Author: Smart Growth America

Ask your Senators to support the Partnership for Sustainable Communities in FY 2013

By ·

Last November, when Congress passed the appropriations bill to fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for FY 2012 it did not include funding for another round of the vital Regional Planning and Community Challenge grants run by HUD’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. This cut hurts communities across the country as they work to address their housing, transportation, and economic needs.

President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposal would restore $100 million in funding to for these local grants, and we need your help to see that funding through.

Ask your Senators TODAY to support the President’s Budget request for the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities: click here to send a letter to your Senators.

Uncategorized

From Vacancy to Vibrancy: A guide to redeveloping underground storage tank sites through area-wide planning

By ·

A new guide for town, city and county leaders outlines a new tool they can use to build the financial and political support needed to reclaim and redevelop the thousands of abandoned gas stations, auto body shops, and industrial facilities nationwide.

From Vacancy to Vibrancy focuses on underground storage tank (UST) sites – properties with buried or partially buried tanks that have been used to store petroleum or other hazardous substances. When gas stations, auto body shops, industrial facilities or other types of development close down, these tanks are often left behind. As they age, the tanks are prone to leakage and can contaminate both soil and groundwater, posing a serious environmental threat. The new guide takes aim at one of the primary reasons these types of properties remain vacant for so long: many officials just don’t know what to do with them.

The regulatory issues associated with vacant properties containing a UST, as well as the time and money involved in cleanup, often makes revitalization seem like more trouble than it is worth. These challenges are overshadowed, however, by UST sites’ potential for neighborhood revitalization. From the Executive Summary:

UST sites are often both small and centrally located, and both these traits make them unique opportunities for revitalization. As demand rises for housing in neighborhoods close to town and in city centers – persisting in spite of larger challenges in the real estate market nationwide – UST sites are in a position to catalyze reinvestment and redevelopment initiatives.

Uncategorized

Kimberly, Idaho aims to implement cool planning program with aid from Smart Growth America’s technical assistance

By ·

Next week, Smart Growth America will meet with staff from the City of Kimberly, ID as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program aimed at assisting the City of Kimberly implement a cool planning program.

Residents are invited to attend the meeting, which will take place on Monday, March 12, 2012 from 6–8 p.m. at the new Rock Creek Fire Station.

The presentation and discussion will highlight how Kimberly can best plan for growth while enhancing community livability and economic sustainability. Staff will discuss how Kimberly can: Get Centered (creating a vibrant and attractive town center), Grow Compact (avoiding sprawl and minimizing vehicle miles traveled) and Make Streets Complete (making city roads safe for pedestrians and cyclists).

“We are very excited to have been selected for this incredible opportunity,” said Kimberly City Administrator, Polly Hulsey. “This assistance will allow professionals from around the country to converge on Kimberly and to meet with City leaders, business owners, builders, realtors and our citizens to help us maximize our resources, while helping guide us in the right direction for our future. We invite anyone interested to attend the program to provide input and join us in planning Kimberly’s future.”

Technical assistance

Speak out for Main Streets in the Senate transportation bill

By ·

Last week, the House of Representatives introduced their surface transportation reauthorization bill. Their proposal, H.R. 7, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, threatens to derail federal funding for public transportation, and we’re still fighting to change their proposed bill. If you were one of the many supporters who spoke out against H.R. 7, thank you.

This week, the Senate has begun working on its version of the bill and we need your help to make it as strong as possible.

A bipartisan amendment to the Senate bill sponsored by Senator Cardin of Maryland and Senator Cochran of Mississippi would give local governments a larger say over a share of state transportation dollars. This change to the current bill would give local leaders a greater voice and more direct access to money for projects like main street revitalization.

Will you speak out for Main Streets in the Senate transportation bill? Click here to send a letter to your Senators.

As it’s currently written, the Senate bill would take the limited funds once dedicated to improving safety and conditions for people on foot and bike, and transfer them to state departments of transportation for expensive highway construction instead.

The Senate vote could happen as soon as this week, and this amendment is one of the most important that we’ll see. By setting money aside, the Cardin-Cochran amendment would ensure local communities can get the money they need for the projects they want.

Take one minute to send a message to your Senators: Ask them to support the Cardin-Cochran amendment today.

If you think our transportation bill should give communities the resources they need to build Main Streets that are attractive to businesses, pedestrian friendly and safer for everyone using them, tell your Senator to sponsor this amendment.

Uncategorized

Smart Growth America stands with Transportation for America in opposition to House energy and transportation bill

By ·

Last week, the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, along with a companion measure eliminating dedicated funding for public transportation. James Corless, Director of Transportation for America, released the following statement:

“For more than three years, our coalition has worked hard for an updated federal transportation program that meets our needs in the 21st century; that creates jobs and lays the foundation for a rejuvenated economy; that balances the need to keep our highway system strong while augmenting it with other options. We still remain urgently committed to that goal.

“It is with deep disappointment, therefore, that we in the Transportation for America coalition find ourselves compelled to oppose the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act as advanced by House leadership. While we commend Chairman Mica (R-FL) for doing what he can to move a long-term transportation bill forward, the full legislation that is now heading to the floor of the House has significant fatal flaws.

Uncategorized

Bi-partisan support evident at Senate Environment and Public Works hearing

By ·

Evans Paull, Executive Director of the National Brownfields Coalition, was among those who testified before Congress in October at a joint hearing of the Senate Full and Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health entitled, “Oversight Hearing on the Brownfields Program – Cleaning Up and Rebuilding Communities.” Paull began his testimony:

I wanted to start today by calling your attention to brownfields community turn-around projects that have been carried out in some of the states that are represented on this Committee. There is a recurring theme that I want to stress. EPA brownfields funds, although modest in the larger picture of multimillion dollar redevelopment projects, are often the first funds in to help communities lay the groundwork for turning blighted contaminated properties into new community assets. It would be hard to overstate the importance of these critical resources – EPA funds essentially function to allay fears of the unknown, and then, once known, the funds work in concert with state and local resources to counter the extra costs of redeveloping brownfields. The payoffs from these modest investments in leveling the playing field are enormous, because it’s not just about cleaning up and redeveloping X, Y, and Z site. It’s also about enabling communities to re-position their economies, taking the failed industries of the past and retooling those sites to enable future growth and improved quality of life.

Paull was joined in by David Lloyd, Director of the EPA Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization; Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City; Elizabeth Spinelli, Executive Director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation; Aaron Scheff, Brownfields Program Manager at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality; and Marjorie Weidenfeld Buckholtz, President of Environmental Consulting Solutions.

Uncategorized

California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg to be honored with the 2012 Smart Growth America Leadership Award

By ·

California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a long-time smart growth and community development advocate, will accept Smart Growth America’s 2012 Smart Growth Leadership award during a Friday ceremony at the Joe & Vi Jacobs Center in San Diego.

The honor coincides with the 11th annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference, a national event hosted by the Local Government Commission. It is expected to draw more than 1,500 attendees, including policy experts, business leaders, representatives from state and federal agencies and high-ranking elected officials.

“Perhaps no lawmaker has done more for smart growth in California in recent years than Sen. Steinberg,” says Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson. “SB375 was groundbreaking in that it provided a model for how regions can save on municipal service and infrastructure costs, increase development certainty, and become more resilient to changes in energy prices.”

Uncategorized

With rapid growth, there's no better time for tomorrow than today in Iowa

By ·

The population of Central Iowa is growing fast, and it needs new strategies for development if it wants to turn that growth into prosperity.

That was the theme of a presentation earlier this month by Bill Fulton, Smart Growth America’s Vice President of Policies and Programs. Fulton spoke to a group of elected officials, members of the board of Des Moines’ Metropolitan Planning Organization and other interested residents about how the region can use smart growth strategies to provide better housing and transportation options for its residents in years to come – and protect public budgets in the process.

Uncategorized

Montana Rail Link cuts costs and emissions with help from the EPA

By ·

The following is a guest post from Ann W. Cundy, Senior Transportation Planner, Missoula Office of Planning and Grants

Transportation planners, public health professionals and a private railroad in Missoula, Montana are working together to reduce diesel emissions and improve air quality.

The project is possible thanks to a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Clean Diesel Campaign, which works with public agencies, private companies and community groups to reduce diesel emissions and promotes clean air strategies. The City of Missoula recognized the Clean Diesel Campaign as an opportunity to improve its air quality, protect public health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money for Montana Rail Link – truly meeting a triple bottom line.

Uncategorized

Smart growth presents opportunities for homebuilders in a struggling housing market

By ·


North 14th St. at Crown Square in Old North St. Louis, part of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group‘s revitalization work in the city. Photo by Old North St. Louis via Flickr.

Rising demand for smart growth development might be a key strategy for turning around the housing industry.

Speaking to Builder magazine earlier this month, Smart Growth America Vice President Ilana Preuss explained that strong demand for walkable neighborhoods is an opportunity home builders can take advantage of.

LOCUS
  • …
  • …