Local Leaders Council

The latest developments, events, and resources from LLC:

Smart Growth Stories: Mayor Marilyn Strickland on development in Tacoma, WA

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Tacoma, WA Mayor Marilyn Strickland considers her city “the best kept secret in Washington State,” and smart growth strategies are helping make the city an even better place to live and work.

“Tacoma kind of got bypassed during the whole urban renewal phase of the late 60s and 70s, so as a result a lot of historic property did not get razed,” Strickland says. “So we have this beautiful stock of old warehouses and historic property.”

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Complete Streets news: February 2013

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Policy Adoption

On February 5, 2013, the Oakland, California City Council unanimously approved a Complete Streets policy. The new document includes specific actions to implement Complete Streets, including a review of existing plans, defining a stakeholder consultation process, and establishing and collecting data related to Complete Streets performance measures. Read more >>

Rancho Cucamonga, California, a suburban community in the greater Los Angeles region, boasts the state’s newest Complete Streets ordinance. Approved unanimously in December, the ordinance includes a robust list of performance metrics and implementation steps. Read more >>

The City of Philadelphia has finalized its Complete Streets Handbook! The new guide provides design guidance to planners, engineers and architects and helps residents understand the city’s tools for creating Complete Streets. The Handbook release follows the signing of the city’s Complete Streets Bill in December 2012 and Mayor Nutter’s 2009 Executive Order. Under the Handbook, all City projects will be subject to Complete Streets processes. Read more >>

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Local Leaders Council talks smart growth implementation at 2013 New Partners for Smart Growth conference

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Members of the Local Leaders Council and Smart Growth America staff. Top row, from left: Bill Fulton, Mayor Madeline Rogero, Mayor John Engen, Mayor Ken Moore, County Board Member Chris Zimmerman, Vice-Mayor Anu Natarajan and Jessica Holmberg. Bottom row, from left: Neha Bhatt, Councilmember Dave Richins, Mayor Rick Danner, and Mayor Scott Avedesian.

Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council was in Kansas City last week to collaborate, learn, and present solutions at the 12th annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference.

Over 1,100 people convened in Kansas City for the conference, including city planners, elected officials, bloggers, community leaders, health experts, and business people. Attendees traded ideas and stories, presented questions and solutions, and found new allies.

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Smart Growth Stories: Mayor Rick Danner leads by example in Greer, SC

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Since the early 1990′s, the city of Greer, SC has tripled in population and quadrupled in size. Mayor Rick Danner has been there for much of this change.

“We were growing at such a rapid rate that we were losing our sense of community, that small town feel,” Danner says in an interview with Smart Growth America. “And there was an overwhelming desire to be able to retain this sense of uniqueness that comes with the feel of a small town regardless of what size it is or population that it is. And we knew that the heart of that was going to be the downtown area.”

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Cincinnati Mayor credits smart growth in city’s turnaround

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When he took office in 2005, Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory knew he had to turn around a city that had been on a slow, precipitous decline since the 1960s.

It was a lofty task by any stretch of the imagination, even before the recession. But by implementing smart growth strategies and examining how neighborhood development affects economic potential and residents’ quality of life, Mallory has his city back on track.

At the recent New Partners for Smart Growth conference, Mallory touted how his administration embraced a wide range of community improvement initiatives, like tearing down enclosed sidewalks to add ‘eyes on the street,’ and renovating important public spaces to spur economic development and rehabilitate the damaged public perception of downtown Cincinnati.

Local Leaders Council

Greater Ohio, ULI and LOCUS host speaking series on walkable urbanism in Ohio

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Cleveland developer Ari Maron discusses his projects. Source: Smart Growth America.

The following post has been republished from our partners at the Greater Ohio Policy Center.

In Ohio and around the country, real estate developers and investors are recognizing pent-up demand for and a market shift toward sustainable, walkable urban places. Despite this paradigm shift and change in market momentum, many local, state and federal policies currently in place distort development incentives and hamper efforts to create the development consumers want and that support strong local economies. Urban developers and real estate and land use experts can align to provide state and national policy makers with expert advice on current consumer demand and the many benefits of urban and metropolitan growth strategies.

Over the past few days—January 16th and 17th—Greater Ohio traveled to Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland to co-host events with the Urban Land Institute district councils of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, as well as LOCUS to host “Advancing Ohio’s Urban Agenda: Walkable Communities for Globally Competitive Cities,” an exclusive series featuring Christopher Leinberger, President of LOCUS—a national network of real estate developers and investors that advocates for sustainable, walkable urban development in America’s metropolitan areas.

Local Leaders Council LOCUS

Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Connecting mayors and city leaders from across the country

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The Local Leaders Council’s Advisory Board convened in Washington, D.C. in October.

We’re doing a special blog series this month highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the eleventh of twelve installments.

In October we proudly launched Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council, a nonpartisan group of local elected officals who share a passion for building great towns, cities and communities.

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Smart Growth Stories: LOCUS President Chris Leinberger on the power of walkable development

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Over-building of drivable suburban development was a major part of the U.S.’s economic slowdown, and changing development strategies to meet shifting market demand will play an equally important role in repairing the national economy, says Chris Leinberger, President of Smart Growth America’s LOCUS.

As a vocal advocate for transit-oriented development (TOD) and walkable urban places, Leinberger sees how new demand for real estate is fundamentally changing the country – and its potential to revitalize economies across the nation.

“We’re in the middle of a structural shift in how we build the built environment in this country. The structural shift that we last had that was of this magnitude was back in the fifties where we shifted from investing in our cities to building the drivable suburban nature of our country,” he says. But now, “the pendulum is coming back to building walkable urban places.”

Leinberger detailed the rise of walkable urban places in the Washington, D.C. metro area in a recent report called “The WalkUP Wake Up Call,” which emphasized the economic potential of these places. “What you see created throughout the country as these walkable urban places get created is an upward spiral of value creation,” he says, whereby walkable development sets into motion a chain of events that ultimately enables neighborhoods to thrive.

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Smart Growth Stories: Taking transit-oriented development to a new level in Portland, OR

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For developers selecting a site for new development, transit accessibility is a major selling point. A good transit connection can increase property values while making a site more attractive to potential investors and residents. But because transit stations are limited resources, only a handful of sites can boast direct transit access. What if a site were to have access to not only one transit line, but three?

That is the situation for LOCUS member ZRZ Realty and its property Zidell Yards. With three types of transit, the Yards might be the most transit-oriented development site in the country.

“There are very few sites that have streetcar and light rail,” says Dennis Allen, Director of Planning and Development for ZRZ Realty and LOCUS Steering Committee member. “I guarantee you that we’re probably the only one that also has an aerial tram that goes next to it. If you throw that in, it’s probably the most pre-eminent transit-oriented development site.”

Zidell Yards is a 33-acre former shipbuilding yard along the Willamette River in Portland, which ZRZ is now working to develop into a mixed-use district. Located directly adjacent to downtown and close to Oregon Health & Science University, a major employer in the area, it is the largest undeveloped site in the city. With such immediate transportation access, the property has created high hopes for economic development and investment in the area and Allen is confident his company can capitalize on the demand for TOD in Portland right now. More amenities, retail stores and restaurants are expected soon, following the development-friendly path of the city’s expanding light-rail line.

Local Leaders Council LOCUS
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