Five Things to Know About Smart Growth

Thursday night’s forum on the proposed quarry development project in the city of Little Falls will include discussion on a number of topics, ranging from job creation and tax incentives to the state of the local economy and a possible “smart growth” alternative to the project.
The public forum has been organized by Main Street First, an organization of Little Falls residents, as well as other stakeholders in the cultural and commercial life of the city, who in their mission statement list the encouragement and promotion of economic growth that is “both ‘smart growth’ and fiscally-responsible growth, in order to preserve the unique character of Little Falls while diligently protecting our tax base,” as one of the three pillars of their foundation.
With the term “smart growth” working itself into the public debate over Sphere Development’s proposal to build a shopping plaza at the empty city-owned site at the intersection of Routes 5 and 167, here, according to information provided by the Smart Growth Network and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are five things to know about smart growth:
1. Smart growth is development that simultaneously achieves “economic development and jobs that create employment and business opportunities, improves the local tax base, provides neighborhood services and amenities and creates economically competitive communities; strong neighborhoods that provide a range of housing options giving people the opportunity to choose housing that best suits them. Smart growth provides the choice to walk, ride a bike, take transit or drive. It maintains and enhances the value of existing neighborhoods and creates a sense of community; and healthy communities that provide families with a clean environment. Smart growth balances development and environmental protection — accommodating growth while preserving open space and critical habitat, reusing land and protecting water supplies and air quality.”
2. Smart growth is “not anti-growth, it’s about better growth, growth that makes sense. Smart growth leverages new growth to improve the community and find ways to meet economic, environmental and quality-of-life goals; not anti-automobile, it’s about having transportation options to drive, walk, bike or take public transit; not anti-suburb, it’s about building better places to live in existing suburbs, cities and new communities. It’s about protecting existing investments and quality of life in areas where people, communities and governments have already made a commitment; and is not about big government, it’s about improving market efficiency, making it legal to construct the small towns and neighborhoods we used to build, making brownfield redevelopment easier and getting more value from the tax dollars we spend on roads, sewers and other taxpayer investments.”
3. The principles of smart growth are mix land uses; take advantage of compact building design; create a range of housing opportunities and choices; create walkable neighborhoods; foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place; preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas; strengthen and direct development towards existing communities; provide transportation choices; make development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective and encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.
4. The features that distinguish smart growth vary by community. No two streets, neighborhoods or cities are identical. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution. For that reason, smart growth does not prescribe solutions. Rather, it provides choices and seeks to build on proven successes. The smart growth principles reflect the experience of localities that have successfully created smart growth communities, communities that had a vision of where they want to go and the things they value.
5. Former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening is credited for coining the phrase smart growth in 1996. He used the phrase to denote a smarter, more sustainable alternative to the sprawling development taking place in his state, and subsequently secured passage of the first comprehensive state smart growth law in 1997. The Maryland law became the prototype for state smart growth reforms, incorporating many of the land use principles that define the smart growth movement today.
To learn more about smart growth and the Smart Growth Network, go to www.smartgrowth.org.
For information on Empire State Future, which promotes smart growth in New York, go to empirestatefuture.org.