Growth Management Social Change Cost of Sprawl State & Federal Funds Habitat Restoration

Growth Management

Social Change

Cost of Sprawl

State & Federal Funds

Habitat Restoration

Social Change• 1900’s

– Ethnic communities built around work places.– Implicit standards of ‘moral’ conduct

• 1950’s – Interstate highways allow access to rural areas– HUD offers low interest 1st time home loans– Home building becomes standardized into

suburban developments– Infrastructure provided (sewer, water, roads)

Social Change• 1960’s Baby boomers want better life

– Bigger house, larger lots– Demand better schools & infrastructure

• Financial Gentrification– Expendable income centers, DINKS/YUPPIES

• Industry incentives to move– pollution control costs– land costs– tax incentives

Changing Landscapes

• Corporate farming reduces competition– Small farms become unprofitable, FarmAid– Developers force ‘sell-outs’ of cheap land

• Exurbia develops (homes on rural fringe)– Commercial development follows $$$– Municipality enjoys quick growth– then increased infrastructure costs– schools, sewers, water, roads, traffic congestion

Urban Vacuum• Urban areas suffer loss of tax base

– lost industry & jobs– lost residents with expendable income– lost commercial business, malls in the ‘burbs

• Infrastructure maintenance costs increase from aging and environmental clean up

• Declining services & schools cause additional movement out of urban area

• Poorer people left with fewer opportunities

The Cycle of Sprawl• Exponential growth in Exurbia

– becomes suburbanized– strip malls & mega malls develop– access is strictly by car– traffic congestion causes expansion of roads– more roads allows more access – more infrastructure costs

• Municipal Costs exceed Benefits

• Residents move further out to “Exurbia”

STOP !!!

• Factors– cheap land– motorized access– user’s don’t pay their fare share of infrastructure

costs

• Funnel ‘PUBLIC’ money to where the ‘PUBLIC’ will benefit

• Environmental Cost: lost open space

State Funds• Smart Growth

– Protect sensitive areas and open space– Concentrate development in suitable areas– Direct growth to existing population centers

• Priority Funding Areas– efficient & effective use of tax money– avoid higher taxes to fund infrastructure– reduce sprawl

Priority Funding Area Criteria

• Employment is the Principal use

• Existing communities

• Served by water & sewer

• Density of 2 lots per acre

• If only water service exists:– can’t increase growth capacity– can’t change character of community

State Actions

• All State funding for projects will be directed to Priority Funding Areas

• County sets PFA’s, provides maps to State

• Projects include:– highways, roadways– sewer & water– economic development assistance– State offices & facilities (new & leases)

State Programs

• Schools

• Job Creation

• Home owner

• Brownfields

• Rural Legacy

• Refurbish / expand existing facilities before new ones are built

• Tax credits to businesses with 25+ employees who locate in PFA’s

• Live near your work program offers up o $4,000 for morgages

• Reduced clean up standards and 3rd party liability

• Conservation easements– reduce landowner taxes

– preserve open space

Federal Funds• NEPA: National Environmental Policy Act

• Must assess (quantify & qualify) environmental impacts of proposed projects

• Must complete a cost / benefit analysis

• Public hearing process, allows public input

• Must consider multiple alternatives

• Must consider the Null alternative – do nothing alternative

NEPA

• Applies only to projects receiving Federal $$$

• Doesn’t require a change in the project– “the preferred alternative”– Ensures Public is aware of how funding is directed– Opens the way for lawsuits by citizens

• Environmental Assessment– short list of direct & indirect impacts– list of mitigation measures– cheaper, faster, more efficient, less lawsuits

Large Lot, Large Lot• Nothing wrong with big house & yard

• Free to choose lifestyle and ‘castle’

• User should pay fair share of capital costs

• From standpoint of sustainability:– too many people, too little land

• Balance: needed but not sustainable– Cistene Chapel, the Louge`, – National Cathedral, Monuments

Environmental CostsSprawl is AUTO & LAND reliant

• Increases air pollution from cars

• Decreases pollution control for industry

• Increases water runoff & water pollution

• Decreases available open space

• Drastically changes habitat– habitat lost to parking lots and grassy yards– increased generalist species– increased edge effects & habitat fragmentation

Reversing Unsustainable Lifestyles

• NEPA

• Smart Growth

• Local Government

• Environmental impacts and public opinion incorporated into Federal decision making

• Tax money directed toward existing communities with infrastructure

• Designate “Priority Funding Areas” for growth

• Offers Citizen Action & Influence on the local level

Urban Restoration

Stream Restoration• Riparian Buffer Strips• Restore meanders and natural vegetated

banks in streams• Public education

– fertilizer & pesticide use– storm drain connections with bay– compost grass clippings

Urban RestorationHabitat Restoration

• Increase heterogeniety

• Vertical: – various heights of cover, shrubs, trees, canopy

• Horizontal– clumps of vegetation, patches– Retain snags, fallen trees, dead standing trees &

limbs, leaf litter, stone piles

Urban Wildlife Management

Increase animal diversity and abundance by– Cluster active use areas (ball fields, swings)– Reduce artificial lighting– Reduce & remove exotic species– Leave meadows instead of mowed fields– Retain wetlands and stream corridors– Create Greenways and Wildlife Corridors by

interconnecting parks and open space– Reduce edge effects & habitat fragmentation

Future Growth is up to YOU!

Expand Rte #301 ???

Bypass LaPlata ???

Effects of Wilson Bridge Expansion ???

New Power Plant = Cheap Power

new commercial or industrial development ???