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Massachusetts
Smart Growth Bill Requires Massachusetts State Agencies to Coordinate Development Activities
With enthusiastic support from its Democratic president Thomas
Birmingham, the Massachusetts Senate passed the state's version of
a ''smart growth'' bill, the Livable Communities Act, which requires
state agencies to coordinate their construction, transportation and
environmental activities and sets aside $50 million to help
municipalities devise master plans and to reward their
participation in regional planning with special road, housing, open
space and other grants. The act's chief sponsor, Democratic Senator
Marc Pacheco, said the money will let communities ''make their own
choices and grow smart, instead of always reacting.'' Senate Ways
and Means Committee Democratic Chairman Mark Montigny called the
act ''the best tool we've seen in decades to control sprawl.'' The
Livable Communities Act is part of a $919 million environmental
bond bill, which represents ''not only a prudent use, but an urgent
use of bonding authority at this crucial time'' of an economic
slowdown, the committee's chairman said, adding, ''You can't just
shut down these urgent preservations of our natural resources.''
4/9/2002
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