart growth and the ten smart growth principals. As part of the work, planners from the Lawrence Group met with stakeholder groups and examined all of the town’s regulatory and planning documents.
The audit is finished, and on Wednesday, January 9, John Cock, associate planner with the Lawrence Group, presented the results at two public information sessions. The full report is available online at www.townofboone.net/departments/development/index.html.
Overall Audit Assessment
“Smart growth is a way of looking at communities in a very comprehensive way,” Cock said, pointing out that the outcomes of implementing a smart growth approach are livability, thriving economies, lower taxes, preservation of the places we cherish and less traffic.
“What we heard from the stakeholders is that smart growth in general is important to the people in Boone,” Cock said. Among the priorities stakeholders identified were walkable communities, mixed land uses, preservation of farmland and open space, and predictability in development decisions.
While Boone’s Comprehensive Plan is smart growth oriented, Cock pointed out, the town’s implementation plans and ordinances are not. “They’re designed for a suburban style build-out which is what you’re getting,” he said. However, Cock added, “The prospects for smart growth in Boone are quite, quite good.
“If smart grown is a vision Boone wants to pursue, it will largely be funded by private developers,” Cock said. “There will be a lot of small steps, hopefully motivated by a common vision. But this isn’t an all-or-nothing thing because so much development already exists. We’re talking about how the next things are developed. Smart growth is more focused on areas ready for redevelopment. It opens the door to more choices.”
The completed smart growth audit makes 70 major recommendations, organized under the ten smart growth principles, for implementing smart growth in Boone. Cock discussed all ten principles and a number of the recommendations during his presentations last week.
Principle 1: Mix land uses
Before beginning to consider mixing land uses, the town—with the participation of all stakeholders—needs to develop a land use master plan detailed to the parcel level that identifies open space, where growth should occur and traffic issues, while taking into account the shift from rural to urban areas and the different types of development that are appropriate in those areas.
“This is the lynchpin recommendation,” Cock said.
Once the land use plan is complete, then the town could revise its regulations to allow mixed use by right in the urban areas and commercial districts. The town could also adopt form-based codes that focus more on design and site appropriateness than use.
Cock gave two examples of form-based codes in action: permitting an older, Victorian-style home adjacent to a downtown area to be used for a range of commercial activities, such as a law office, bed and breakfast or restaurant—instead of having regulations that mandate that the home be used only as a residence—and allowing a warehouse to be converted into condominiums.
Principle 2: Take advantage of compact building design
“Growth will need to be up and more compact,” Cock said. Encouraging greater density, he said, is key to creating walkable communities and a wider variety of housing choices, as well as reducing stormwater runoff.
For Boone to implement this principle, development regulations would require substantial changes: revising the density and height requirements in key locations, revising the parking requirements—“one of the great enemies of density,” Cock said—and revising the screening/buffer standards.
Principle 3: Create a range of housing choices
The Boone Town Council has recently taken steps to permit accessory apartments—such as dwelling units within a home or atop a garage—in R-1 neighborhoods. Cock suggested a number of additional options: permitting duplexes and triplexes in R-1 neighborhoods as well, allowing the development of cottage housing (a group of homes around a common area), allowing multifamily development by right in areas defined by the land use plan, working with the university to maximize on-campus housing and offering incentives or mandates to developers for building affordable housing.
Principle 4: Create walkable communities
Among the recommendations for making Boone more walkable, Cock suggested revising the sidewalk and streetscape requirements so sidewalks are well separated from roadways and attractively landscaped, making pedestrian crossings safer, lobbying DOT for walkable facilities, restricting commercial drive-throughs (such as at fast food restaurants) in walkable areas and continuing the town’s walkability audits.
Principle 5: Foster communities with a strong sense of place
Recommendations for creating a more unique community include revising the town’s sign standards, requiring attractive streetscapes, creating public spaces that encourage community interaction, promoting public transit, enhancing single-family neighborhood conservation and enacting public art ordinances.
Principle 6: Preserve open space, farmland, natural areas
An open space/green infrastructure plan is part of the overall land use plan, Cock said. Ways to encourage such preservation is to provide density bonuses in exchange for land conservation, to offer mechanisms for protecting agricultural land and to enhance recreation space requirements. Cock suggested that the town revise its tree ordinance to focus on protecting stands of trees rather than individual trees.
Other suggestions include requiring permeable paving, encouraging green building and implementing policy initiatives for sustainability.
Principle 7: Direct development toward existing communities
This principle is focused on in-fill development—redevelopment in existing areas rather than breaking new ground. The town can encourage this type of development, Cock said, by offering developers incentives to locate in areas with existing infrastructure and by developing a downtown master plan.
“There are so many ways downtown can be enhanced,” Cock said, “even though it is already a model for mixed use.”
Principle 8: Provide a variety of transportation choices
New roads aren’t necessarily the answer to alleviating long lines at traffic lights. “Road building is not a fundamental solution to traffic problems,” Cock said.
He suggested instead that the town update its thoroughfare plan and prepare a transportation master plan that identifies the transit, pedestrian and bike infrastructures. Connectivity is key, along with applying and enforcing speed limits and educating the public about the different ways to get around town.
Regarding university traffic, Cock used the example of Stanford University where the campus size by 2 million square feet without a corresponding increase in vehicular traffic. Stanford took measures to make driving to campus unattractive, while offering other transportation options. According to Cock, the trade-off worked.
Cock also suggested providing bike parking and allocating transportation-related dollars based on the town’s smart growth priorities.
Principle 9: Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective
“Making development decisions fair and predictable is one of the most important things a community can do to promote smart growth,” Cock said.
The first step is making development regulations clear and easy to interpret, using graphics to illustrate the regulations and allowing development by right that meets community standards and is consistent with the land use plan.
Principle 10: Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration
Cock recommended holding public collaborative sessions to craft a development vision for the community and to continue regional stakeholder dialog.
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