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A Joint Announcement from Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America

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Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America boards and staff have recently completed a joint strategic planning process to evaluate how to have the most impact in advancing shared goals related to federal transportation policy reform. To that end, the boards of each organization have agreed to the full transfer of the Transportation for America Campaign, which has been jointly hosted by Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America, to Smart Growth America with the goal of consolidating the transportation policy advocacy work into one organization.

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Geoff Anderson to testify before Congress today in favor of a crucial tool for redeveloping contaminated and abandoned land

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Yards Park in Washington, DC was built on the site of a former brownfield. Photo via Flickr.

Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America, will testify before Congress this afternoon in favor of the BUILD Act, a bipartisan plan for helping communities clean up old brownfields (polluted former industrial sites) and abandoned land, and return them to productive use for communities across the country.

The testimony will be before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee at 2:00 PM today, as part of a hearing titled “Cleaning Up and Restoring Communities for Economic Revitalization.” The hearing will likely be viewable online as a stream. for a link on the Committee’s website later this afternoon.

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Geoff Anderson to testify before Senate EPW committee on brownfields and the BUILD Act

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hearing

Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoff Anderson will testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works next week to discuss the Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development (BUILD) Act.

If passed, the bill would help communities across the country clean up contaminated and abandoned land and put it back into productive use.

“The BUILD Act is a win for everyone—Congress, local governments, business owners and taxpayers,” said Anderson in March, when the bill was introduced. “Brownfields restoration drives economic growth while giving local governments the flexibility to pursue the projects they need the most. Transforming a community’s financial sinkhole into a new business or residential building is a no-brainer.”

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Partnership in the News: Kansas transit center opens thanks to TIGER grant

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Mission Transit Center. Image via the Federal Transit Administration.

Mission City, Missouri recently celebrated the grand opening of the Mission Transit Center, a new transportation hub serving Johnson County designed to enhance service for current riders, attract new riders and connect transit to key areas where people live, work and play.

In 2010, the greater Kansas City region was awarded a $50 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program to assist transportation and infrastructure projects in the region. As part of the grant, Johnson County was awarded $10.7 million to upgrade its transit system.

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Officials aim to unleash economic potential of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley

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Fulton Mail in Downtown Fresno. Photograph courtesy chris.jackson on Flickr. Fulton Mail in Downtown Fresno. Photograph courtesy chris.jackson on Flickr.

Local leaders across in California’s San Joaquin Valley are working together to bring economic growth to the entire region.

Officials from fourteen different municipalities in California’s San Joaquin Valley, along with California State University – Fresno, the California Central Valley Economic Development Corporation and the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council have partnered to create Smart Valley Places, a coalition working to transform the Valley from one of the most economically challenged and underserved areas of the country into a thriving place to live, work and play.

“It’s almost as if they’ve found the balance,” said John Lehn, President and CEO of the Kings County Economic Development Corporation, part of the Smart Valley Places group. “Let’s focus on the things we do have in common. That has resulted in both state and federal officials really opening their eyes to the cooperation that’s happened in the Central Valley.”

The centerpiece of Smart Valley Places’ work is a single integrated plan for regional growth that will guide the San Joaquin Valley for the next 20 years and even beyond. The plan will span eight counties and over a dozen cities to preserve agricultural land, focus development near economic centers and address local and regional mass transit, energy and housing issues. Smart Valley Places projects vary across the region, from transit-oriented development in Tulare, to downtown revitalization in Hanford, all fitting into a “single integrated plan for regional growth.”

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Rhode Island is making good on an old plan to grow smarter

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RhodeMap RI
Courtesy Rhode Island Division of Planning

Rhode Island is America’s smallest state in terms of land area, so finding the best planning solutions can be a delicate matter that demands a variety of voices. The Ocean State has a mix of cities, small towns, rural areas, and suburbs, and is home to commuters to Boston and other locations out of state.

RhodeMap RI: Building a Better Rhode Island is the state-led effort to create strategies for housing, growth, and economic development in the form of a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development.

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Spotlight on Sustainability: Puget Sound building communities around transit

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A Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regional planning grant is helping the Central Puget Sound region plan for future growth and leverage a significant transportation investment.

Sound Transit Light Rail; credit: LeeLeFever

Investing in Puget Sound

The Central Puget Sound region approved the Sound Transit 2 Plan (ST2) in 2008 to develop and construct more robust regional rapid transit. At an estimated $17.8 billion cost, the majority of which is devoted to 36 additional miles of light rail track, the project will more than double the current system, expanding service to three counties and connecting the larger Seattle metropolitan area. Upon completion, slated for 2023, the project’s planners expect half of all trips to Downtown Seattle will be on transit. ST2 will help support the projected growth of the Puget Sound region in the coming years, with an anticipated 1.5 million new residents by 2040.

The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), an organization focused on planning for regional transportation, growth management and economic development, realized the need to prepare the Puget Sound area for a projected population of 5 million. Working with residents and county, city, and local officials, PSRC developed VISION 2040, a regional strategy for accommodating the area’s projected growth. Complimenting ST2’s efforts, VISION 2040 is a set of regional policies that local jurisdictions must consider when planning their decisions addressing land use, economic, and environmental issues. While an effective framework for regional growth, the plan does not focus on the individual community level and local benefits, opportunities, and potential impacts of ST2. Says Ben Bakkenta of PSRC, “There wasn’t that bridge from the regional vision to the local jurisdiction.”

Growing Transit Communities

To address this gap, PSRC applied for a HUD Regional Planning Grant in 2010. The $5 million grant they received has helped develop strategies for communities receiving new light rail stations, as well as those with other high capacity transit, such as bus rapid transit. Growing Transit Communities seeks to ensure that ST2’s investments help to concentrate housing, jobs, and services near transit, promoting faster and safer travel. Led by a diverse consortium of 39 partners including local governments and regional transit agencies, business organizations and non-profits in the central Puget Sound region’s 3 counties, the project has a particular focus on housing affordability and equal access to opportunity and transit.

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Upcoming Webinars: July 2013

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Want to learn about new, innovative strategies for creating great places? Several upcoming webinars provide ideas and inspiration for local leaders.

Adopting CSS: The Florida Greenbook
Wednesday, July 10, 2013 – 2:30-4:00 PM EDT
Click here to register
In May of 2011, the Florida Department of Transportation revised their Manual of Uniform Minimum Standards for Design, Construction and Maintenance for Streets and Highways, commonly referred to as the Florida Greenbook. The addition of Chapter 19: Traditional Neighborhood Development adopts a context sensitive approach to transportation and land use as standard practice, focusing on network functionality and design standards that support communities.

FDOT District One Secretary Billy Hattaway will discuss Chapter 19 and explain how CSS is essential to diverse projects from maintenance to major construction, in settings both urban and rural. Florida’s experience provides clear direction for other states striving towards safety and livability outcomes in a 21st Century transportation system.

Green Infrastructure: Achieving Stormwater Management, Neighborhood Stabilization, and Complete Streets Using Formula Funds
Tuesday, July 16, 2013 – 2:30-3:45 PM EDT
Join here, no pre-registration necessary
Experts from HUD, DOT, EPA, and the city of Indianapolis will discuss ways communities can use green infrastructure to manage stormwater, help revitalize neighborhoods, and create complete streets, and how federal formula funds can be used to finance green infrastructure.

Green infrastructure involves using landscape features to store, infiltrate, and evaporate stormwater. This reduces the amount of water draining into sewers and helps reduce the discharge of pollut¬ants into water bodies. Examples of green infrastructure include rain gardens, swales, constructed wetlands, and permeable pavements. Green infrastructure solutions can cost less than typical grey infrastructure solutions, such as installing large drainage pipes, and can be equally effective.

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