Smart Growth News

Texas

El Paso Revives 1920s Urban Plan

In the 1920s, El Paso was a city of 100,000 with a dynamic downtown business district. At that time, urban planner George Kessler (1862-1923) expected the city to become an economic and quality-of-life model under a boulevard-based master plan he drew up just before his premature death. El Paso officials are now re-launching that effort through smart growth. The current population stands at some 620,000.

''In proportion to population and financial resources, no other city in the country has invested so much money as El Paso has in the last 15 years in reclaiming raw land for municipal use and occupancy,'' Kessler wrote almost 90 years ago, observes El Paso Times writer Gustavo Reveles Acosta.

Current officials wish their predecessors had foreseen the ramifications of the post-World-War-II push into the urban outskirts. ''What we got because of that is the type of city that we are today,'' said City Representative Steve Ortega, who has studied the Kessler plan as a guide for the current growth policy. ''We are a city with so much potential, but because of the mistakes made 30, 40, 50 years ago, we are forced to try and backtrack in order to fix our planning problems.'' Until the 1950s, ''El Paso was the leading city in the Southwest,'' he continued. ''We had the highest per capita income, the tallest concrete buildings and the best mass transit system. After the business and political communities in El Paso caved in to sprawl, we became a low-wage city. It is going to take us a while to come off from that.''

Oretga is encouraged that more and more developers see both their own opportunity and shared public benefits in the city-core redevelopment, which is bound to attract young professionals and help spur the economy. ''Their actions are having a trickle-down effect on other business people who want to do the same,'' he said.

Retired El Paso planner Nestor Valencia and present Deputy Director for Planning Mathew McElroy concur with Ortega’s diagnosis and share his trust in a better future. ''Kessler gave us the blueprint. He really helped shape this city for so long,'' said Valencia. ''Unfortunately, after World War II things changed completely, and growth in El Paso went in a different direction. For better or worse, El Paso sprawled and that killed Downtown, the trolley system and the density of the city.''

Deputy Director McElroy, also coordinating the 20-year regional master plan, added, ''George Kessler had the insight, even back then, of what would work 10 years in the future, 20 years in the future and even 100 years in the future. The plans that he developed in the 1920s are still so relevant today. They are still the basis of where we want to go as a city.'' Expecting the new city plan, now in the works, to focus on redevelopment, density, transit and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, he stressed, ''A city that creates density and walkability is a city that creates economic development and healthy life styles.''   8/28/2010

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Amarillo Counting on Smart Growth to Rein in Costs of Sprawl

Already overburdened by infrastructure and maintenance costs, Amarillo needs a development pattern change before its 2009 population of 190,000 reaches some 250,000 by 2030, reports Amarillo Globe-News writer Karen Smith Welch from a Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee workshop with city and planning and zoning commissioners.

''It's time we try to look outside of what's comfortable and what we're familiar with, and think outside the box,'' stressed Steering Committee Vice Chair Lilia Escajeda. ''The citizens, in nearly every sector, said they did not want more sprawl. They want revitalization.''

Drafted over the past 14 months, the committee's plan advocates for the capital investments, ordinances and development policies necessary for smart growth, including a focus on neighborhoods, parks, transportation, housing, utilities, and land use in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), a five-mile wide band around its limits. Since insufficient city control over land use and development in that area may result in such mismatches as junkyards near homes, the plan envisions a more proactive annexation stance. Amarillo should annex the most vulnerable nearby tracts sooner rather than later, noted Steering Committee member Bob Juda, ''to minimize future mistakes and problems getting absorbed into the city.''

Correspondingly, Vice Chair Escajeda, member Bill Chudej and others urged cleanup and improvements for depressed neighborhoods, city gateways, streets, and gathering places, hoping for developer incentives to spur infill, attract business and create jobs. And Kendig Keast Collaborative planning consultant Gary Mitchell recommended adoption of ''a street-drainage utility fee'' – a service charge popular elsewhere in the state – to help offset immediate maintenance costs. ''It seems like the city's going to go deeper and deeper,'' he cautioned, ''trying to keep up with infrastructure and maintain a low tax rate without having this kind of financing tool.''

Joining Mayor Debra McCartt in commending the 20-member Steering Committee for its work on the plan, City Commissioner Brian Eades asked for help in public outreach to detail city priorities and related benefits. ''For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction,'' he remarked, saying should that happen with some plan items, the city would expect a group of dedicated civic leaders to secure the planning goals.   8/5/2010

Resource(s): www.amarillo.com/

El Paso Adopts Housing + Transportation Affordability Index

Systematic in translating its sustainability commitments into practical measures, the El Paso City Council has adopted the innovative Housing + Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index to evaluate the financial feasibility of low-income housing locations. A few days later, the Council re-zoned land for apartments in a planned ''smart growth'' community.

The H+T Affordability Index, created by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), will help officials decide on low-cost loans for first-time home buyers, low-cost unit developers, and other affordability advocates. In its February 2009 report on El Paso, CNT found its metropolitan statistical area (MSA) – with an average median income of $34,065 and an average household of 3.18 people – ''broadly affordable when measured using a widely accepted standard of affordability of 30 percent or less of household income.''

In contrast, it found residents ''largely overburdened by transportation costs,'' which ranged from $600 to almost $1,000 a month and alone accounted for 28 and 33 percent of household incomes in many parts of the area. Noting that CNT considers a neighborhood affordable if the average family spends no more than 45 percent of its income on housing and transportation, El Paso Deputy Director of Planning Matthew McElroy pointed out that in the city's far East Side, ''it's not unusual to see 71 percent'' in such combined household costs.

''I think it has huge implications for the way we do planning,'' observed City Representative Susie Byrd, who introduced the affordability evaluation ordinance, saying the H+T index will help the city make sure that individuals can repay low-income housing loans and that developer or other projects are truly low-cost. The deputy planning director added that residents trying to decide whether to buy or rent would also find the H+T index useful.

As to rezoning of 10 acres near Mesa Street, some 4 miles north from the city core, he said the proposed apartment complex – with retail stores – and the eventual 220-acre Montecillo community are ''light-years ahead of what we have had,'' exemplifying smart growth. Dense, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly and located in the recently approved bus rapid transit corridor, they feature narrow streets, wide sidewalks, hidden alley parking spaces, and various other amenities that standard subdivisions lack.

''This is going to introduce a different model to not only Mesa but all of the city,'' stressed Representative Byrd. ''This can prove that you can grow and develop in a way that is smart and beneficial to our city.''   8/2/2010

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

FHLBank San Francisco Awards $32.5 Million in Affordable Housing Grants

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco awarded $32.5 million in Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grants in the first round of its 2010 funding competition. The grants approved by the Bank's Board of Directors in AHP Round A were awarded to 60 projects that address the diverse affordable housing needs of communities in Arizona, California, Illinois, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington, and will produce or preserve 3,375 housing units that are affordable to lower-income individuals and families.

AHP-funded projects create an affordable place to live for families with children, seniors, persons with disabilities, young adults transitioning out of the foster care system and other at-risk youth, people who are in need of supportive services or are homeless, and other lower-income individuals and households. ''In our region, the need for resources that provide vulnerable and disadvantaged populations with a safe, decent place to live is especially persistent, regardless of economic conditions. The AHP applications we received in this round reflect that broad, constant need,'' said Jim Yacenda, Vice President and Community Investment Officer at FHLBank San Francisco. ''We are pleased that our members are using our program to deliver such critical resources to their communities.''   6/29/2010

Resource(s): www.fhlbsf.com/

El Paso Developers May Get Better Infill Incentives for Building in City Core

The El Paso City Council is looking to speed up the smart-growth process with impact fees on outer projects and incentives for infill in older neighborhoods. Constant construction on the fringes costs taxpayers millions of dollars for new services and infrastructure, reports the El Paso Times.

City Council Economic Development Committee Chairman Steve Ortega is hopeful that area residents will join the national trend. ''More and more, people are fleeing the suburban aspects of many cities and opting instead to come live near the core or the urbanized center,'' he observed. ''The further out you live, the more time you spend in your car. That has environmental, traffic and economic consequences.''

However, the push for infill won't halt all outside projects, according to Ortega. ''There needs to be a good balance between new construction on the far areas of El Paso and new construction in the core,'' he stressed. ''That's the only real way to offset the costs that come with growth.''

City Redevelopment Manager Veronica Soto foresees a graduated system of incentives. ''The direction of the committee is to study centric circles, which means that the closer your infill project gets to the core of the city, the better the incentive package you would receive,'' she explained. ''This is a process that has been used effectively in cities like Austin. We feel it may work here, too.''

El Paso Association of Builders President Randy O’Leary is open to such a program. ''We are more than willing to come to the table and try to come up with a good policy,'' he said. ''We are in the business of building homes, and if people want homes in established neighborhoods, then we want to build there.''   6/21/2010

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

State Policy Change on Government Facility Siting Dovetails with Austin Density and Transit Plans

The Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) is considering a new ''asset management strategy'' for all state-owned and leased properties and offices. This effort could mean a redevelopment of the state's 122-acre Capitol complex in downtown Austin into a dense urban hub that could finally spark revitalization of adjacent neighborhoods.

The site is now ''a bleak government monoculture of office buildings and parking garages – with nary a coffee shop or strolling human being'' reports Austin Chronicle writer Katherine Gregor. Architect-designer Sinclair Black has dubbed it a ''black hole,'' long overdue for transformation. ''To make it a true urban area is a fantastic opportunity. But it can't just be an office district if it's going to be truly part of the city,'' he said. ''It has to be mixed-use, a diverse and integrated district, with a serious amount of housing and retail and perhaps some public institutions.''

City Council Member Chris Riley is hoping for nothing less. ''For years now, we've been talking about the need to bring some new life to that area, especially north and east of the Capitol,'' he said. ''It seems like such an opportunity now, to partner with the state and encourage their action to make those areas available for redevelopment.''

Under former TFC Executive Director Edward Johnson, the agency wanted to consolidate state offices from around Travis County at a new 200-to-300-acre campus along the SH 130 toll road east of the international airport, some 10 miles from downtown Austin. After Johnson's resignation in September and replacement by former Austin state Representative Terry Keel, the TFC focused instead on the economic benefits of moving about a third of those offices to the Austin complex, ''most likely into new buildings developed with or by the private sector.'' That would allow the state to reduce its Travis County leasing costs of more than $42 million a year, while helping advance the city's ideas – including future light rail, transit-oriented development, and streets more friendly to pedestrians and bikers – for that and other key corridors.

''We all share that common goal for rail transit to ultimately serve the Capitol complex,'' pointed out TFC staffer Aundre Dukes. ''We are serious about coordinating our efforts with the city to create compatible development patterns.'' City Council Member Sheryl Cole is optimistic about the prospects. ''I am extremely happy that the Texas Facilities Commission has gone in this direction – to create a denser campus downtown, in the Capital complex, rather than out on SH 130,'' she said. ''Now we have a wonderful opportunity to work with the Texas Facilities Commission and bring all of our partners together to support one unified plan for a revitalized live-work-play district, centered on a major transit corridor.''   5/21/2010

Resource(s): www.austinchronicle.com/

El Paso’s First Major Smart-Growth Development May Hinge on Tax Breaks

Prodded by the El Paso City Council and advised by national PlaceMakers experts, the EPT Land Communities has totally recast its initial plan for 300 acres on the Westside, replacing retail and 320 single-family homes with a dense mixed-use ''urban village.'' Still the development faces tough challenges due to the required heavy public investment.

Expecting to spend $575 million on their transit-oriented Monticello village, which could include stores, restaurants, offices and open space, along with 2,595 apartments, 379 townhouses and 117 single-family homes, the developers want the city to create a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) and issue more than $50 million in infrastructure bonds. They also count on $4.4 million to secure a match from a federal tax credit program for commercial development.

In return, reports El Paso Inc. weekly magazine, the developers promise the city its first walkable neighborhood in almost 100 years, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue over the next decades. The city's bond and legal advisers, First Southwest and attorney Jeanne H. McDonald, expressed similar concerns in their memos last month. They advised the city to inquire about EPT's financial capacity and specific infrastructure costs, with the attorney also noting the need to put the project risk on the developers and scrutinize both development schedules and revenue projections. McDonald questioned whether the city should bear development risk by selling bonds before there is ''sufficient value on the ground to produce tax increments sufficient to pay debt service.''

City Representative Beto O’Rourke, who spearheaded the push for smart growth, pointed to another issue. ''Generally, I agree the city should bear some of the risk in this, but to what degree?'' he asked. ''In the project cost they want us to pay them a project management fee of almost $800,000. It's one thing to say they want the city to put in sidewalks or create a TIRZ, but it's another thing to say we want you to pay us $800,000 to manage the project.''

The EPT states that its ''desire to produce a development under Smart Growth that the citizens of El Paso deserve is unchanged,'' but developer Richard Aquilar disagreed with the suggestion for bond issuance upon completion of infrastructure, noting that the property would be collateral should the development fail to pay the increment needed for debt. ''This is a basic element of our proposal and one of the major components making the vertical financing available in the current market,'' he wrote in his memo about the city’s financial commitment. ''A City decrease in participation may result in us proceeding on the traditional current zoning plan that has been approved.''   5/1/2010

Resource(s): http://elpasoinc.com/

Mayor: Austin Needs More Time to Hone Light Rail Plan, but Investments in Bike Lanes and Trails Are Needed Now

Accepting responsibility for the delay in a bond election for Austin’s light rail plan, Mayor Lee Leffingwell reaffirmed his rail commitment and proposed a vote on $100 million in bonds for roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails.

''I continue to believe that a well-conceived urban rail system is the best investment we can make to help ensure the ongoing development of downtown Austin, to help fight traffic congestion, to help promote sustainable growth and protect our environment, and to keep Austin competitive with our peer cities, many of whom are now investing billions in urban and commuter rail system,'' the mayor said in a lengthy press release. ''If anything, this delay reflects our determination to get urban rail right – and we will.''

Citing ''critical lessons'' of the 32-mile MetroRail commuter line from Leander to downtown Austin – approved by 62 percent of voters in 2004, scheduled for completion in 2008, and just coming online this month – Leffingwell told constituents that ''the determining factor for holding a rail election must be the completeness of the proposal, not an imposed deadline.'' Although officials have made significant progress in planning light rail, they set an ''overly ambitious'' timeline, underestimating the project’s complexity and overestimating the speed the city would address all issues to have definitive answers for voters before this November.

The city, the mayor explained, needs more time to propose an exact rail route across Lady Bird Lake as the project’s first phase, chose a specific entity to operate the system, minimize the construction impact on commuters and local businesses, and present ''a clear picture of what subsequent phases of an urban rail system might look like, how construction and operation of those later phases might be financed, and exactly what role we can expect federal funding to play.''

Putting the delay in this context and promising to ''maximize stakeholder input'' into the final rail proposal, Leffingwell said he will ask the City Council to have staff prepare ''a $100 million package of investments in roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and trails'' for the November election, since ''doing nothing is not an option if we want to help relieve Austin’s crippling traffic congestion, plainly one of the greatest threats to our quality of life.''   3/10/2010

Resource(s): http://mayorleffingwell.com/

El Paso Approves Ordinance to Downsize Streets

The City Council in El Paso, Texas, voted 7-1 to implement an ordinance that would change the standard street width of new development to 32 feet from the original 36 feet. In addition, developers could even develop streets as narrow as 28 and 30 feet under certain conditions. The changes would only apply to residential neighborhoods and is part of the city’s overall commitment to smart growth policies.

Developers supported the law because of the reduced cost of asphalt, concrete and paving. Residents also support narrower streets because it would force automobile traffic to slow done. ''It makes some sense from a cost perspective,'' said Mike Santamaria, owner of Mountain Vista Homes. ''We can pass the savings on to the consumer.'' The ordinance also allows for a greater level of flexibility in home design allowing for larger front yards or placing homes closer to the street.

The El Paso Times notes that the update to the ordinance is a continuation of improvements made under the city’s “smart growth” development rules. In addition to narrower streets, shorter block sizes, wider sidewalks and more connectivity are also called for in the ordinance. ''It's the current state of the field in terms of planning processes,'' said Mathew McElroy, the city's planning director.   1/30/2010

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Houston Council Rejects Mixed-Use Development Due To Expected Traffic

The Houston City Council has rejected a developer's appeal to build a 23-story, mixed-use development on the grounds that the expected ''extreme traffic congestion'' was undesirable, reports the Houston Chronicle. According to Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck, rejecting the appeal was “important to preserve the city's authority to impose reasonable regulations to prevent new developments from having adverse effects.'' Clutterbuck’s district includes the site; she opposes the project.

From mid-2007 through this year, ''city officials rejected applications for the project 11 times on grounds that traffic it generated would increase congestion on nearby streets to unacceptable levels.'' The developers intend to pursue all available options, including a lawsuit, that would allow themto move forward with the project.   12/10/2009

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Toward Roads for People, Neighborhoods: The Dominos Start to Fall

by Scott Polikov, Citiwire.net

Two years ago, Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) President John Norquist approached the lectern to address the Texas Transportation Commission upon the invitation of the late Commission Chairman Ric Williamson, an avowed road warrier. Knowing that the transportation commission, the overseers of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), had just embarked on one of the largest road building efforts in recent American history, Norquist said, “Mr. Chairman, I’m not against your big road running between your cities–but I am here to talk about how TxDOT can begin to support local communities, neighborhoods and economic development.”

Williamson and his colleagues were intrigued, but several of them continued to peek at their Blackberrys.

Norquist then started his famous “Highways to Boulevards” powerpoint presentation. When he showed the transformation of a portion of downtown Seoul, South Korea from a scarred aging corridor with an elevated highway into a modern walkable economic development marvel–a reinvented boulevard lined with new buildings and a linear park running down its middle–the commissioners stopped and stared. Norquist had touched a nerve. America has been building roads without any regard to what surrounds them, and it has to look at examples across the Pacific to understand how we have been losing ground here at home.

At that moment, the commissioners realized that this was a real opportunity to do something different.

Having introduced Norquist that day, I started toward the lectern to close the presentation. Chairman Williamson first thanked Norquist and Mike Krusee for arranging Norquist’s visit. A national leader in urban transportation reform, Krusee at that time was serving as chairman of the Transportation Committee of the Texas House of Representatives but could not be at the presentation because the legislature was in session that day. As chairman of the House committee, Krusee provided oversight of TxDOT and had been telling Chairman Williamson for some time that Norquist had an important message to deliver to Texas, eventually securing the invitation for Norquist to speak.

That day Williamson had obviously listened, asking me “what would you and Chairman Krusee like to do now?” I responded that TxDOT should take a serious look at its roadway design policies. With that, the commission created the TxDOT Urban Thoroughfares Committee.

After a year of work, the committee recommended–and TxDOT agreed–to adopt as an accepted roadway design criteria for the state, the Manual for Walkable Urban Thoroughfares. That manual recently had been adopted as a recommended practice by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Developed in partnership with CNU and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the ITE Manual provides design criteria for streets that not only move cars safely but that also support walkable urbanism. The first state in the Union to adopt the ITE Manual, Texas now provides for true context sensitive solutions in urban conditions on its federal aid and state funded roadways.

Other states have undertaken similar reforms. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has undertaken a reform initiative under the leadership of its progressive transportation secretary, Allen Biehler. By adopting the Smart Transportation Guidebook, PennDOT has provided the state with the means to connect its investment in transportation infrastructure with sustainable communities through context-sensitive street design.

In Virginia, the state will no longer fund and maintain roadways that provide for only one way in and one way out of subdivisions. Why? The lack of a network of streets leads to unsustainable gridlock, resulting in more transportation funding pressure on the state to simply widen roads. More importantly, the “one-way in and one-way out” design does not support sustainable, interconnected walkable neighborhoods.

The common thread running through the Texas, Pennsylvania and Virginia initiatives is support for sustainable development patterns, rather than just mitigating traffic congestion. For 60 years our system of designing and funding roads has been based on the latter. We must now shift the system’s purpose to the former.

The starting point is state DOT roadway design policy. In this context, it is time to engage the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to consider the ITE Manual as an analog to its Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, known as the “AASHTO Green Book.” The flexibility in design called for in the AASHTO green book clearly embraces the intent of the ITE Manual.

In addition, the federal authorization of Metropolitan Planning Organizations must begin to shift the focus of federal transportation spending from the mitigation of traffic congestion to connecting and sustaining walkable, transit-friendly neighborhoods. As the Obama Administration has recognized through its Livability Partnership of USDOT, HUD and EPA, transportation spending (as well as housing expenditures) must become primarily an investment in neighborhoods. The key will be ensuring that the design and funding of our streets support those places, instead of just making it easy to drive through them.   12/5/2009

Resource(s): http://citiwire.net/

San Antonio Launches Wi-Fi Pilot Program to Increase Bus Ridership

A new month-long pilot program in San Antonio, launched on November 1, will offer Wi-Fi access to riders on some VIA Metropolitan Transit express routes, in an effort to increase bus ridership. ''What we're trying to figure out with the pilot program is how much interest there is out there,'' VIA President Keith Parker said. ''We think there may be a considerable amount. And if there is, we plan to roll it out on a much larger level.''

Wireless Internet is just one way VIA is trying to reach out to a more diverse group of riders, namely ''choice riders,'' or those who aren't dependent on the bus system. An iPhone application that provides riders with real-time bus information and trip-planning capability is under development. In addition, Google Maps incorporates information from VIA into its trip planning tools.

In Austin, some Capital Metro buses began offering Wi-Fi to riders in January 2007. Similar service will be available on Capital Metro's rail line perhaps as early as 2010. ''Now that we're seeing more mobile devices, like cell phones that can take advantage of Wi-Fi, we expect that there will be more usage that way,'' a spokesman for Capital Metro said. ''But it's kind of a horse race in the sense that as technology advances; mobile technology is getting faster, too. You come to a point where you're faster doing it individually than doing it on a shared system.''   12/1/2009

Resource(s): www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6698077.html

Austin Adopts “Safe Passage” Ordinance

After Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would have required vehicles to maintain a distance of three feet from “vulnerable road users,” the Austin City Council took the initiative to pass its own “safe passage” ordinance to protect bicyclists, pedestrians and people in wheelchairs.

According to author Tristan Hallman in this article posted on MySanAntonio.com, the ordinance is the first of its kind among major Texas cities. However, Robin Stallings, executive director of BikeTexas, which helped Austin city staff craft language for the ordinance, says he wouldn’t be surprised to see more cities enacting similar safe-passing laws. BikeTexas currently is working with other cities, but declined to name them.

Perry has said he vetoed SB 488, adopted by the Legislature in 2009, because he believes bicyclists already are protected by state law.   10/23/2009

Resource(s): http://www.mysanantonio.com/

Snapshot of a City: Houston's Texas-Sized Sprawl

National Public Radio's Steve Inskeep stops in Houston, Texas in this ''Urban Frontier'' segment of Morning Edition.

Relatively short commuting times (compared to other major metropolitan areas) and low housing costs have helped insulate Houston from the nation's economic woes.

But it comes at an environmental cost. Inskeep notes that Houstonians use more energy than people in other U.S. cities, according to a study co-authored by Edward Glaeser of Harvard University. The city is built mostly around the use of cars, and the region's hot, humid climate requires more energy for comfortable living.

Topics during the focus on Houston include:

• Novelist Visualizes Houston's Past, And Its Future
• Mayor's Dilemma: Can Houston Save Energy?
• Fighting Gentrification With Money In Houston
• Greener Houston Grapples With Diversity And Sprawl

Each segment can be heard or read at the resource link below. -- NPR   9/17/2009

Resource(s): www.npr.org/

El Paso Working With Districts to Form Smart Growth for Schools Committee

Following its recent Smart Growth for Schools Workshop with PlaceMakers, LLC Director of Implementation Advisory Nathan Norris, Arcadia Realty Corporation Co-Founder and CEO William Gietema, Jr., and School Collaborative Principal Peter Brown, the El Paso City Council asked Mayor John Cook to involve leaders of the El Paso, Ysleta, Socorro and Canutillo independent school districts -- with a total of some 140,000 students and 214 campuses -- in creation of a joint committee that would unify standards and formalize the use of smart-growth principles for school construction.

Such a committee would be the first in Texas, where school districts don't need municipal input on how and where they build schools, reports El Paso Times writer Gustavo Reveles Acosta, noting that its formation may be problematic, since the city has recently sparred with the districts over various issues.

The joint committee would include trustees of the four school districts and selected city representatives, he writes, ''to help shape the way schools fit into existing and new neighborhoods,'' and once the standards and principles were set, it would meet quarterly to share information on specific plans and their implementation.

''I'm willing to sit down and talk about this issue, but it's not going to be a one-way conversation,'' said Ysleta Independent School District (YISD) Board President Marty Reyes. ''We need to make sure that any partnership is mutual and that just how they want us to work with them, they will work with us.''

El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) Chief of Staff Terri Jordan expressed readiness to come to the table, encouraged by early cooperation with the city on the issue.

''EPISD supports the smart-growth principles and is looking forward to continuing our work with the city as we plan for and build new schools,'' she told the writer. ''Most recently, our work with city planning in coordinating the sites for the new Northeast high school and Northeast elementary school demonstrate our efforts in planning together.''

City Representative Susie Byrd, who championed the inclusion of smart-growth principles in new city annexation and subdivision policies, the writer observes, is also optimistic.

''This is about creating safe communities for our children . . . good neighborhoods for them to play and go to school,'' she stressed. ''I think you will find that our staffs have always worked well together. And if the city and the school districts could pull their leverage together, I think we could create a good partnership that will be beneficial for our residents.'' -- El Paso Times   9/9/2009

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Report: Housing and Transportation Costs Breaking Budgets in El Paso

Economists say households should spend no more than 45 percent of their annual incomes on housing and transportation -- 30 and 15 percent, respectively -- but the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) found that an average El Paso household spends 51 percent, which exceeds its means, reports El Paso Times writer Gustavo Reveles Acosta, quoting CNT Research Director Linda Young and West-Central District Representative on the City Council Susie Byrd, the latter increasingly determined to push for greater affordability and smart growth.

''It's so easy for someone to think of home affordability as rent or mortgage, but they don't take into consideration the amount of money it takes to drive back and forth,'' said Director Young, who led the center's El Paso study, published earlier this year. ''El Paso has low density, though, and purchasing a car and maintaining it to help you get from one end of town to the other for things like work or groceries can be expensive.''

With few exception, the writer notes, El Paso neighborhoods offer affordable housing, with almost 10 percent of all single-family homes listed for sale citywide at prices under $100,000, but the car costs -- loan and insurance payments, taxes, gas and maintenance -- push ''most of the city's residents over the affordability threshold'' and officials are ready to curb sprawl, encourage walkability, and improve transit.

''So many of the policy decisions we make are based on affordability,'' observed Representative Byrd. ''With this (CNT study) information, it will now be easier to point out that affordability has to do with much more than the price of building a home.''

See the CNT housing + transportation affordability study at www.cnt.org/repository/El%20Paso%20H+T%20Report.pdf. -- El Paso Times   7/20/2009

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

El Paso Annexation Policy Would Increase Service Fees, Offer Discounts for Smart Growth Projects

''We have asked for too little of our developers, and we need to really begin to ask for quite more out of them,'' said El Paso District 2 Representative Susie Byrd just hours before the City Council gave the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce two more weeks, until July 21, to review a proposed annexation policy that would generally increase related infrastructure and service fees, while leaving room for negotiations on specifics in each case, with discounts possible for master-planned or smart-growth projects.

Under the policy, reports El Paso Times writer Gustavo Reveles Acosta, developers asking the city to annex given tracts would have to present development plans that would include major thoroughfares, traffic signs and street lights, with the city identifying the fees for fire stations, police centers, libraries and some other facilities on the onset, but requiring the proponents to secure the road and other infrastructure costs on a case-by-case basis for the council to approve annexation.

Developers and other business owners believe all annexation fees should be set ahead.

''In order to be effective, the proposed annexation policy should delineate the future requirements and regulations in a manner that is consistent and not subject to interpretation,'' Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Richard Dayoub wrote to Mayor John Cook. ''It will be difficult, if not impossible, for business owners to evaluate and predict their associated costs if the fee schedule or the formula associated with annexation is not fully developed.''

Greater El Paso Association of Realtors President Suzy Shewmaker-Hicks voiced similar concerns.

''Right now, with the economy the way it is,'' she noted, ''it is so important that we figure out how exactly the new policy will affect us.''

The city manager office's special-projects expert John Neal stressed the importance of flexibility.

''We want to create a conversation between the city and the developer whenever we talk about annexing specific plots of land into the city,'' he explained. ''We understand that each site is unique, and that the fees the applicant will have to pay will have to be different, too.''

Since city staff worked on the policy for more than a year, neither council members nor Mayor Cook thought developers lacked time for its review and input, but none objected to delaying the vote for two weeks.

An El Paso editorial agreed with the delay.

''We back the city's stated over plan of shifting some of the tax load off the burdened shoulders of homeowners,'' it said. ''We also believe it would be unwise to hurt the building industry; we need it for a healthier economy.'' -- El Paso Times   7/7/2009

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

El Paso Hosts ''Smart Growth for Schools'' Workshops

Cooperation between schools districts and municipalities on smart growth communities and smart growth schools ''has been lacking'' nationwide, said PlaceMakers Director of Implementation Advisory Nathan Norris, glad that his firm helped El Paso create the SmartCode adopted in July 2008, and that he now facilitates conversations about changing the way its schools ''are built and designed.''

On May 29, Director Norris, together with Arcadia Realty Corporation CEO William Gietema, Jr. and School Collaborative Principal Peter Brown, led the city's Smart Growth for Schools Workshop, with their presentations titled, ''What are Smart Growth Schools and Why You Need Them,'' ''Hurdles to Building Smart Growth Schools in Texas,'' and ''Designing High Performance Schools,'' followed by a strategy roundtable on ''How to Get There from Here.''

The experts explained in detail how smart growth schools save public money, reduce their environmental impact, improve student health, and gain long-term support for school districts from residents other than the students' parents.

El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) officials recognize the importance of schools built according to smart growth principles and wish they always had the right land to consider, reports El Paso Times writer Gustavo Reveles Acosta, quoting EPISD Board of Trustees President Patricia L. Hughes.

''There's only a handful of sites that we can buy and turn into schools,'' she pointed out. ''If there is a property that is vacant and we can actually use smart growth, then I am confident that we will.''

Elected to the City Council from District 2 in 2005, Representative Susie Byrd wants the city and each school district to work closely together and make sure all new campuses will be easily and safely accessible to students on foot.

Noting after the May workshop that New Urbanism reflects ''the wisdom of old neighborhoods,'' she told the writer new schools ''need to find a way to complement their neighborhoods.''

City Deputy Director for Planning Matthew McElroy said PlaceMakers consultant Nathan Norris and others will hold another two workshops later this year.

''The idea here is to include all public facilities in our long-term planning, not just parks and streets,'' he stressed. ''The plans that Norris has presented show that smart school growth is possible in all type of neighborhoods, from low-income to high-income.'' -- El Paso Times, Newspaper Tree   6/30/2009

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/; www.newspapertree.com/

Carrollton Readying Downtown for Arrival of Light Rail

Scheduled to open December 2010, the 17.6-mile Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light-rail extension from Dallas West End north to Carrollton promises a long-term economic boost for this city of about 124,000 as it works to enhance its competitiveness and focuses on transit-oriented development near a new DART station, just north of ''a gazebo-studded downtown plaza that leverages historic cachet and funkiness,'' reports Dallas Morning News writer Dianne Solˇs, with entrepreneurs, preservationists, and scholars agreeing that ''it takes restaurants, specialty shops, pedestrians and urban density to make 'new, old towns' out of aging Main Streets.''

Hopeful that the downtown DART station, one of three the city will have, will eventually serve two more light-rail lines throughout the region, Carrollton leaders are counting on and enticing high-density development.

''If you have a good project, we are ready to put it on a fast track,'' said Mayor Ron Branson, while Economic Development Director Brad Mink stressed, ''Old downtown is a destination already. We already have the entertainment; we just need the audience that lives there.''

The audience will be there, the writer predicts, with the city investing $13.2 million in a $38-million complex of 295 apartments across from the station, to help the developer, Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co.'s High Street Residential, build a parking garage and improve sidewalks and landscapes.

Another apartment project, tentatively called Silos on the Square, she reports, is planned south of the plaza, where old building reuse, business and traffic have greatly increased since late 2004.

A former lumber factory and yard now hosts a popular restaurant, grain silos serve as a climbers' gym, an old theater became a dance studio and performance hall, a century-old bank building features a boutique and spa, and many shops carry antiques, quilts and country-style gifts.

Calling preservation essential for downtowns' revival and the success of their small business, the Texas Historic Commission's Texas Main Street Project Coordinator Debra Farst said, ''There are no two (downtowns) that act and look alike, and that gives a community its character.''

Another essential need is dense upscale housing, said both local transit-oriented development expert Peter J. Braster and University of North Texas Center for Economic Development and Research Director Bernard Weinstein.

''Dallas-Fort Worth is a mecca for young people, and when the economy recovers, we are going to see lots of young people come back in,'' Director Weinstein observed. ''They tend to like to live in higher density neighborhoods. They want to walk to a restaurant, walk to a bar and walk to a movie theater. That is some of the appeal of these new old towns.''

More on DART light-rail expansion and on Carrollton at www.dart.org/about/expansion/expansionmaps.asp and www.cityofcarrollton.com. -- Dallas Morning News   6/10/2009

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Is Stimulus Bill Funding Texas Sprawl?

Although President Obama declared days of incessant sprawl over, the $787 billion economic stimulus bill let the states choose priority shovel-ready projects for their shares of the $27.5 billion transportation fund, because of the urgent need to invest the money and create jobs by this summer, and quite a few will ''build new and wider roads that will spur development away from their most populous centers,'' reports New York Times writer Michael Cooper, spotlighting Texas' plan to spend $181 million on a 15-mile, four-lane toll road through the Katy Prairie, some 30 miles west of Houston, as the second stretch of the city's future outer beltway, or the Grand Parkway.

The first stretch, just to the south, the writer observes, is already lined with strip malls, gas stations, drug stores and a 7,600-acre residential Cinco Ranch development; the second will flank an 11,400-acre master-planned Bridgeland project, eventually of 21,000 homes.

Other developers can hardly wait for the new road, also eager to build on their empty land, a prospect public interest advocates are trying to avert.

The Sierra Club sued to have officials conduct another environmental review, hoping they will grasp the threat of destruction to part of the prairie's last 150,000 open acres, and the Houston-based Citizens' Transportation Coalition pointed out that the state's federal funds should bolster transit or help alleviate current gridlock rather than produce more lengthy commutes and tailpipe emissions.

''They should be spending the money where the people are,'' said Coalition Chairwoman Robin Holzer, her concern about sprawl acknowledged but downplayed by business-based West Houston Association President Roger H. Hord.

''Our interest is to encourage what we call quality growth. Houston is what it is. It will grow. We've had a pattern of it since we've started,'' he argued. ''The point we're trying to make is, we can either plan for that growth and get in advance of it, or we can not plan and just let it happen.''

Connecting I-10 to Highway 290, he added, the long planned road would ease congestion on other Houston beltways.

Meantime, the writer notes, the Katy Prairie Conservancy scrambles to save what it can, hoping to expand the nearly 18,000 acres it already owns or protects to more than 50,000 acres.

Last summer, when bulldozers threatened a rare tract of native prairie flora, volunteers dug up more than 2,000 square feet of it for replanting on a tract the conservancy saved outside its Waller field office, with Conservancy Land Manager Wesley Newman showing the writer the rescued vegetation, proud of having ''a little path of intact prairie'' under protection just a few miles of the planned highway. -- New York Times   3/23/2009

Resource(s): www.nytimes.com/

El Paso Approves Annexation Plan for 7,500 Homes

Despite Sierra Club arguments against ''leapfrog development,'' the El Paso City Council unanimously voted to annex another 586 of the 2000-plus acres on the city's southeastern edge for a 7,500-home complex, persuaded by the Ranchos Real IV Ltd.'s master-plan shift from ''the long and unconnected spaghetti-strand streets'' and barely accessible parks toward ''shorter, narrower streets and parks within easy walking distance of every home'' as reflecting the smart-growth principles advocated by City Representative Susie Byrd and adopted by the council in a new subdivision code last fall.

Sierra Club official Bill Addington, reports El Paso Newspaper Tree writer David Crowder, told the council the project doesn't serve city interests, recommended more infill, and restated concern about the city's lack of developer impact fees, which most other cities require to pay for major new streets and other infrastructure.

From his side, Ranchos Real Vice President Douglas Schwartz noted later that ''in El Paso, developers pay almost 100 percent of all the infrastructure,'' saying that under his development agreement, the Public Service Board (PSB) ''is paying for major (water and sewer) mains, but we're getting charged an annexation fee to recoup the cost.''

He also pointed out that the whole 2,000-acre annexation deal was negotiated under the city's previous subdivision code, but the company moved to make the planned development look like it was required by the new code.

''The parks are within an eighth of a mile of every house,'' he added, ''and will be fully developed with basketball courts, playgrounds and walking paths.''

Representative Byrd said she shares the Sierra Club official's concerns about El Paso development, but the city has made ''significant steps to change things,'' and already sees some great examples of infill. -- Newspaper Tree   2/10/2009

Resource(s): www.newspapertree.com/

Smart Growth Group Presents Long-Term Transit Plan for Corpus Christi

''We need to discuss where we want to be in 20 years, and light rail should be part of that'' to make Corpus Christi thrive, said Bay Area Smart Growth Initiative public group member John Kelly at the presentation of a long-term multimodal transportation plan to the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board, telling officials the proposed integration of expanded bus service, water taxis, bike trails and future light rail in one transit system would help reduce pollution, attract newcomers and improve quality of life, but stressing, ''If we don't start now, it won't happen.''

With the smart-growth group's plan aiming for mixed land uses, walkable neighborhoods, compact development and better connectivity throughout the region, reports Corpus Christi Caller-Times writer Fanny S. Chirinos, the question is which agency should lead the project.

The group would like the RTA to take the lead, but RTA Chairwoman Crystal Lyons pointed out that since its 2005 light-rail concept was opposed by the Corpus Christi City Council, the council and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) should now exercise leadership in plan promotion and implementation.

Noting that so far it has taken only a few city residents to kill a project, RTA board member Mike Rendon said the agency would gladly help secure funding for the transit system.

According to smart-growth group member David Loeb, a complete system could cost about $1 billion and require extensive planning and public input, but its elements ''can be built over time as federal money becomes available.'' -- Corpus Christi Caller-Times   1/16/2009

Resource(s): www.caller.com/

High-Speed Passenger Rail a ''Critical Piece'' of Texas' Future Transportation System

With the Texas population of 24 million more than doubling by 2040, the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex remaining the fastest-growing metro region nationwide, and its leaders agreeing that even unlimited resources wouldn't make it possible ''to build enough roads to accommodate the number of people who will live and work in this area in the coming years,'' Tarrant County Commissioner Gary Fickes, secretary of the Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation (THSRTC), sees high-speed passenger rail as ''a critical piece'' of the state's future transportation system.

''The Texas T-Bone Corridor proposed by the THSRTC, so called because of its 'T' shape, would provide high-rail connectivity to the more than 16 million Texans currently living in the counties along the corridor,'' Commissioner Fickes writes in a Forth Worth BusinessPress guest opinion. ''In 2040, the same group of counties will be home to an estimated 40.3 million people.''

The THSRTC project, he points out, offers present and future millions of residents ''one of the safest, fastest and most environmentally responsible modes of transportation.''

It would let them travel through the state in excess of 200 miles per hour, make Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport a multimodal transportation hub, create thousands of permanent jobs and attract large investments. ''I predict that bringing high-speed rail to Texas will create for the Metroplex a sustained economic boom that will ensure the economic vitality of North Texas for many, many years to come,'' he stresses. ''And it will do all of this while using roughly a third of the energy per passenger mile of air travel.''

What's more, he observes, the proposed THSRTC financing strategies require neither additional local, state or federal funds nor annual operational subsidies.

Also listing transit-oriented development (TOD) among its top benefits, Commissioner Fickes concludes that the rail would help city and regional planners orchestrate growth, mitigate sprawl and protect rural areas, while putting the state at the forefront of the most transformative industries and ''on the fast track to a bright and prosperous future.'' -- Forth Worth BusinessPress   11/24/2008

Resource(s): www.fwbusinesspress.com/index.php

New Urbanist Describes the Evolution of Smart Growth in North Texas

''Glancing at a newspaper these days, it seems impossible that the term 'mixed-use development' could so recently have sounded strange or even subversive,'' writes Plano resident Russ Sikes, a founding member of the North Texas chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism, in a Dallas Morning News guest column, pointing out that mixed use ''is indeed a key ingredient of livable, human-centric communities,'' but that several others are equally important, including village-type compactness, completeness, and both local and external connectedness.

''Most cherished urban places are surprisingly small,'' he observes, invoking images of the French Quarter in New Orleans, the Riverwalk in San Antonio, and Beacon Hill, the Back Bay or Harvard Square in Boston, and stressing that their compactness makes them walkable, ''because so much human infrastructure exists in tight proximity.''

While new mixed-use projects ''are often glorified shopping centers, just topped with apartments and reconfigured to include sidewalks and storefront glass,'' he notes, they are incomplete; they lack some businesses people may need every day -- a locksmith, pest-control or thrift store, a veterinary office or an auto parts shop.

''Complete neighborhoods enable people to get most of what they need quickly and efficiently, often on foot,'' he continues. ''In an era of expensive gas and greener living, the quality of completeness cannot be overlooked in making our cities more livable.''

The same applies to connectedness as urban village residents often need or wish to step outside or to travel, with their convenience and other benefits dependent on ''all means of connection, from trails to transit.''

In an ''(e)pochal change,'' he writes, ''the Dallas area bends a slow arc in development from single, separated uses to mixed-use; from sprawl only, to sprawl with infill; from autos-only to expanding rail, bicycle and even pedestrian accommodation.''

As the area builds the infrastructure to meet the emergent energetic, environmental, demographic, and lifestyle trends, ''we should recognize that mixed-use development is but one essential tool in creating more sustainable places,'' he writes, restatating the New Urbanism creed. ''The most livable metropolis will be composed of mixed-use neighborhoods that are also compact, complete, and connected.'' -- Dallas Morning News   10/12/2008

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Houston Outlines Comprehensive Emissions Reduction Plan

Introduced gradually after Democratic Mayor Bill White -- former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy (1993-95) -- began the first of his three two-year terms in 2004, Houston's sustainability programs have now become the cornerstone of his detailed Multi-Pollutant Emission Reduction Plan, which envisions at least an 11-percent cut in greenhouse gases from their 2005 level by 2010, with deeper cuts likely when the city adds green measures and expands mass transit, reports Houston Chronicle writer Matthew Tresaugue, as if incredulous that ''Houston, of all places, suddenly has a sweeping plan to fight global warming.''

Mayor White doesn't think anyone should be surprised.

''Houston has done more concrete things in the last several years to reduce the emissions than many, many other cities,'' he said, mentioning its reduced energy use and an ongoing shift to wind power, two key goals his plan will advance further while measuring progress from 2005 benchmarks.

Coming ''amid increasing frustration with the federal response to global warming,'' the writer observes, the plan aims ''to reduce this smoggy, sprawling city's impact on the climate'' with 14 strategies.

Under a current contract, the city can buy enough wind-generated power to meet one-third and up to half of its annual electricity needs.

Retrofits of 271 city facilities will reduce their energy use by 30 percent.

Incandescent bulbs at 2,450 intersections will be replaced with Light Emitting Diode (LED) ones, which are 75 percent more energy efficient.

Implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS) at the city's three airports will reduce emissions and improve overall environmental performance.

Citywide lighting retrofit will save about 9.8 kilowatt-hours (kWh).

Energy efficient vending machines and vending misers will be saving more than 265,000 kWh a year.

The city is requiring Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for construction of city buildings to make them between 25 and 30 percent more energy efficient.

A Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system at wastewater treatment facilities will reduce both their energy consumption and gas emissions.

Accelerated replacement of older, high-mileage heavy fleet vehicles will reduce tailpipe emissions and improve fleet reliability and cost-effectiveness.

The same applies to about 1,600 light-duty vehicles that will be replaced with their gasoline-electric hybrid equivalents by 2010.

Under the state's $150 million Texas Emission Reduction Plan (TERP), Houston and its five public and private partners in the area's TERP Working Group will seek grants for replacement of some 200 units of diesel equipment with ''green'' ones, which emit 35 percent less oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

The city will continue work to use emerging hybrid technology to reduce emissions from its all almost 2,800 diesel-powered heavy vehicles.

The city will implement a structured recycling program for paper, plastic, metal, glass, and cardboard from all its facilities this year, to save more than 46,000 cubic yards of landfill space and reduce emissions from waste decomposition.

Another 187,000 cubic yards of landfill space will be saved by 2010, thanks to expansion of curbside collection of wood, plant and yard waste citywide.

Since the strategies have already been launched, the mayor's plan doesn't need approval by the City Council, the writer notes, quoting his environmental and health policy director Elena Marks.

''While we have undertaken all of these initiatives, we've taken them for many different reasons. We hadn't captured what the emissions reduction would be,'' she said, explaining that the city chose 2005 for an emissions benchmark because some data for earlier years were unavailable.

Area environmentalists, the writer reports, see the plan as a bold step and a possible model for other cities.

''If you were the mayor of Houston, would you raise the flag for global warming?'' asked Houston Climate Protection Alliance official Nan Hildreth. ''But he has.''

Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter air quality specialist Neil Carman would prefer a 1990 benchmark but thought ''it's great that the city of Houston is making such a major stab at getting a comprehensive plan in place, even if 2005 is the baseline.''

Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention Executive Director Matthew Tejada agreed. ''That's the kind of mindset,'' he said, ''that more institution and companies in the region should have.''

See the plan and the mayor's announcement of a Million Trees + Houston campaign at www.greenhoustontx.gov/ and www.houstontx.gov/ . -- Houston Chronicle   10/2/2008

Resource(s): www.chron.com/ ; www.greenhoustontx.gov/mayorbio.html

Smart Growth Helping Revive Fort Worth's Downtown

Ten years ago, smart-growth advocates often drew ''puzzled looks'' or worse with their mixed-use, less auto-dependent and more environmentally conscious development concepts, writes Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Jack Z. Smith, but now they are ''looking smarter all the time'' as record gas prices hoist commute costs, gridlock stalls drivers on roads, and high-density residential projects in urban centers proliferate and appreciate, while fringe area residents endure traffic congestion and related economic hardships, ''but are no longer consoled by the emotional balm of rapidly raising home values.''

The antithesis of urban sprawl, smart growth aka ''sustainable development,'' the columnist observes, creates a ''splendid example'' along several blocks of West Seventh Street just off downtown Fort Worth.

Revived with new apartments, condos, offices, hotels, banks, stores, restaurants, coffee shops, a supermarket, delicatessen, wine store, movie theater and multilevel garage -- completed or under construction -- the area offers easy access to medical-district and downtown jobs, and to the many attractions of Sundance Square and the Cultural District.

''If you live and work in such an environment, you might drive only one-third the miles you would in an outlying area with much greater sprawl,'' the columnist points out. ''That's become more relevant with gas prices having nudged $4 a gallon this summer.''

With the 16-county North Central Texas region expecting its population of 6.5 million to reach 9.1 million by 2030, the need for smart growth will only become stronger in years ahead, the columnist writes, warning, ''If we don't take smart-growth steps such as creating more mixed-use developments, accelerating energy conservation, expanding public transit and driving more-fuel-efficient cars, our quality of life could erode as a result of heavy population growth, more vehicles clogging our roads and health-threatening air pollution.'' -- Star-Telegram   8/22/2008

Resource(s): www.star-telegram.com/

El Paso Using Fee Waiver to Promote New Mixed-Use Smart Code

In a move to deflate outward development pressures, the El Paso City Council will allow developers to work under the just approved mixed-use Smart Code or the standard zoning and subdivision code, ready to promote the former through a waiver of application fees, reports El Paso Times writer Erica Molina Johnson, with City Representative Steve Ortega saying ''this council has been very clear about wanting to build better neighborhoods that are more walkable, that incorporate smart-growth concepts of live, work, play.''

Representative Emma Acosta, initially hesitant about the Smart Code because she saw the application fee waiver as ''giving away a free service,'' relented upon assurances that it requires developers to pay all other project fees and costs.

She expects Smart Code neighborhoods to attract younger homebuyers, including families, she said, thanks to ''more green space, wider sidewalks to walk with their children and dogs, and bike paths.''

On the eve of the council's vote, an El Paso Times editorial noted that since outward development doesn't pay for itself, city residents have to fund infrastructure extension through higher taxes.

Supporting mixed-use infill, which uses infrastructure already in place, the editorial mentioned the planned Plaza Escondida, with a variety of housing types, office space and retail, where local stores will lessen the need to drive elsewhere.

''Wise infill has more pros than cons,'' the editorial concluded. ''Let's make infill a viable method of building for the future good of El Paso.'' -- El Paso Times   7/29/2008

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Fort Worth Officials Tour Successful Dallas TOD Project

Lacking a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light-rail link but considering a downtown streetcar, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and other officials visited the region's most successful transit-oriented development (TOD), the Mockingbird Station at the DART light-rail Red Line, some four miles north of central Dallas, with Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert telling the guests the complex ''was seen as a template when it was built'' eight years ago.

''But now,'' he observed, ''with $4.50 a gallon gas, we are really seeing this as a necessity for what has to happen in large metropolitan cities. We are going to need development and higher-density development.''

Opened in 2001, the ''live-work-and-play'' complex, also adjacent to a bus terminal, includes 211 loft-style apartments, a movie theater, restaurants and 1,600 parking spaces, reports Dallas Morning News writer Michael Lindenberger, quoting its developer Ken Hughes, who said ''it represents what we believe works today'' as mixed uses.

With regional transportation planners long urging cities to maximize light rail and other transit investment potential by promoting housing, offices and retail near stations, the writer adds, DART officials expect its lines to attract $7 billion in development over the next 30 years. -- Dallas Morning News   7/17/2008

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Houston City Council Votes to Begin Work on Five Light-Rail Lines

''With gas headed to $8 a gallon and oil to $200 a barrel, we have to rethink Houston as the happy motoring paradise,'' said Houston Councilman Peter Brown as the council voted 13-2 to let the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) build five city light-rail lines, but under strict public oversight to ensure agreement conditions are met -- a job Metro plans to start next month and to complete by 2012 if not-yet-secured federal funds come through.

Councilwoman Jolanda Jones and Councilman Mike Sullivan voted against the agreement, reports Houston Chronicle writer Rad Sallee, the former viewing Metro's plan to run part of the University line along old Wheeler Avenue against local opposition as an example of Metro favoring wealthy neighborhoods, the latter seeking more definite details on all five lines.

Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee also asked Metro to rethink the Wheeler route, saying the avenue ''has great history and is part of the fabric of the community.''

Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson expressed readiness to meet city officials and Wheeler residents and business owners, possibly June 23, to address the issue and consider alternatives.

With the city-Metro agreement including a section called ''Good Neighborhood Practices,'' the writer notes, several council members promised to enforce its guidelines.

''If Metro does not pay attention to details,'' stressed Councilman Adrian Garcia, ''the reins will be pulled, if necessary.''

Mayor Bill White's chief administrative officer Anthony Hall, a 1970s legislator who helped draft the law to create Metro and chaired its board between 1990 and 1992, pointed out that since then Houston has gotten its only light-rail line.

''We've obviously got to develop some kind of high-density of transportation,'' he said, ''or we will be here another 38 years, still talking about the need for better transportation.'' -- Houston Chronicle   6/19/2008

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Full Buses, Empty Food Pantries Tell the Tale of High Fuel Prices in Houston

As low-income residents of Houston's suburbs look for ways to beat high gas prices and stretch household budgets, they increasingly use public transit wherever available, form carpools and seek public assistance for their daily needs, report Houston Chronicle writers Eric Hanson and Renee C. Lee, citing an example of Sugar Land resident Siva Pinnaka, who used to drive daily some 15 miles northeast to downtown Houston, but switched from his car three weeks ago to Fort Bend County's TrekExpress bus and now estimates his travel savings at $100 a month.

Fort Bend County Transportation Department Director Paulette Shelton said the nine TrekExpress buses that usually had about 7,000 passengers a month carried almost 10,000 in May, with ''inquires about the service'' also going up.

In Brazoria and Galveston counties, the ''on demand'' Connect Transit system, which requires at least a one-day advance request but charges only $1 for a trip between residents' homes and any two-county destination, saw a similar ridership increase, while its own gas cost jumped from $14,583 to $23,385 a month.

''It's killing us,'' said system director James Hollis, hoping the Texas Department of Transportation will help plug the gap again this year.

At the same time, Montgomery County food pantries face overwhelming tasks, with New Caney's Mission Northeast listing 96 new families in February but 256 last month, and additional demands also reported by First Christian Church in Conroe, the Interfaith in The Woodlands, and other charitable groups throughout the region, all noting major increases in carpooling among their clients.

In Liberty County, the number of the needy seeking help from the Spirit of Sharing social service agency -- supported mostly by area churches, themselves facing donation decline -- grew recently by almost a third to about 2,000 recipients.

No one is turned away for food, but those from other areas, said Spirit of Sharing spokeswoman Evelyn Coleman, sometimes must be denied clothing or money for their medical, utility or gas bills.

East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministries activist Vickie Coates told the writers the agency has ''doubled on the amount of food'' given to the needy during visits to spare them trips, while applying for a private grant that would found a gas assistance voucher program. -- Houston Chronicle   6/19/2008

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Houston Councilwoman Urges City, MTA to Work on Coordinated Sidewalk Plans

''Sidewalks, like traffic lanes, are transportation infrastructure, and they, too, deserve transportation funding,'' writes first-term Houston Councilwoman Melissa Noriega in a Houston Chronicle guest opinion, pointing out that whenever the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) builds Houston light-rail lines, the city must not only give its consent, but also fulfill its responsibility to ensure they improve neighborhoods by making streets more attractive and functional.

''One out of five adult Texans does not drive'' and many readers ''might be astounded at how many people are walking or using buses and rail in Houston every day,'' Councilwoman Noriega writes, stressing that they need sidewalks, especially as officials expand transit, since all transit riders are pedestrians ''on at least one end'' of their trips.

Downtown Houston, the city's most pedestrian-friendly area, reports a record 30 percent transit use.

''We have to ensure streets that have light rail will have safe and convenient sidewalks: shaded by trees, wide enough for couples to walk side by side, unobstructed with poles or signs,'' she continues. ''Wheelchair users must get through and moms with strollers shouldn't need to step into traffic. The city must set sidewalk standards and hold Metro to those standards.''

Metro will not fund sidewalks on streets leading to stations, but the city pays for sidewalks on streets to schools and should do no less for transit, the councilwoman writes, also urging the MTA and the city to work together on transit-related opportunities and problems in neighborhoods neglected or plagued by heavy transitory traffic.

''Houston's new light-rail system is a long-term investment,'' she concludes. ''It is tempting to do things the easy way, but our children and our children's children will have to live with our decisions. Now is the time to make sure we do it right.'' -- Houston Chronicle   6/6/2008

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Light-Rail Project a Return to Region's Roots for Dallas Suburbs

Launched in summer 2006 thanks to a $700 million Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant, construction of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light-rail system's $1.8 billion, 28-mile, multi-branch Green Line from downtown Dallas north to Farmers Branch and Carrollton will return the area's car-ruled suburbs to their mixed-use, streetcar and railroad roots, with Dallas Morning News writer Steve Brown finding Farmers Branch and Carrollton leaders and builders already at work on plans for transit-oriented development around old rail stations.

''We really don't have a downtown like most towns. So this is our chance to do that with some urban-style living and shopping facilities,'' said Farmers Branch City Manager Gary Greer about a plan for apartments, townhouses and some ground-floor retail and offices on about 20 acres near light rail.

Both he and Icon Partners President Paris Rutherford, whose firm is readying the development, expect its first phase to be ''in full swing'' next spring and completed before the light rail trains arrive in December 2010.

Carrollton officials, the writer reports, have chosen Trammell Crow Co.'s subsidiary High Street Residential to coordinate development near their three stations, expecting some $1 billion in tax revenue from already proposed projects.

''We are extraordinarily lucky to have three stations,'' said Carrollton transit-oriented development manager Peter Braster. ''Carrollton was there originally because it's where three rail lines joined.''

As DART doubles its light-rail network to 90 miles and ridership to some 120,000 weekday passenger trips by 2013, cities will vie for construction around ''a bunch of new stations,'' observed Carrollton economic development director Brad Mink, not sure if there is ''enough development and capital'' to make all projects successful.

''The aggressive cities,'' he predicted, ''and the ones putting it together properly will do fine.'' -- Dallas Morning News   6/6/2008

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com ; www.dart.org/default.asp

Galveston County Town of Santa Fe Wants Smart Growth Plan

Some 30 miles southeast of Houston, the city of Santa Fe has recently annexed 30 percent more land and added at least 1,500 residents to its population of about 10,000, which may reach 19,000 by 2028, with Mayor Ralph Stenzel and other officials calling for a smart-growth plan to help the city retain the charm of its country living, invest prudently and maintain quality services, reports Galveston County Daily News writer Chris Paschenko, quoting the mayor, who said, ''You can't stop growth, but we're trying to keep the tax rate down.''

The city has kept its growth rate moderate so far thanks not only to zoning rules adopted 12 years ago to clarify what can be built and where, but also to a separate drainage district, which provides water and sewer services to about 6,200 residents, and requires the rest to have wells and septic systems, mandating a half-acre to an acre lot minimums.

In addition, the writer notes, anyone building more than one structure must designate rainwater detention land capable of holding and gradually disbursing water from a storm that can happen once in 100 years.

Drainage district manager Carl Hallows said the requirements prevent people from flooding neighbors, but at least three city council members, including two Realtors, say the drainage restrictions send development elsewhere and the city needs its own engineer to determine whether they are warranted.

''Their job is to take care of runoff, and I don't understand allowing the drainage district to come in and to tell our citizens what's mandated,'' said Councilwoman Pam Schwertner at a recent council meeting. ''Yes, we should have detention, and yes we should have to use the drainage district for larger developments,'' but they are ''governing us and trying to implement their criteria on our ditches and our land, and I have a real problem with it.''

In response, the district manager mentioned the town of Manville on state Highway 6, once quiet and similar to Santa Fe, but expected to have 100,000 residents within 20 years, pointing out, ''If you have land, people are going to come.''

Mayor Stenzel thought Santa Fe wouldn't be recognizable in 20 years either, calling the city ''one the best-kept secrets in Galveston County with its police protection and schools.'' -- Daily News   5/4/2008

Resource(s): http://galvestondailynews.com/index.lasso

Growth Expected to Be Key Issue in Houston's Next Mayoral Election

Three-quarters of 703 Harris County residents randomly selected for the University of Houston Center for Public Policy's 2008 Houston Area Survey said population growth could be best absorbed through urban redevelopment, almost two-thirds thought more land-use planning would benefit the city, more than half expressed willingness to support zoning, and more than one-third -- in contrast to one-fourth in 2007 -- called traffic congestion their biggest problem, reports Houston Chronicle writer Mike Snyder, with all three expected mayoral candidates in 2009 taking notice and generally promising to back changes in the city's development policies.

With Mayor Bill White ineligible to run for a fourth term next year, City Councilman Peter Brown, an architect and urban planner, said he would work for adoption of a form-based development code, advocated by New Urbanism experts, but questioned by some, including industry-based Houstonians for Responsible Growth group.

Without sound development standards, the councilman noted, ''we're losing our share of the middle class,'' and ''getting flooding, air pollution, (and) neighborhood blight and decline.''

City Controller Annise Parker, a former city council member, would prefer land-use controls other than conventional zoning to protect city neighborhoods.

''If you're going to build a mid-rise or a high-rise,'' she stated, ''it ought to be on a major thoroughfare, not looming over and dwarfing hundreds of homes nearby.''

And businessman Bill King, a lawyer and former Kemah mayor, agreed that Houston needs somewhat tougher development rules, while considering most local neighborhoods more concerned about crime and gridlock.

''I think that all of us recognize that there's got to be an appropriate balance between somebody's right to see their property in any way that they see fit, and any noxious effects,'' he said. ''Where you hit that balance is the question.'' -- Houston Chronicle   4/19/2008

Resource(s): www.chron.com/index.html

Neighbors Oppose West El Paso Infill Project

''In a conventional development, you have no choice but to get in your car. The reason why we have traffic congestion is because of the way we've designed our neighborhoods,'' said developer and smart-growth advocate Scott Winton, commenting on his and Jack & Hersch Properties LLC's pedestrian-friendly Piazza Escondida project on 1.5 empty acres in West El Paso, unanimously approved by the City Council last month, but unanimously opposed by the Mountain Arroyos Neighborhood Association. ''Change is hard for people. In the long run, they'll see the thing built and they'll appreciate it.''

A similar project his company has under construction some three miles to the south, reports El Paso Times writer Adriana M. Chavez, is already drawing neighbors' accolades.

''It's a great use of the land and he is building it like he said,'' pointed out Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association Treasurer Tod Osborne. ''It's going to be an improvement to the neighborhood.''

With the developer planning a mix of Piazza Escondida residences -- villa and terrace homes, mansion flats, studio flats, live/work units, and casitas, or very small houses -- and expecting to break ground in about eight weeks, opponents fear increased traffic and point to an elementary school across the street.

''Input from residents and our neighborhood association was ignored,'' complained association member Matt Fennell about city approval. ''(It's) one more example of our elected city leaders making a special effort to cooperate with a developer and penalizing nearby homeowners.''

But at the council's hearing, West Side Representative Ann Lilly called the project a good example of infill and smart growth and the developer remains unapologetic about its density and walkability.

''We treat everyone differently in our automobiles than when we're walking,'' he said, stressing that in most suburban neighborhoods ''people don't know who their neighbors are,'' but smart growth ''brings back the social fabric.'' -- El Paso Times   4/2/2008

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Developer Withdraws from El Paso Smart Growth Project

Last September, when Hunt Communities LLC won its $131 million purchase bid for 4,833 acres of El Paso Water Public Service Board (PSB) land to create a master-planned, mixed-use community in El Paso's northeast, Hunt officials obviously counted on housing market improvement and the city's adoption of a promised smart-growth ordinance that fall, but since neither materialized and the City Council declined to extend the sale deadline for 90 days, they withdrew from the deal.

Disappointed Mayor John Cook, reports the El Paso Times writer, said he has been working on better area development since 1999 and regrets that the council gave the company an excuse to drop the project.

''The agreement requires the successful bidder to design, develop and construct the community using smart growth principles and in accordance with the city's master plan vision for the property,'' the mayoral statement reads. ''Without clearly defined subdivision regulations that support the city's development outcome, there is no legal way to successfully implement the city's vision for the community.''

The smart-growth principles, the writer notes, were to allow developers ''more flexibility in establishing pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods,'' with narrower streets, more parks and a mix of single-family homes, apartments and businesses, but the subdivision ordinance rewrite remains ''bogged down'' due to disagreements among city staff, council members and builders over its details.

An El Paso Times editorial after the denial of the extension for the land-sale deal chided the City Council for its delays on smart growth, stressing, ''This city needs updated codes enacted for what developers can do and cannot do . . . must do and darn sure better not do.''

So, the editorial asked, ''Where are the codes?'' -- El Paso Times   3/6/2008

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Citizen Group Delivers Smart Growth Presentation to Nueces County Commissioners

Against the backdrop of the Corpus Christi City Council's inclusion of smart growth among the top long-term community goals, Corpus Christi Bay Area Smart Growth Initiative members David Loeb and George Clover made a presentation to Nueces County Commissioners on the 10 Smart Growth principles established in 1997 by the Environmental Protection Agency, pointing out that their adoption would help the county prevent random development like colonias -- projects without flood protection or water, sewer and other basic services.

Smart Growth answers the question about how to create ''the community we all want ourselves to be in,'' said David Loeb, noting that while cities use zoning and platting to shape development, counties can encourage it in preferred areas through systems of related services.

George Clover called commissioners' attention to the possibility that should Corpus Christi and other area cities implement smart growth and concentrate populations in their centers, they would need an interconnected rail system across the county.

Commissioners, reports Corpus Christi Caller-Times writer Beth Wilson, remained uncommitted.

Cities, agreed Commissioners Chuck Cazalas and Peggy Banales, should research smart growth principles as they seek to rebuild and revitalize, with the latter referring to the idea of a regional mass transit system as ''a lot of future thinking.''

The writer adds that the Bay Area Smart Growth Initiative group is ready to make its resources available to the Corpus Christi City Council in planning smart growth implementation. -- Caller-Times   2/21/2008

Resource(s): www.caller.com/

Corpus Christi Council Studies Community Goals at City Growth Retreat

As the Corpus Christi City Council reorganized 17 earlier-outlined community goals into ten at a consultant-led retreat, with environmental protection and smart growth implementation among the most important, reports Caller-Times writer Beth Wilson, members defined smart growth through its individually prioritized components, but the combined understanding includes avoidance of sprawl ''by supporting growth in areas where roads, utilities and public services already exist to save the city's money and provide a pleasurable place to live.''

The retreat facilitator, San Antonio-based Round Top Consulting President Richard Lewis Jr., a Texas University associate professor of sociology, told the council that educating the public about smart growth goals is crucial for their successful implementation.

''This is not one of these quick fixes. This is a long-term process,'' he cautioned, advising the council to focus on neighborhood revitalization and on new development guidelines.

Having put smart growth on the agenda, Mayor Henry Garrett confirmed that the city must balance the needs of all, by making older neighborhoods more livable while allowing larger-lot subdivisions on its edges, saying, ''There is room for both.''

The consultant agreed that a task force or a committee for gathering public feedback and studying details and technical issues would help, but pointed out that the council should lead in defining smart growth and making it a reality.

The other council goals, which will be further discussed at another planning retreat in June, the writer notes, are to ensure that the city meets its long-range transportation needs, spurs residential and business expansion downtown, plans infrastructure, completes a bayfront development plan, draws up an incentive-based economic development plan, and protects water supplies. -- Caller-Times   2/19/2008

Resource(s): www.caller.com/

El Paso, Local School District Agree to Consolidate Services, Save Money Through Facilities Sharing

In an instructive deal to consolidate services and solve a fiscal dilemma, says an acclamatory El Paso Times editorial, the city will lease seven acres in its 48-acre Blackie Chesher Park to the Ysleta Independent School District for a new elementary school for some 600 students, while the district will not only open the school's gym and library after hours to the public, but also build three city soccer fields on 15 acres just across the street from the park, including two lighted for night games.

Working two years on the deal, City Representative Eddie Holguin stressed that the Ysleta school district approved his plan without hesitation, ready to reciprocate for the park site with three soccer fields instead just the two the city wanted to upgrade.

According to Ysleta Trustee Marty Reyes, the new school will cost only about $8 million.

''When taxing entities can join forces for the betterment of all, that's good government,'' the editorial states. ''We should always be on the lookout for good ways to consolidate services.'' -- El Paso Times   1/4/2008

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Reformers Face Uphill Battle in Reducing Texas Auto Emissions

With a 14-mile per gallon Chevy Suburban ''once marketed as the National Car of Texas,'' the state leads the nation in notorious energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and as a country, it would be the world's seventh largest polluter, notes National Public Radio (NPR) reporter John Burnett, pointing out that Texas has a lot of industry, air conditioning, miles, and people who love everything big -- an obstinate attitude and a barrier for reformers in their push for change.

''Here, it's the bigger the truck, the better off you are,'' remarks Dallas movie caterer Tangi Spencer, and ''the bigger the gas guzzler you are, the better off you are.''

The feeling extends throughout the whole spectrum.

Waco's Seventh & James Baptist Church pastor Rev. Raymond Bailey says he thought congregants could limit their car trips, but they told him, ''Now preacher, now don't mess with our cars, I'm not going to give up my car.''

Abilene Christian University students behind a petition for a carbon-neutral campus face the same reaction from others, with education major Beth McIlhaney commenting, ''They slough it off, just laughing it off, (saying) 'Oh, you hippie,' or something.''

And even though former Texas governor-now-President Bush ''has acknowledged the human role in climate change,'' the reporter observes, the state's Republican leaders remain incredulous.

State Democratic Senator Kirk Watson's bill to create merely a task force on climate change passed in the Senate, but died in the House, where it encountered ''a who's who of carbon commandos,'' including the Texas Oil and Gas Association, the Gulf Coast Lignite Coalition, the Texas Chemical Council, and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association.

Austin-based conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation economic analyst Bill Peacock, who testified against climate change bills, thinks the lack of a governmental emission-control plan puts Texas ahead of the world, stating, ''So, yes, I'm very pleased the Texas legislature decided to take more time on this issue without passing anything.''

Nevertheless, there are signs of change, with the state's largest utility, TXU, dropping plans for eight coal-fired plans and state mayors challenging the ''hydrocarbon addiction,'' the reporter concludes, quoting the national nonprofit Public Citizen group's Texas Office Director Tom ''Smitty'' Smith.

''Texas has had its head in the hot burning sands for quite some time,'' he says. ''But now it's getting a little too hot and we're starting to look around to see what we can do about it.'' -- National Public Radio   11/26/2007

Resource(s): www.npr.org/ ; www.citizen.org

Houston Announces Plans to Build Five Light-Rail Lines by 2012

In a reversal of its 2005 intent to open four of Houston's next five transit routes with less costly rapid buses and switch to light-rail once high ridership convinces the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to pay half of the system's $1.3 billion construction costs, reports Houston Chronicle writer Rad Sallee, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) voted to build all the light-rail lines together -- not only for the University of Houston, but also for the North, East End, Southeast and Uptown -- expecting their completion by late 2012.

It will cost less to build light rail from the start than to begin with rapid buses and convert the routes to light rail later, said Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson, glad that FTA recognized the argument and agreed to evaluate the five planned lines as part of an integrated transit system instead of separately.

This will boost the four lines' cost-benefit ratio, especially with simultaneous Metro board approval of the route for the university line, the fifth and most advanced in planning, which will become a 10-mile east-west supplement to the existing 7.5-mile Main Street line.

Board Chairman David Wolff also stressed the advantages of pursuing light rail at the same time in all five corridors, pointing out that they will overlap on several segments.

For example, he said, university line passengers going west will be able to go directly to Galleria, since some of the trains will run on the Uptown line tracks on Post Oak. -- Houston Chronicle   10/19/2007

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Criticism Over Condo Tower Puts Spotlight on Houston's Lenient Land-Use Rules

At over 2.1 million, the nation's fourth most-populous city, and the only major one with land-use deed restrictions in a third of its neighborhoods instead of citywide zoning, Houston is often at the mercy of developers who leave unwanted projects in residential areas, including ''(r)owdy cantinas, rock-crushing operations and commercial dumps,'' observes Wall Street Journal writer Kris Hudson, reporting that now even a 23-story condo tower planned ''among the million-dollar homes of two stately neighborhoods'' has ''appalled affluent residents and put local politicians in the hot seat.''

Mayor Bill White told the writer he will do anything he can to scale down or cancel the tower project and to control development elsewhere, short of a push for zoning.

''Not on my watch,'' said the mayor, in a business, real estate and law practice before his election in 2003. ''I do think, as we are in a strong economy and we live closer and closer together, there will be both new development and more rules to protect our common interests. But we will respect consumer choice and not have some bureaucrat in City Hall become the taste patrol for the city.''

Indeed, the writer notes, citywide zoning ideas had little public support, with voters blocking such proposals in 1948, 1962 and 1993. Instead, Mayor White is proposing an ordinance that would enable the city to reject projects that could overburden local roads, but its applicability to the condo tower planned for the Southampton and Boulevard Oaks neighborhoods remains in question.

The developers, Buckhead Investment Partners President Matthew Morgan and CEO Kevin Kurtin, area natives and childhood friends, are resisting city efforts to pare the project down.

Having already paid impact fees, financed $500,000 in sewer upgrades and concluded in an initial study that traffic increases would be negligible, they are planning 187 condos or 236 apartments, a restaurant, a boutique grocery store and 450 parking spaces on their 1.7-acre site of 67 old apartments, with Matthew Morgan saying, ''Doing anything less dense is not economically feasible.'' -- Wall Street Journal   10/17/2007

Resource(s): http://online.wsj.com/home

Developer Believes Smart Growth Is Good Policy for Corpus Christi

''There are places where good policy and good economics cross, and I think smart growth is one of them,'' said the grassroots Bay Area Smart Growth Initiative (BASG) group's new member, developer Bart Braselton, whose 300-acre Ranch Vista subdivision in an early phase of construction some 10 miles south of Corpus Christi's core may sometimes induce images of leap-frogging sprawl, but who asks purists to consider its important smart-growth features such as a walkable commercial center, a central park with a playground, and three-tier home prices, in the $140,000, $250,000 and $400,000 ranges.

He also points out, reports Corpus Christi Caller-Times writer Dan Kelly, that the subdivision was planned before sprawl and smart growth became hot issues in the area, that his partners have already owned the outer tract, and that the firm-funded sewer extension opens all the land between Rancho Vista and the denser neighborhoods in the city's south to development.

In addition, he notes that some Corpus Christi ordinances conflict with smart growth, a situation the BASG group wants to remedy to make higher-density and pedestrian-friendly projects easier.

''The way the ordinances are set up, you don't get walking paths and parks,'' he told the writer. ''That park (in Rancho Vista) took an act of God to get done.''

City Councilman Mike Hummel, the writer observes, sees Rancho Vista as a step in the right direction, especially impressed with the extent of its green space.

Corpus Christi newcomer Jeff Pollack, who is starting an environmental consulting firm, says sprawl can be battled on many fronts.

''There are tremendous opportunities for infill development in this community,'' he stressed. ''But if we are going to do green-field development, we want to see master-planned communities with multiple price points and mixed-use suburban centers where people can walk to get the basics.'' -- Caller-Times   10/14/2007

Resource(s): www.caller.com/

High-Rise Urban Living Comes to Texas

''People are tired of the big house, they're tired of the big yard, and there's a real movement to simplify your lifestyle as children leave,'' says Hillwood development company chairman Ross Perot Jr., the son of an independent billionaire contender in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections and the leader of a $3 billion-plus effort to create a high-density downtown between the Dallas Convention Center and the former industrial wasteland around the American Airlines arena a mile-and-half away, where he is building his 275-acre Victory Park, with luxury hotels, and condo and office high-rises.

''You can move into a beautiful downtown home, walk to a basketball game, walk to restaurants. There is something unique in the downtown fabric that you couldn't get in the suburbs,'' he tells USA Today writer Haya El Nasser, stressing, ''Our offices want this kind of neighborhood. It's good for recruiting.''

Although the attitude reflects a trend on the rise nationwide, the writer finds it particularly indicative for Texas, a state where space ''often seems infinite'' and ''living large -- and spread out -- hasn't been just a choice but almost a birthright.''

Now, with a population of 23.5 million so far, the state has advanced to the forefront ''of a movement reshaping downtowns'' across the nation, thanks to developers like Perot in Dallas and others with similar dense mixed-use projects in Austin, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

The pressures for these land use changes were varied and unavoidable, the writer observes, summing them up.

''Gas prices soared. Traffic congestion choked highways. Air quality worsened and so did pressure from environmental regulators. Light-rail lines came online. And demographics shifted: as baby boomers became empty nesters, their desire for convenience and fun suddenly merged with those of young professionals. Both groups are flocking to urban settings.''

Encouraged by developer interest in mixed-use construction along the 45-mile Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light-rail line to Plano in the north and Garland in the northeast, with work under way to almost double the system's reach by 2013, the city adopted its first long-term growth plan -- Forward Dallas -- last year, aiming for transit-oriented development and high urban density.

Still, the writer notes, even if northern cities inspire much of the Dallas high-rise boom, they don't get the credit.

''In secret, we look at what they do,'' explains the city's long-range planning assistant director Peer Chacko. ''But we try to avoid pointing to them too much as an example. It doesn't sell very well to the public. If we say New York or Chicago, they say, 'We're Dallas.' There's a very strong level of pride.'' -- USA Today   10/3/2007

Resource(s): www.usatoday.com/

Education, Quality of Life Key Issues for Houston to Grow Successfully in 21st Century

''Last-century strategy won't move Houston forward'' as its population of 2.2 million reaches 5.7 million by 2036, writes Gulf Coast Institute President David Crossley in the Houston Chronicle, countering assertions by local consultant-entrepreneur Tory Gattis and California writer-consultant Joel Kotkin that urban and smart-growth advocates overplay the importance of cities' ability to attract and create opportunities for economic, creative and other ''elites,'' at the expense of ''the working and middle classes.''

David Crossley points out that the broad ''elite'' assertions, which seem to include ''people who work toward improving the quality of life,'' are highly offensive, and attributes them -- along with the subsequent business-opportunity and-let-it-be-as-it-is recipes for urban success -- to ''a serious misreading of the new competitive environment facing American cities in the 21 century.''

In support, he quotes Rice Professor Stephen Klineberg.

''The resource-based industrial area, for which this city was so favorably positioned during the oil decades, has receded into history and with it the traditional 'blue-collar path' to financial security,'' the professor wrote. ''Almost all the good-paying jobs today require high levels of technical skills and educational credentials, and the inequalities are growing rapidly, both in income and in the opportunities for advancement, predicated above all else on access to quality education.''

As crucial as the need for better education in Houston, where 88 percent of public school students come from the historically underserved black or Latino families most likely to remain in poverty, David Crossley writes, is the need to ensure its quality of life, an increasingly decisive factor for knowledgeable and technologically-adept workers who can live anywhere.

That is the primary theme both in the 2015 Strategic Plan of ''Building Economic Prosperity in the Houston Region,'' worked out by the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), which commissioned Joel Kotkin's ''Opportunity Urbanism'' report, and in the comprehensive 2035 Regional Transportation Plan recently submitted for public review by the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC).

The GHP plan calls for using ''the strengths of the region's knowledge workers'' to secure economic prosperity, says, ''the talent we bring to the table now and the new people that we attract will drive our success,'' and proposes to make Houston an area of choice for companies and workers by offering them quality places and a high quality of life.

The H-GAC plan stresses that the best way to improve regional mobility and quality of life is ''the strategy of connecting transportation and land use,'' since ''land use decisions can have a significant impact on congestion'' and since ''the region cannot build itself out of congestion.''

As requested by hundreds of participants in the 2005 H-GAC visioning process, the plan calls for ''(b)etter mobility, less congestion and cost,'' ''(e)asier access to jobs, homes, and services,'' ''(m)ore transit,'' ''(m)ore green space and preservation of flood plain areas for aesthetic and recreational activities,'' and ''(h)ealthier environment.''

The plan, David Crossley observes, emphasizes walkability, compact communities, self-contained neighborhoods and town centers, transit links, and environmental protection strategies.

Although Houston is late in the move toward sustainability, he expects to see more and more ''quality of life'' projects because that's what residents want there and everywhere else.

''Make no mistake,'' he cautions, ''the 'mixed-use town center' with green space aggregated into parks and natural areas is the dominant development model in the United States today.'' -- Houston Chronicle   6/16/2007

Resource(s): www.chron.com/index.html ; www.joelkotkin.com

Mixed-Use Ordinance, Stricter Signage Requirements Part of El Paso's Development Code Revisions

In the first significant revision of El Paso's development code in nearly 30 years, the City Council approved a mixed-use zoning ordinance and stricter requirements for signs, billboards and landscaping, with City Representative Steve Ortega saying the ordinance ''allows for more of the new urbanism and smart growth concepts that make for good neighborhoods'' and Representative Beto O'Rourke pointing out, ''We're trying to reduce the cluttered visual impact of signage.''

A few days before the council's vote, El Paso Times writer Michael D. Hernandez reported that El Paso Association of Builders Executive Vice President Ray Adauto cautioned against any zoning changes that could push up housing prices while the city works to accommodate the influx of troops at Fort Bliss and to attract more businesses.

''We need to make sure,'' he argued, ''that whatever comes out of this (revision) does not have a negative impact on the business climate.''

That included worries that limiting the size, frequency and placement of commercial signs may hurt small businesses, unable to afford big billboards or radio and TV ads.

The council addressed these concerns, with Representatives Ortega and O'Rourke focusing on city benefits.

The former stressed that mixed-use neighborhoods, with narrower streets and housing, workplaces and parks within walking distance, will be more livable and safer for pedestrians.

The latter added, ''We're trying to make it easier to do business with the city and at the same time make it a more attractive city.'' -- El Paso Times   6/6/2007

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/

Buy-Back Deal Said to Help Ensure Success of Houston TOD Project

In an unprecedented step to secure two blocks near a light-rail station in the middle of Midtown Houston for transit-oriented development, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) will spend $7.2 million to buy the land from RHS Interests for the up to 18 months the company needs to design a dense mixed-use project and seek code variances while keeping its buy-back rights, after which the MTA can pursue other options.

For the first 12 months of the deal, likely to be finalized in about four weeks, reports Houston Chronicle writer Rad Sallee, the company could buy back the land at its own selling price.

In the following six months it would also have to pay interest, but should the plans fail the MTA would most likely make a profit on sale to others.

By holding the land and giving up on interest for a year, the writer observes, the MTA is also exempting the property from city, county and school district annual taxes, which most recently approached a total of $200,000.

With RHS principal Robert H. Schultz explaining he can't afford hold onto the land until the variances come through and his partners are ready to build, MTA Vice President for Real Estate Services stressed that the proposed project -- likely to include 400 apartments above 50,000 square feet of retail, and perhaps a hotel and offices -- would generate far more in property taxes and benefit the city with higher light-rail ridership.

Expecting the project to boost the ridership by 1,000 passengers a day at almost no cost to the MTA, and noting that the agency may join the developer in building a parking garage near the station, he said, ''By comparison, a typical Park & Ride lot adds 1,500 riders, but costs $20 million to $25 million.'' -- Houston Chronicle   4/5/2007

Resource(s): www.chron.com/index.html

Smart-Growth Overhaul at University of Houston Includes Converting 62 Parking Lots to Mixed-Use Structures

Inspired by the example of Columbia University in New York, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and other urban colleges that are improving campuses and ''their gritty surroundings,'' the University of Houston (UH) is planning a similar smart-growth overhaul of its 550-acre main campus, whose 62 parking lots will be converted into garages, classrooms, offices, dense housing, shops, and restaurants.

The first major project, next August, reports Houston Chronicle writer Matthew Tresaugue, will be a $100 million building for graduate and professional school students, with more than 700 loft apartments, ground-level retail and a large lecture hall.

Expecting enrolment to increase from 35,000 to 45,000 students over the next decade, UH officials want the campus redevelopment to ensure a better fit with the surrounding Third Ward, reduce its blight and attract more business.

They are already talking with private developers about construction of a mixed-use town center at neglected Scott Street just west of the campus.

''We haven't done a good job of working with the neighborhood in terms of developing the Third Ward to both of our benefits,'' regrets UH Associate Vice President David Irvin. ''Our lack of attention has caused the area to not be as dynamic as it could be.''

Local residents and community leaders count on the campus and the area transformation. ''Right now there is no place to get coffee or a beer,'' notes University Oaks Civic Club President, attorney Doug Erwing, hoping the planned UH buildings won't overshadow the single-family homes around the campus. ''I think there will be more life, and I think it bodes well for our neighborhood.''

His neighbor, state Democratic Representative Garnet Coleman, also supports the UH plan. ''This could be a catalyst,'' he observes. ''All these years, no one crosses Scott Street to patronize businesses. There shouldn't be a disconnect between the university and the neighborhood. That isn't good for anybody.'' -- Houston Chronicle   12/17/2006

Resource(s): www.chron.com/index.html

Austin Councilman Says City Doesn't Need to Offer Lucrative Development Bonuses for Downtown Development

Most Austin residents want a ''downtown that has cafes, groceries, places for children and families, movie houses and retail shops'' and a ''balance of national chains and local small businesses,'' writes City Councilman Brewster McCracken in The Austin American-Statesman, cautioning against a free ride for a proposed Marriott project and stressing that under two-term Democratic Mayor Kirk Watson -- first elected in 1997 and now sent by more than 80 percent of voters to the state Senate -- the city has consistently linked its smart-growth and other development bonuses to ''providing public benefits.''

Marriott and its partner, the councilman writes in his guest commentary, seek lucrative development bonuses but they don't reciprocate by including local businesses in the plans or offering the public anything else, and their project doesn't even comply with the Downtown Design Guidelines. Should they succeed and should the view that downtown projects ''are entitled to benefits without responsibilities'' just because they generate tax revenue become the norm, downtown might fail to realize the 2020 vision of inclusiveness.

''If downtown becomes an urban Aspen or Vail, an exclusive enclave filled with $800,000 condos, chain stores and high-end boutiques, then it becomes a challenge to justify public attention to, and enormous taxpayer investment in, downtown,'' Councilman McCracken observes, expecting the city to follow its public-benefit guidelines. ''The SMART Housing initiative provides nonmonetary development bonuses, such as expedited review, in return for affordable housing,'' he points out. ''The Smart Growth initiative conditioned a development's eligibility for development bonuses on providing public benefits from a matrix that included retaining local small businesses. Recent initiatives such as the University Neighborhood Overlay, the Rainey Street initiative and the Commercial Design Standards ordinance all provide significant development bonuses in exchange for public benefits.''

A ''huge believer in downtown Austin,'' the councilman concludes, ''I am optimistic that if we stick to our values, we can have the downtown Austin that lives up to our 2020 vision, a true community that includes everyone ... even day-care centers, family businesses and genuinely local, certifiably unique, small little restaurants.'' -- The Austin American-Statesman   11/13/2006

Resource(s): www.statesman.com/

North Central Texas Towns Look to the Future with Land Development Plans Around Projected Fort Worth-Cleburne Commuter Rail Line

The projected commuter rail between downtown Fort Worth and Cleburne about 25 miles south has local officials preparing four cities along the way for higher-density transit-oriented development, with North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Transportation Director Michael Morris telling them at a meeting in Burleson that they are advancing the project's funding prospects ''by annexing land, buying land, (and) zoning for transit uses.''

The first in a NCTCOG series through the nine-county Dallas-Fort Worth region, reports Cleburne Connection writer Joy E. Cressler, the meeting focused on its Mobility 2030 plan to ensure efficient multi-modal transportation for some 8.5 million people within 25 years. In related measures, the 2006-2008 Transportation Improvement Program ((TIP) has already invested about $887 million in mobility and air quality enhancements, while the ''Clean Fleet'' program encourages companies to reduce their emissions, especially from dump trucks, garbage haulers and other heavy duty vehicles.

Briefing NCTCOG officials on efforts to secure station-area land in the four cities on the future commuter-rail line -- Burleson, Crowley, Joshua and Cleburne -- Burleson Mayor Ken Shetter pointed out that his city has zoned 653 acres as its transit-oriented development district, which prompted a developer request and City Council approval for rezoning another 138 acres nearby for a planned development with 300 upscale apartments.

Envisioned by Dolce Living Development and called Shannon Creek North, the writer reports, the rental complex is expected to attract professionals ready to reduce their driving and commute to downtown Fort Worth jobs by train. The complex will include an amenity center for recreation, fitness program and social activities, an internal street network with easy pedestrian access to the station, and a public trail system and parkland.

The transit-oriented development district nearby, said Burleson Director of Planning and Community Development Clayton Husband, ''is designed to encourage the most appropriate uses of land, permit flexibility to encourage a more creative, efficient, environmentally pleasing and aesthetic design regarding the arrangement of buildings and land uses, open spaces, circulation and transportation patterns.'' And Mayor Shetter stressed, ''We're not waiting for trains to come to Burleson. We're starting our development around it.'' -- Connection   9/25/2006

Resource(s): www.burlesoncrowley.com/

Outdated City Rules Hamper Redevelopment of Midtown Houston ''Wasteland''

The remarkable progress of the Houston Redevelopment Authority and civic leaders in transforming a neglected Midtown ''wasteland'' into a vibrant pedestrian-friendly district -- with population increased from 500 to 9,500 and the tax base from $157 million to $800 million since its Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) took effect in 1995 -- could have been faster and more comprehensive if not hampered by outdated city rules that forbid some elements of walkable design.

For example, the 25-foot building setback rule ''gives pedestrians little to see except parking lots,'' while others often require developers to seek variances, ''a costly and cumbersome process,'' reports Houston Chronicle writer Mike Snyder, quoting Main Street Coalition Chairman, developer Ed Wulfe, who observed, ''Unfortunately, the Houston way is slow and painful.''

Redevelopment Authority and Midtown TIRZ Director Charles LeBlanc said the authority sent city lawyers numerous drafts of a development code for the district, but all were rejected as tantamount to zoning, which city voters have repeatedly turned down.

Frustrated planner and developer, Midtown Management District Board Vice Chairman Ian Rosenberg, who is converting a vacant 80-year-old Caroline Street building into a European-style wine bar and cafe, told the writer he had to lease additional space to have the required off-street parking, but to place an awning over a sidewalk he would need a Planning Commission variance.

Questioning the logic of the parking size requirement when he expects local residents to walk to his bar, he said some changes definitely ''have to happen in the way things get built.''

He and others found city officials receptive at a conference last month on an urban transit corridors initiative. While special mixed-use pedestrian-friendly development rules for a particular neighborhood may be legally questionable, the officials said, they might work for neighborhoods near transit, including Midtown with its Main Street light-rail line.

Planners noted that although transit stops are ideal as anchors for urban villages, the Main Street line attracted few projects due partly to speculation that has driven land prices up. -- Houston Chronicle   9/11/2006

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Smart Growth Citizens Group Plans Information Campaign on Benefits of Aransas Pass Harbor Development

With fewer than 700 residents voting in the last Aransas Pass election and more than 500 signing a recent petition to remove Major Jesus Galvan and Mayor Pro Tem Dorothy Roberts for their role in a 3-2 decision to sell city harbor land to the Aransas Pass Development Group, the City Council set the recall election for November 7, while Aransas Pass Citizens for Smart Growth, including developer representatives, instantly began preparations to defeat the measure.

“I think we need at least 1,000 people we can depend on to get out and vote when the time comes,” said Smart Growth activist Del Edwardson, hoping to inform residents about the benefits of harbor development for this small city some 15 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

The group, reports Corpus Christi Caller-Times writer Beth Wilson, is planning billboards, newspaper ads, phone calls, block walks and rallies with free food.

The mayor pro tempore, who attended the planning session, thought petition signatories were misinformed. “They hear one thing and they read another,” she said. “They need to know what’s going on.”

Petition organizers, the writer notes, object to the harbor sale, favoring its lease and a smaller development project than the one presently proposed. Supporting the project, Del Edwardson said Citizens for Smart Growth will continue to work for “whatever we think is good and progressive for Aransas Pass.” -- Caller-Times   8/23/2006

Resource(s): www.caller.com/

Transit Not an Option for San Antonio's Fast-Growing Suburbs

Amid San Antonio's unprecedented job and population boom, with builders expected to complete about 18,000 homes this year, but mostly in gated communities outside its limits and zoning reach, city planning manager Jesus Garza told the fifth annual housing summit the city can't do much to advance Smart Growth there and free residents from their car dependency, while Northside Independent School District assistant communications director Monica Faulkenbery said people are ''just plowing'' into the area and her district must open four schools this year for another 4,000 new students.

School districts are among the first public entities to feel the suburban construction pressure, reports San Antonio Express-News business writer Jennifer Hiller, noting that the Northside district, with half of its 355 square miles developed so far, will become the state's fourth largest in the next couple of years, behind Houston, Dallas and Cypress-Fairbanks, some 15 miles northwest of central Houston.

Most of the area's current and planned projects have ''cookie-cutter'' designs and plenty of cul-de-sacs, but no sidewalks, and all average about 3.4 units per acre, not enough to support transit, said planning manager Garza, with VIA Metropolitan Transit planning and development vice president Todd Heminson noting that in cities such as Washington, D.C. home values along transit lines have skyrocketed as traffic congestion has worsened and gas prices have gone up. Transit could make San Antonio suburbs more economically competitive, he observed.

Many in the audience wanted to ask developers what they do to make neighborhoods more accessible, but developers ''were in short supply,'' the writer reports, quoting one of the prospective questioners who said, ''They are an integral part of this equation, and they are not here.'' -- Express-News   7/18/2006

Resource(s): www.mysanantonio.com/

Success of Dallas Light-Rail System Helps Plano Officials Think Bigger With Downtown Redevelopment Plans

Since Dallas Area Rapid (DART) Transit inaugurated its light rail 10 years ago, the system has grown from 11 to 45 miles and its ridership to 7.5 million in 2005, with the three Plano stations opened four years ago, almost 20 miles north of downtown Dallas, quickly boosting adjacent property values about 30 percent over others in the area and gaining in popularity -- the number of daily boardings nearly doubled at downtown Plano station, tripled at Parker Road, and quadrupled at Bush Turnpike, from 285 to 1,157 in April.

Initially, reports Plano Courier writer Amy Morenz, Plano officials wanted to restrict the downtown area to special events, but the coming light-rail line gave them better ideas.

''We realized the opportunity for planning for downtown,'' said long-time Plano official and its DART board representative Robert Pope, now in the real estate business. ''That plan got closer to construction and the city worked on trading properties, closing streets and making downtown redevelopment feasible.''

And now, he added, cities such as Garland and Carrollton look to Plano as ''an example of how light rail can support a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) lifestyle.''

Plano, the writer observes, was the region's first city to engage in Fannie Mae's Smart Growth Initiative, which encourages transit-oriented development and transit ridership by letting home buyers in a station's half-mile radius include part of their prospective transportation savings in their qualifying income.

Officials are continuing their work on a downtown transit village, expecting it to feature a mix of governmental, retail, office and residential uses, with the former Rice Field property recently dedicated for a new townhouse complex. -- Plano Courier   6/12/2006

Resource(s): www.courier-gazette.com/plano_star-courier/news/

Community Stewardship Awards Celebrate Smart Growth Accomplishments in Austin-Area Counties

Created in 2002 to put Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties on a sustainability path as their population grows from some 1.4 to more than 2.5 over the next few decades, Austin-based Envision Central Texas (ECT) has recently presented its first Community Stewardship Awards for projects and activities best exemplifying or reflecting the region's land preservation, compact development, public transit and other common needs and goals.

In the New Development category, the winner was mixed-use Plum Creek, a master-planned Traditional Neighborhood Development (TDN) being built by Plum Creek Development on 2,200 acres in Kyle, Hays County, with traditional architecture, front porches and alley garages, narrow tree-lined streets, pocket parks, schools, stores and offices, all within walking distance.

In the Redevelopment category, the jury selected the one-acre mixed-use Saltillo Lofts infill project, with 29 residences and 8 commercial live-work units, built by developers Perry Lorenz and Larry Warshaw a half-mile east of downtown Austin and across from a future commuter rail station.

In the Pioneer category, the recipient was architect, civic activist and University of Texas Architecture Professor Sinclair Black, who ''has long advocated compact communities with dense, mixed-use, walkable districts based upon rail transit as the alternative to endless sprawl.''

In the Public Policy and Planning category, the award went to Leander, Williamson County, at the northwestern edge of the region's growth corridor, where Mayor John Cowman, Capital Metro Chair Lee Walker and other leaders have embraced New Urbanism and involved the community in successful planning for a 2,000-acre Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and creation of a new Master Plan adopted last year.

And in Raising Public Awareness category, the award honored the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance of more than 40 environmental groups for its efforts to educate the public about the aquifer's importance as a regional drinking water resource, its sensitivity and the need to protect it from haphazard development. -- Envision Central Texas   5/17/2006

Resource(s): www.envisioncentraltexas.org/

Editorial Urges Austin City Council to Recommit to Smart Growth Goals in Light of Improving Economy

''We're fond of arguing over growth, and planning to make plans is what we do best,'' ironizes the Austin American-Statesman briefly in its editorial agenda for 2006 and beyond, allowing that the Smart Growth goals it outlined in 2000 might have been stalled by the bad economy, but stressing that now, as the region rebounds, the City Council must act to advance mixed-use redevelopment and fulfill its wish to house 20,000 more residents downtown.

''Quality, dense development,'' the daily says, ''means less sprawl and fewer commuters adding to an already congested highway system,'' but it also requires a commitment to infrastructure improvements.

Before the downtown population influx, the city must step up work on water and sewer line upgrades and expansion; protect urban creeks and watersheds from heavier runoff; think about schools for hundreds more students; be ready to handle more traffic and provide more parking; and help the downtown become ''an employer magnet'' by making it more accessible to morning commuters, which means High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, expanded and reliable mass transit, and better southern traffic flow over the Colorado River, especially on the overburdened Lamar Boulevard bridge.

And since Austin pays its police officers the highest salaries in Texas, with firefighters close behind -- on the average $62,500 and $59,800 a year, respectively -- it must expect their full dedication to the community and can't allow most of them to live outside the city, sometimes 70 to 150 miles away.

''The residency imbalance impedes Austin's ability to respond to emergencies during times of crisis,'' the daily says, resolved to look to this year's city and state elections for candidates who will back ''residency policies that require new officers and firefighters to live in the city as a condition of employment.''

The daily also pledges continued editorial support for the city's push to establish itself as ''a thriving center of culture.'' With new museums and cultural centers recently opened, scheduled for opening this year, under construction or planned, the daily urges the City Council to approve a bond issue that includes $90 million for a new central library. ''Libraries are special places, and Austin is a city that deserves an outstanding central library,'' the daily concludes. ''Downtown is booming. The library should be part of that.'' -- Austin American-Statesman   1/1/2006

Resource(s): www.statesman.com/opinion/

Harris County's Open Space Could Disappear by 2035 if Houston Continues Low-Density Developments

As the city of Houston already takes some 650 square miles, whatever open space Harris County still has will be all gone by 2035 if development continues at the current low-density rate of 3,500 people per square mile (fewer than six per acre), with subdivisions, office parks and shopping malls spreading over another 1,000 acres across the eight-county region, warns the Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments (H-GAC), while Texas A&M University environmental expert John Jacob calls the implication ''probably catastrophic.''

According to new H-GAC projections, reports Houston Chronicle writer Mike Snyder, the region's population will grow from 5.3 to 8.8 million within 30 years, including a Harris County jump from 3.8 to 5.8 million.

To save it from further sprawl, open space loss and crippling road congestion, the H-GAC and the nonprofit Blueprint Houston group will release recommendations from their ''Envision Houston Region'' public planning process early next year, hoping to make a difference in distribution of federal money expected for the next Regional Transportation Plan.

At their workshops last fall, said Blueprint Houston Executive Director Heidi Sweetnam, hundreds of people backed proposals to create a linear park system along bayous; bar construction in flood plains; build more ''town centers'' with housing, shops and jobs; and combine transportation services to improve mobility and cut commute times.

Officials and developers alike see transportation investments as the most effective in shaping the form and direction of growth, the writer observes, quoting Citizens Transportation Coalition Chairwoman Robin Holzer. ''It matters where and how you spend that money,'' she pointed out. ''This new (envisioning) process has made improving the quality of life an essential part of the transportation plan, which was just unheard of before.''

In addition, the process has highlighted the importance of keeping open space not only for wildlife and recreation, but also for rainwater absorption, which limits runoff and flood risks. Area environmentalists told the writer it's sometimes harder to push for preservation in the absence of forests or mountains, said Katy Prairie Conservancy Executive Director Mary Anne Piacentini, since people do not necessarily or immediately ''understand the subtle beauty of the prairie.''

Aware of these concerns, General Growth Properties, which is building the 20,000-home master-planned Bridgeland community northwest of Houston, a project which may take 15 to 20 years, will preserve about 3,000 of its 10,000 acres as open space.

The A&M University expert complemented the company for preserving more land than is typical, although still too ''fragmented'' to retain its full ecological value. -- Houston Chronicle   12/26/2005

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

El Paso Outlines Plan to Replace Distressed Alamito Public Housing Project with Mixed-Use Development

With its narrow streets, small homes and apartments, various stores, businesses, schools, churches, civic centers and parks -- all close together and well-tended by this poor but tight and safe community along the Mexican border -- South El Paso is ''a near perfect example of what new urbanism should look like: traditional urbanism,'' and it will be even better once the long-distressed Alamito public housing is razed for mixed uses, reports El Paso Times writer David Crowder, quoting local planner Carlos Galinar, who says, ''You cannot speak about smart growth without talking about urban core development.''

Under the El Paso Housing Authority plan, drawn up with help from the neighborhood's Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe and funded by a federal $20 million HOPE VI grant and $48 million in public-private investment, the 349 worn-out Alamito apartments will be replaced by 55 affordable multi-family rentals, 148 single-family ownership units, and non-residential premises. This will improve the overall livability and attractiveness of the area, whose density and diversity makes it ''much more interesting than suburbia,'' notes planner Galinar.

''Go there in the evening and you'll see children riding bikes in the intersections, grandmothers on their front stoops talking and people coming and going.''

It will also stem the unwanted kind of development along streets zoned for housing and small businesses, namely big discount stores and warehouses, already disturbing residents nearer downtown and encroaching on low-income areas south of I-10.

''There is no respect for zoning,'' observes housing advocate Carmen Felix, whose small corporation builds and manages low-income apartments in South El Paso, expecting Paso del Norte group planners to solicit adequate community input as they craft a downtown redevelopment plan.

Local state Representative Beto O'Rourke hopes the plan will offer real solutions. ''It seems what we need to do is to make South El Paso a place you want to work and play,'' he says, ''which means there has to be mixed income housing, retail, arts and entertainment.'' -- El Paso Times   10/24/2005

Resource(s): www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Harlingen Hopes to End Street Congestion With Relocation of Rail Tracks and Switching Yard

''Providing for smart growth and smart economic development begins with building a smart infrastructure,'' said U.S. Democratic Representative Ruben Hinojosa in Harlingen, Cameron County, which will finally see relief from its west side street congestion at train crossings, with the new federal Transportation Equity Act providing $5.6 million for a long-sought engineering study to relocate the railroad tracks and the switching yard to east of the city.

Currently, reports the Harlingen Valley Morning Star, the slowly moving trains keep the crossing closed for 20 to 40 minutes at a time, with long lines of cars on both sides and many businesses cut off from prospective customers.

''We have been waiting for this money,'' said former mayor Connie de la Garza. ''It looks that we are going to see the light now.''

With Cameron County leading the relocation project, county transportation director Pete Sepulveda promised completion of its environmental study by October 2006. -- Valley Morning Star   8/2/2005

Resource(s): www.rednova.com/

Houston's Mayor Asks Voters to Support Metro Region's Transit Plan

''We must have an alternative to constantly widening highways, at a prohibitive cost to neighborhoods and taxpayers,'' writes Houston Mayor Bill White in The Houston Chronicle, acknowledging a wide range of views among its 1.5 million voters about transportation priorities, but urging them to unify behind the Metropolitan Transit Authority's (ATA's) congressional action plan to obtain the maximum in new federal transit funds -- $1 billion over 10 years.

This money, the mayor writes, would fund almost 100 miles of additional light-rail and commuter rail lines, rapid transit bus routes and standard bus service expansion, all construction in stages to maximize the benefits and minimize inconveniences, based on objective criteria.

They include the need to maximize the value of the existing Main Street Rail Line, bus service and Park'N'Ride facilities; the location of major employment centers; and ridership projection formulas.

Explaining ''to all what most citizens understand,'' the mayor continues, ''Rapid transit not only serves those who live along the lines, but also those who come to the transit centers by autos and conventional bus service, and those transit users are as diverse as our community and their needs must be met.''

During his recent long conversations with members of the Texas congressional delegation, the mayor stresses, he sensed a real bipartisan commitment ''to work as a team'' to secure the maximum transportation funding for Houston, and if the public now splinters into groups, ''with the attitude of 'my way or the highway,' our economic growth and quality of life will stall along crowded highways.''

Addressing those who ''want to blame someone because they don't like more federal funding for mass transit or don't like some aspect of Metro's plan to build more rather than less, sooner rather than later, in a cost-effective fashion,'' the mayor stands up for everyone in the congressional delegation and the Metro board, and offers himself as a target. ''Blame me,'' he writes. ''I was hired by voters to get this city moving, and have asked all community leaders to help.'' -- The Houston Chronicle   6/18/2005

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

New Urbanist Neighborhoods Off to Slow Start Near San Antonio's New Toyota Plant

Determined to ensure a traditional feel and 1940s look for new neighborhoods around the new Toyota plant in the city's southern section, San Antonio officials set strict New Urbanism requirements in their master plan for the area, but developers are slow to meet the challenge, with only one mixed-use commercial project under way so far, and the first residential developer to seek and get approval for his varied-type housing subdivision, Hausman Holdings Ltd. principal Harry Hausman, saying, ''I almost threw in the towel several times.''

His Hunter's Pond II subdivision, south of Palo Alto College, reports San Antonio Express-News business writer Adolfo Pesquera, will have single-family lots of different sizes between garden homes, duplexes and townhouses. It will also feature front porches, detached garages, alleys and a wide boulevard with a landscaped median.

But the developer had to spend $7.5 million for a three-quarter-mile extension of utility lines and for seven off-site acres to a build a second subdivision entrance. And since he obtained tax increment financing (TIF), he had to set aside extra land out of the 90-acre site for open space, by reducing the number of housing units from the 550 that would have been allowed elsewhere to 447.

As a result, he had to ask builders to pay about $5,000 more for his lots, which wasn't very popular. Nevertheless, the writer notes, ''Hausman has no doubts about the viability of the new urbanism mixed-use neighborhood.'' He attributes much of builders' reluctance to their lack of experience with the 1940s-style design. ''Tract builders have a set of plans that are all costed out,'' he explains. ''For them to change what they know is successful, they feel it's too much trouble.'' -- Express-News   4/15/2005

Resource(s): www.mysanantonio.com/

Dallas Residents Want Smart Growth, Better Protections for Environment

''The city may not be known as a pioneer of 'smart growth,' but Dallas residents are eager for a less congested, more transit-oriented, green, walkable place to call home,'' says a Dallas Morning News editorial, delighted with results of a new survey -- taken as part of the comprehensive planning process, Forward Dallas! -- which found a ''real consensus'' on the need for redevelopment, transit, affordable housing, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, and better air, water and tree protections.

Almost two-thirds of respondents, in all demographic groups, agreed the city should focus public investment in its southern sector, the editorial notes, calling it good news for the City Council, since the first step ''in building a better city is agreeing on priorities.''

On the other hand, the editorial says, the council should worry that nearly 84 percent of respondents thought its members may favor their particular districts, also doubting in their ability ''to turn priorities into strategy into tactics into action'' that would benefit the whole city. ''Just one thing assuages that kind of worry,'' the editorial points out -- ''effective action.'' -- Dallas Morning News   1/10/2005

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Austin Planners Step Up Work on Transit-Oriented Development Ordinance After Voters Show Support

When 62 percent of area voters authorized Austin's Capital Metro last month to use its railroad tracks for a commuter train starter line between downtown and Leander, some 32 miles northwest, city planners stepped up work on the proposed Transit Oriented Development (TOD) ordinance, ''to make the most'' of the New Urbanism or Smart Growth benefits around the line's first seven stations.

Expected before the Design Commission on January 3, the Planning Commission on January 11, and the City Council on January 27, reports Austin Chronicle writer Lee Nichols, the TOD ordinance will define station areas as ''neighborhood centers,'' ''town centers,'' ''regional centers'' or downtown, allowing construction of mixed-use buildings from six to ten stories, and prohibiting land uses that would clash with urban density and walkability goals.

Capital Metro has already held neighborhood meetings in the station areas, hearing complaints from some business and property owners that the ordinance's fast pace leaves them little time to scrutinize its potential local impact. At an Urban Transportation Commission meeting, Commissioner Greg Sapire expressed similar concerns, with the commission recommending that the City Council consider the ordinance, but delay its approval for some time, to allow further public input.

For details, the writer directs readers to www.ci.austin.tx.us/development/transit_development.htm. -- Austin Chronicle   12/24/2004

Resource(s): www.austinchronicle.com/

Austin's Downtown Rail Initiative Wins Public Support

Narrowly defeated by Austin area voters in 2000, Capital Metro's passenger rail proposal was much scaled down and minutely explained through the agency's educational campaign, winning this time by a 62.2-percent margin, with Metro board chairman Lee Walker elated that for the first time ''our regional neighborhood has come together'' to bring back rail transit discarded almost 65 years ago.

Blaming Metro for spending public dollars on the campaign, retired Tractor Inc. CEO and key rail opponent Jim Skaggs declared, ''The battle is lost in terms of this particular election. But I don't think the war is lost.''

Instead of its previously proposed $1.9 billion investment in a 52-mile light-rail-based network, reports Austin American-Statesman writer Ben Wear, Capital Metro will initially spend just $60 million for a 32-mile downtown Austin-Leander commuter line on an upgraded freight track and $30 million on diesel light-rail-like cars.

Officials consider it ''a cheap start on a larger system of rail lines and expanded bus service,'' which will become increasingly necessary as the Austin area doubles its population to almost 2 million within 20 years.

To be completed by 2008, the starter line will have 9 stations, the one near the Austin Convention Center served by ''circulator'' buses taking people farther downtown and to the Capital complex and the University of Texas. For its long-range blueprint, which includes two other commuter lines, streetcars, light rail in Central and South Austin or downtown extension of the starter line, Capital Metro will need another referendum, possibly in November 2006. -- Austin American-Statesman   11/3/2004

Resource(s): www.statesman.com/index.html

Editorial Urges Dallas Officials to Join Smart Commute Program

''Great ideas are worth copying,'' says a Dallas Morning News editorial, complementing Plano, some 15 miles north of central Dallas, for becoming the 30th city in Fannie Mae's national Smart Commute partnership program, and urging Dallas officials to move from behind the curve and enter this ''innovative way to get people into homes and out of cars.''

Plano officials, the editorial notes, committed themselves to encouraging transit-oriented development even before Dallas light rail reached their city two years ago, and now will boost both home ownership and transit ridership by offering buyers larger mortgage loans for homes within a half-mile of the two rail stations and a quarter-mile of bus stops.

In contrast, Dallas officials only now are working on transit-development ideas as part of the city's long-overdue comprehensive master plan. Meantime, private developers ''have clearly demonstrated that convenient, accessible public transportation can reshape neighborhoods,'' the editorial stresses, pointing to vibrant urban life in redeveloped areas of Mockingbird Station and the Cityplace stop.

With scores of redevelopment opportunities throughout the city, and with more than three dozens transit stations, ''City Hall can't afford to remain a passive bystander,'' the editorial states, adding that programs like Fannie Mae's Smart Commute ''should be part of the city's redevelopment strategy.'' -- Dallas Morning News   10/25/2004

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Editorial Criticizes Dallas Council's Steps Toward Managing Growth

Although the recent Dallas City Council's moratorium on new building permits and occupancy certificates for retail projects larger than 100,000 square feet will last only 60 days, after which staff will propose zoning and architectural guidelines for ''big boxes,'' a Dallas Business Journal editorial entitled ''Moratorium madness'' calls the move ''a serious error'' and a signal of the city's leaning toward smart growth, which the editors take a swipe at by reducing it to ''a fancy name for being bureaucratically persnickety.''

Imputing to the smart-growth movement frequent overreach from ''the world of 'architectural standards' into the world of anti-business, slow-growth and even no-growth policies,'' with frequent ''snobbery'' exemplified by ''the elitist warfare against traditional suburban neighborhoods,'' the editors argue that in competition with newer suburbs, Dallas ''should be doing all it can to attract more retail, including big-box projects, if those are where the opportunities lie.''

They credit Mayor Laura Miller with the clear understanding ''that the city needs a more vibrant retail sector,'' but feel that the city sends the wrong message ''at a time when it can ill afford to do so.''

One of the projects affected by the moratorium, reports Journal writer Sandra Zaragoza, is a proposed Wal-Mart store in the Prestonwood area, strongly opposed by local residents, with the company applying for a permit just half an hour before the council's vote. Subsequently, Mayor Miller told the writer that at her recent meeting with Wal-Mart representatives they seemed to understand the city's desire for smart growth as a way to ensure quality of life, and that she wasn't surprised by objections from real estate industry officials and developers.

''They do not want the city of Dallas telling them how to build their buildings,'' the mayor said, noting that the council has been discussing ''big-box retailers and the traffic implications and the aesthetics,'' adding, ''This isn't anything we did spontaneously.'' -- Dallas Business Journal   8/22/2004

Resource(s): http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/

From Junkyards to City Showcase: Fort Worth's Downtown Redevelopment Program Aims High

''Very few cities have so much underutilized land so close to downtown -- and so ripe for redevelopment'' as Forth Worth, writes Star-Telegram columnist Mitchell Schnurman, applauding the latest design for a $360 million project to reroute and reshape the downtown part of the Trinity River, convert the junkyards, used-car lots and vacant buildings on its north side into a ''showcase of waterfront properties,'' and make the whole area the city's centerpiece.

The price is high, but ''we put big bucks into highways and interchanges all the time,'' the columnist points out, urging readers to see it ''as the ultimate anti-highway improvement, a piece of infrastructure that will bring tens of thousands of people to the inner city and spawn hundreds of millions in investment.''

With the Tarrant Regional Water District already pledging $44 million, and more seed money expected from tax district revenue, Fort Worth U.S. Republican Representative Kay Granger is upbeat about her efforts to secure some $180 million in federal funds, saying, ''We're not doing this for tourists. We're doing it for the people who live in this community.''

Modeled after the famous Vancouver (Canada) urban waterfront, and designed under leadership of Vancouver-based architect Bing Thom, the columnist writes, the project features an elongated town lake and river-delta-type canals that ''will bring water to an area that could handle 834 acres of development,'' roughly doubling the downtown core.

Aiming at a diverse mix of young families, affluent professionals and retirees, the project's dense housing will likely include multifamily and row houses, while small city blocks and short bridges across the water will ''add to the human scale, making it more attractive for walking and lingering,'' especially since much of the area ''will offer unobstructed views of the water and the bluffs beyond.''

Noting that the lead architect is also consultant for the Tarrant County College plan to locate a campus along the river, the columnist also finds the project's fast-track launch and schedule impressive. The lake and the main canal could be finished in six to eight years, with private construction under way all the time, though the whole area may not be built out for 40 years. City leaders and the public, he adds, will be discussing the project over the next several months. -- Star-Telegram   6/20/2004

Resource(s): www.dfw.com/

Editorial: Regional Leaders Need to Provide Opportunity for Livable Communities

There is nowhere to walk to in Plano, Collin County, some 18 miles northeast of central Dallas, and its main meeting space is the ''generic'' mall, writes University of Texas-Dallas Arts and Humanities Professor Dean Terry in a Dallas News commentary, pointing out that since the ''physical environment affects people,'' their moods and behavior, ''(i)f the environment lacks personality, it creates a citizenry that becomes impersonal.''

In attempts to ''enforce personality,'' developers give their subdivisions names like ''Country Meadow'' although neither country nor meadow exists, while officials let them build ''the same dysfunctional sprawl pattern suburb over and over,'' which requires a car for the simplest errand and ''creates more smog, traffic, distance and isolation.''

With few wild spaces left, children ''are trapped in homes or stores or restaurants'' and ''explore the mall or the virtual space of video games'' instead, many becoming ''addicted to games or television or drugs.'' New urbanism can help ''alleviate this facelessness and dysfunction,'' the professor stresses, but it must be implemented on a larger scale.

''It's up to regional leaders to provide the opportunity for a livable community,'' he writes. ''It's up to citizens to realize that having that new Wal-Mart or Home Depot provides convenience but has serious costs to our community.'' -- Dallas News   5/15/2004

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Despite Rise in Farmland Acreage, Cameron County's Best Farmland Goes to Sprawl

Although farmers expanded the total arable area in Cameron County, on the state's southeastern tip, from 248,912 to 251,320 acres between 2000 and 2003, the best farmland near cities ''gives way to urban sprawl,'' a trend evident across the entire Rio Grande Valley, reports Valley Morning Star writer Tony Vindell, quoting experts' view that the next 30-40 years will be critical for the region's agriculture as development pressures mount.

In a new and typical example, the writer notes, the old 100-acre Texas Valley Farms grapefruit orchard about four miles from central Harlingen is being torn down to make room for another subdivision.

An economist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in nearby Weslaco confirms a similar gradual disappearance of prime rural land across the valley, finding it ''a matter of economics.'' While land for farming sells for $1,000-$2,000 an acre, depending on location, he says, it brings 10-20 times more if sold for development. -- Valley Morning Star   4/20/2004

Resource(s): www.valleystar.com/

Dallas Suburb Chooses Smart Growth With $200 Million Mixed-Use Community

Largely overlooked in years of fast metro expansion, the southern Dallas suburb of Lancaster decided against ''a run-of-the-mill development'' and chose a smart-growth option for its 1,500 open acres, where a public-private partnership envisions a $200 million mixed-use community, with one of the key local developers, Harvest Real Estate Partners president D. Randall Potts, expecting many of the future 7,100 homes to attract ''first-time buyers and first move-outs.''

Groundbreaking for the initial Mills Branch section of the development is likely in six months, reports GlobeStreet writer Connie Gore. The section will include 1,100 single-family houses and multifamily brownstones, 80 percent of them within 200 feet of open space featuring hiking and biking trails.

Drawn by Dallas planners Allan Gree of Freese & Nichols, and Dennis Wilson of Townscape Inc., and their Austin colleague Scott Policov of Prime Strategies Inc., the project's blueprint and zoning codes are based on the North Texas Council Of Governments' 10 principles of sustainable development. -- GlobeSt.com   3/30/2004

Resource(s): www.globest.com/news/dallas/

Hometown's ''Child-Centric'' Elementary School: Bringing Education to the Heart of the Community

In a radical turn from a ''warehouse'' school design, Arcadia Realty developer William Gietema Jr. is building a ''child-centric'' elementary school in the neo-traditional Hometown community northeast of Fort Worth, saying, ''Instead of a school designed around the drive-through, we designed the school first, then came up with a method to allow parents to deliver and pick up their children without damaging the school's design.''

The school, writes Washington Post Writers Group columnist Neal Peirce, will stand near town recreation and performing art centers and a library -- all on streets with six-foot-wide sidewalks, trees and traffic-calming features -- eight acres of its ten-acre site taken for natural-light classrooms, a playground and a wooded environmental learning area.

''We intend this school to be flexible for people working there today as well as 30 years from now,'' says Birdville School District superintendent Stephen Waddell, who gave the green light for its design, also expecting the community to use the school after hours.

Crediting InfoSavvy Group director, ''futurist thinker-consultant'' Ian Jukes for influencing the child-centric design, and citing efforts by international school consultant and architect Prakash Nair to popularize smaller, future-oriented schools, the columnist writes, ''A big point of the reformers is that students, especially older ones, can gain immensely by spending big chunks of time learning outside the school, in libraries, parks, museums, community service and school-to-work programs.''

He concludes, ''The school design issues need to be hauled out of bureaucrats' offices, into the sunlight of spirited community-wide discussions. America's universities could serve their communities well by igniting the debate.'' -- Washington Post Writers Group   3/28/2004

Resource(s): www.communityschools.org/index.html

Frisco's New Urbanism Project Takes a Chapter from the City's Past

''Frisco's past should coexist very nicely with its future,'' says the Dallas Morning News as this ''once sleepy farming town'' some 25 miles north of central Dallas prepares an April groundbreaking for a 145-acre ''new-urbanism'' Frisco Square project, which will include City Hall, single-family town houses and ample retail space, all resembling the city's century-old Main Street and other nearby buildings rather than the many modern structures reflecting its recent explosive growth.

Once municipal offices move to Frisco Square, officials should bring in tenants ''that are an asset to downtown revitalization,'' the daily opines, noting that Mayor Mike Simpson is right to appoint a residents' committee to determine ''how the historic buildings should be used,'' but also stressing the importance of professional help to make Main Street redevelopment ensure best uses for those properties.

''Other communities might be willing to set aside their historic past while running breakneck into the future,'' but Mayor Simpson and other officials know that ''a revitalized Main Street leading to Frisco Square can become a destination for visitors,'' the daily says, commending their commitment and urging all residents ''to support this worthy preservation plan.'' -- Dallas Morning News   3/21/2004

Resource(s): www.dallasnews.com/

Houston's Light Rail a Hit in More Ways Than One

Despite an extensive public educational campaign and train visibility equipment, Houston's first and instantly highly popular 7.5-mile downtown-Astrodome light-rail line has recorded 15 hits by cars since its January 1st inauguration, with the police blaming drivers in all cases, and Rice University sociology professor Stephen Klineberg saying ''no one walks'' in this ''most auto-dependent city in the nation'' and drivers aren't used to consider anything else on its streets.

Houston's train-car collision rate indeed sets a record, as the nation's other 18 cities with light-rail recorded a total of 815 such accidents from 1997 through 2001, or about 13 for each system annually, reports USA Today writer Debbie Howlett, again quoting professor Klinberg, who explains, ''This is a car city -- it was built by, for and on behalf of automobile,'' but ''the 21st century is configured for a different reality.''

The writer confirms that almost everybody in this city of 2 million residents and 3.9 million cars drives, but she also points out that light rail attracted 556,000 passengers in the first month, and that its riders outnumbered bus users during the four-day Super Bowl weekend, even after MetroRail limited nighttime service due to safety concerns for crowds.

Houston's light rail success is in sync with the 22-percent transit use increase over the last six years nationwide, most of it, says American Public Transportation Association safety operation director Greg Hull, attributable to light rail.

The writer adds that 36 cities have light-rail systems under construction or planning, with Minneapolis opening its 11.6-mile line this year. -- USA Today   3/7/2004

Resource(s): www.usatoday.com/

Roots of Houston's Sprawl Traced to Land Use Regulations, Minimum Parking Requirements

Those who think sprawl chiefly reflects consumer choices rather than more-or-less-obvious governmental policies should consider Houston, the only major American city without a ''formal zoning code'' yet high on the nation's low density list and the fourth in wasting people's time in road congestion, a distinction it has earned ''through several land use regulations,'' stresses Rutgers School of Law-Camden professor Michael Lewyn at the Planetizen web page, focusing on the city's car-dependency and ''anti-pedestrian'' bent.

Until 1999, with 98 percent of current housing up, Houston exacted 5,000-square-foot minimum lots, which pushed new residents increasingly farther from bus lines. Apartment buildings must have 1.25 parking spaces for an efficiency and 1.33 spaces for each bedroom, with similar mega-parking requirements for offices, supermarkets and other business, all of which not only discourages walking but also depletes land for homes and other uses.

Most major Houston streets can be up to 100 feet wide and residential streets up to 60 feet, while pre-World War II streets average 28-30 feet and modern streets, 32-36 feet. Major street intersections must be 600 feet apart, a far cry from a recent EPA conclusion that for ''a high degree of walkability, block lengths of 300 feet ... are desirable.''

In addition, ''government at all levels has accelerated sprawl by building more roads to the urban fringe in Houston than in other cities,'' the writer points out, noting that over twice more populous Chicago has built only 10 percent more road miles. Calling Houston's land use regulations ''nearly as meddlesome, as pro-sprawl, and as anti-pedestrian as zoning in other American cities,'' he concludes, ''The good news is that Houston is beginning to change its ways: minimum lot size requirements were loosened in 1999, and widened roads are actually beginning to become controversial. But it may take decades of real deregulation to undo the damage caused in the late 20th century.''   11/24/2003

Resource(s): www.planetizen.com/

104-Acre Mixed-Use Project Envisioned Outside Houston

Having amassed some 10,000 acres and launched several mixed-use or high-density pedestrian-friendly residential projects in the Houston area since the early 1990s, Richfield Investment Corp., financed by a small California investor group, expects to make the greatest difference yet through its proposed smart-growth West8 project in the fast-growing Westchase District, with company president Rick Sabella saying the mix of uses is ''a smarter, more sophisticated solution to this project than single-use zoning,'' and Westchase municipal management district president Jim Murphy stressing that Richfield officials ''appreciate the economic values of the whole new urbanism and smart growth movement.''

Located at the intersection of two major thoroughfares about 10 miles from downtown Houston, reports Houston Business Journal writer Nancy Sarnoff, the 104-acre West8 will include 530 upscale apartments and some live/work units, retail stores, offices, medical facilities and a hotel, all in four quadrants around a central circular roundabout, with plazas and pedestrian pathways leading to arcades and richly canopied buildings. The company demolished about 20 obsolete buildings, but spent $3 million on renovation of an 11-story tower, laid new water and sewer lines, and transplanted dozens of old oak trees. It also plans to extend two local roads into streets, so future residents and workers won't need to get on the Beltway to go ''to lunch or the bank.'' The company expects to begin the residential phase of the project in six months. -- Houston Business Journal   11/17/2003

Resource(s): www.bizjournals.com/houston/

Houston Voters Approve Aggressive Long-Term Transit Solutions Plan

In the boldest long-range move to ease gridlock in the car-overdependent Houston area since the creation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in 1978, almost 52 percent of voters passed its $7.5 billion regional ''Metro Solutions'' plan to expand bus service, double HOV lanes and, most importantly, make the nearly finished 7.5-mile light-rail line downtown the first segment of an 80-mile system by 2025, starting with a $640 million bond issue for accelerated construction of four lines totaling 22 miles and gradually opening between 2008 and 2012. The result of a hot campaign, in which the MTA put $3 million and two political groups -- the pro-rail Citizens for Public Transportation and the anti-rail Texans for True Mobility -- spent about $3 million more, reports Houston Chronicle writer Lucas Wall, the approval of transit expansion reflects a growing public realization that area ''commuters need another alternative to driving alone on the freeways.'' In the city, ''where residents drive the most miles per capita per day, pay the third highest transportation cost per family, breathe some of the most polluted air, and endure traffic congestion ranking in the top 15,'' he writes, ''many voters said it's time for a change.'' Metro president and CEO Shirley DeLibero moved to implement the plan immediately, to place the city in line ''to get into the federal funding process.'' Estimating the cost of the next 22 miles of light rail at about $1 billion, Metro needs half of the amount from the Federal Transit Authority to begin construction. Local Republican representatives who have fought rail expansion, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Representative John Culberson, promised to support the Metro's funding request, with the latter saying, ''My job now is to move forward with this new instruction from the voters. I've got my marching orders.'' Strong backers of transit expansion, Democratic representatives expect the state congressional delegation to work together now, a wish shared by a Republican supporter of the plan, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who said in a statement ''it's time to put differences aside and move forward.'' -- Houston Chronicle   11/6/2003

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Is Rail In Houston's Future? City's Freeway System Could Be Built Out by 2014

Houston must build regional rail, because freeways alone ''won't do,'' warns U.S. representative to the International Electrotechnical Commission and Kimley-Horn and Associates senior vice president J. Sam Lott in The Houston Chronicle, pointing out that the city freeway system's capacity will be ''built out'' within 10 years and weekday traffic will double within 30 years, which shifts the discussion of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's 2025 Metro Solutions plan from expected sales tax receipts, federal grants and other revenue to ''what price the entire metropolitan region will pay over the long term if we delay again the start of a regional rail system.'' The writer asks residents to understand that the area's ''excellent freeway and tollway system design of spokes radiating out from the central business district with several loop expressways connecting the spokes in concentric rings ... is ultimately limited by the capacity constraints'' at its intersections. That's where ''the system breaks down, and massive congestion spreads through the network,'' he writes, stressing that regardless of any improvements, ''the points of capacity constraint at each freeway interchange cannot be eliminated.'' Thus Houston must start now, because it ''takes 20 years of planning, design and construction before a comprehensive mass transit system can be fully incorporated as an integral part of the overall transportation network.'' The writer urges the city to build a ''central circulation'' system first, beginning with the proposed 22-mile extension of inner-city light-rail and bus service improvements to interconnect its four key business districts, and following with ''radial high-capacity transit lines to the airports and suburbs.'' -- The Houston Chronicle   10/29/2003

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Austin Reflects on Lessons Learned in Effort to Keep Wal-Mart Supercenter Out of Single-Family Home Neighborhood

Having inflamed Southwest Austin with a plan to build a big-box supercenter in a mostly single-family-home neighborhood -- which would have brought it truck traffic, pollution and safety hazards, while increasing runoff into the Edwards Aquifer -- Wal-Mart finally stepped back, its spokeswoman Daphne Moore citing environmental concerns, crediting the decision to talks between company officials and Mayor Will Wynn, and acknowledging that the project ''had the potential to hamper our overall efforts to serve the people of this community,'' obviously meaning Wal-Mart's plans for at least four more supercenters in the city. After the Wal-Mart decision, followed by withdrawal of the Endeavor Real Estate Group from a deal to buy 43 acres and sell two-thirds for the supercenter, the land owner, SR Ridge Limited Partnership, threatened to sue city officials for contract interference, reports Austin American-Statesman writer Stephen Scheibal. Unconcerned about the threat, Mayor Wynn stressed the need for planning efforts to protect the aquifer, including perhaps another land-conservation bond issue similar to those approved by voters in 1998 and 2000. Praising the mayor, the community, Wal-Mart and Endeavor developers for the plan cancellation, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center executive director Robert Breunig said, ''Had there not been that opposition, I don't think there would have been movement of the issue.'' One of the plan's strongest opponents, Council Member Daryl Slusher agreed, saying, ''This just shows what a determined coalition of citizens can accomplish.'' Addressing the Wal-Mart big-box battle in the broad context of urban sprawl over the past 50 years, a KLRU-TV documentary -- produced for the Austin Now weekly series and supplemented on the station Web site -- says, ''It's our choice how Austin grows in the future. Will we continue the big box development patterns we have chosen in the past or will we start thinking outside the box?'' -- Austin American-Statesman   10/2/2003

Resource(s): www.klru.org/ ; www.statesman.com/

San Antonio Developer Toolkit to Include Smart Growth Scorecard

In another move to streamline San Antonio's development process, the City Council approved a developer ''incentive toolkit'' containing a fine-tuned smart-growth scorecard, which quickly tells developers whether and what incentives their projects could receive, with Assistant Economic Development Director Trey Jacobson saying this ''simple, accessible, quantifiable'' system will let everybody avoid lengthy negotiations. The scorecard specifies incentive-earning points for various project features, reports San Antonio Express-News business writer Adolfo Pesquera, citing examples of 15 points for 300 new jobs and 35 points for market-rate housing on the South Side. After city agencies review the toolkit, the Economic Development Department will be offering it to real estate groups, builder associations and chambers of commerce this fall, gradually working out further smart growth incentives. They will include an incentive to make affordable housing as durable and energy-efficient as is market-rate housing that begins to incorporate the emerging green-building technologies. The Metropolitan Partnership for Energy is working with the Greater San Antonio Builders Association on the Greenbuilding Methods incentive for affordable housing, hoping to have it ready by the end of the year. -- San Antonio Express-News   7/25/2003

Resource(s): www.mysanantonio.com/

Community Groups Needed to Focus Growth and Resources on Isolated Houston Area Neighborhoods

Annexed by Houston in 1957, the rural Minnetex area stretching from 10 to 20 miles south of downtown remains a low-income, sparsely populated, two-thirds-vacant fringe with spotty city services, while development leapfrogs everywhere else and two recent studies by the City Department of Planning and Development point out that improving access, expanding services and directing growth to this and other isolated neighborhoods -- with a total of 148 square miles, or 94,720 acres, of empty land -- would boost their quality of life and the city's tax base. The Land Use and Demographic Profile and the Southern Houston Sector Study, both available online, urge creating such community groups as the city's Main Street Coalition to oversee development in the neglected areas, reports Houston Chronicle writer Mike Snyder, doubtful that market forces alone would change the leapfrog development pattern. He quotes JP Morgan Chase Bank executive Algenita Scott Davis, who says, ''it will take a commitment to devote a significant portion of the Capital Improvements Plan to underserved areas, and that means denying some of the squeaky wheels the grease they're asking for,'' referring to influential developers pressing for city investment in a more lucrative market, mainly on the westside. City Planning Director Bob Litke says he is working with the City Council, the mayoral office and other departments to revise the capital improvements plan with an eye on the long-term future of the city's undeveloped areas, but he adds, ''I have to keep pushing them until a lot of people say, 'Let's think ahead a little bit'.'' The problem lies in the low density of these areas, the writer finds, with 284 people per square mile in Minnetex, in contrast to 13,346 per square mile in the southwestern Gulfton neighborhood -- mostly Hispanic immigrants ''packed in into sprawling apartment complexes'' -- and the Department of Public Works and Engineering explaining that connecting each of the widely scattered Minnetex homes to municipal utilities is not ''economically reasonable.'' -- Houston Chronicle   7/13/2003

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Austin's New Growth Program Draws Fire on First Project

Less than five years after a well-publicized national Smart Growth conference in Austin, everyone in the city says its ''Smart Growth is dead,'' even if city staff think it's ''not really'' so, since the city ''may still give incentives to projects that exemplify intelligent and sustainable planning and design, but only if those projects first meet more pressing needs -- like creating jobs and spewing forth tax receipts,'' writes Austin Chronicle urban design writer Mike Clark-Madison, calling the first such project, ''the Domain mixed-use urban neo-mall,'' just awarded up to $37 million ''in real money'' rather than fee waivers, ''a good old-fashioned boondoggle.'' Sorry about the harsh public judgement of the city's Smart Growth program only because its basic premise of aiding projects ''that would have been built anyway, but in less attractive places'' was seen as giving money to rich people, the writer points out that ''(o)n that score, the Domain is six times worse.'' He believes that residents didn't previously backed the Smart Growth initiative merely to have ''benches and awnings around high-priced Downtown condos.'' Before more Domain-type deals get done, he writes, ''we need to decide: Do we care what gets built here, and how? Are we willing to let the market to take its course and supply Central Texas with one big-box mall after another, in the interest of 'economic prosperity'? Or will we say, again, but louder this time, no to wasteful sprawl that treats land as disposable, no to growth that daily makes a mockery of our 'comprehensive plan', no to land use that forces us to build groaningly expensive highways, and no to income- segregated, ill-built housing that forces citizens to burn up good money in their gas tanks instead of investing it in their homes?'' Stressing that these are not only planning but social justice issues, the writer adds, ''Many would be less inflamed by the very words 'Land Development Code' if they saw proof that City Hall cares in deed, not just in word, about protecting the environment on both sides of town, building more housing and less redundant retail, or making sure everyone, and not just suburban drivers, has a 'choice' of where and how to live.'' -- Austin Chronicle   7/4/2003

Resource(s): www.austinchronicle.com/current/index.html

Austin Crafts New Development Policy to Bring Greater Investment to Urban Centers

Launched by former Mayor Kirk Watson shortly after the 1997 election, embraced by his City Council and later nominated by the Downtown Austin Alliance for an international urban planning award, Austin's Smart Growth sought primarily to lure developers and companies away from the city's ecologically-fragile southwestern edges with ''upfront fee waivers and cost reimbursements'' for mixed- use pedestrian-friendly downtown projects, but as the bad economy heightened local concerns over changes, the program became a political ''lighting rod'' and now the council ''replaced it with a far more extensive development policy that will in part allow for incentive packages larger than could ever be awarded under Smart Growth,'' report Austin American-Statesman writers Jonathan Osborne and Stephen Scheibal in their exhaustive piece, noting that although ''city leaders say the new policy incorporates many of the tenets of Smart Growth, they generally avoid those exact words.'' Transportation, Planning and Sustainability Department director Austan Librach thinks ''the phrase is tainted'' and ''(i)f nothing else, we should change the name and move on.'' Freshly sworn in, Mayor Will Wynn will praise Smart Growth if asked, but observes that politically, its ''shelf life clearly has expired.'' Still, the writers make it evident that most assessments involve the glass-is- half-empty-or-half-full arguments and in this context they point out that ''the city gained far more than it lost during the Smart Growth era.'' The complaints about money for companies, the disappointment over some projects, the disappearance of some iconic cultural spots and the area's quite sudden ''general malaise,'' can't obscure the $500 million in private downtown investment -- so far resulting in 1,275 new housing units and over 1.2 million square feet of offices, shops and restaurants -- aided by only $5 million in Smart Growth incentives, an amount recoverable through property taxes within five years. Specifically, the seven Smart Growth matrix projects already completed represent about $2.5 million in city funds and $219 million in private money, with Downtown Austin Alliance executive director Charlie Betts calling that ''pretty effective leveraging.'' As the first example of the broadened development policy, the writers cite last month's council approval for a 20-year, $37 million investment in a North Austin urban village called the Domain -- the largest amount in five years, much higher ''than was ever waived through Smart Growth.'' -- Austin American-Statesman   6/22/2003

Resource(s): www.statesman.com/

Austin Officials Outline Criteria for New ''Son of Smart Growth'' Efforts

Austin had been hearing about the demise of its Smart Growth program long before city planning director Austan Librach said the city is no longer ''accepting any projects for consideration under the old system'' of incentives and fee waivers, which to Austin Chronicle writer Mike Clark-Madison means not that ''the criteria currently in the Smart Growth Matrix -- rewarding project for being transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly, filled with public space, and other new urban touches -- will be forgotten,'' but that they will be ''Sons of Smart Growth.'' Under a broader economic policy, Smart Growth projects ''would be eligible for additional incentives if they'd already met the more basic needs now felt by the City Hall,'' he reports, quoting city economic development director Sue Edwards, who stressed agencies' interest ''in both the regional economy and the livable and unique city in which we reside.'' The new ''Son-of-Smart-Growth'' criteria, the writer notes, would make officials consider whether companies or projects are viable for the long term, whether they boost the city's sales and property taxes and whether they can create quality jobs for local residents and opportunities for local businesses. Officials would also examine a company's record as a ''corporate citizen,'' including support for arts and culture, community services and environmental protection. In addition, the city would consider how its own initiatives impact arts and cultural industries, while Land Development Code changes and a new dedicated development-review team would help expand small businesses. The writer adds that ''the other Son of Smart Growth'' is the planning department's effort ''to codify portions of the city's adopted Downtown Design Guidelines.'' -- Austin Chronicle   6/13/2003

Resource(s): www.austinchronicle.com/current/index.html

Attractive Blend of Retail Envisioned for Austin's Second Street District Project

One of the last projects helped by Austin's old Smart Growth incentives, the Second Street District project, will give that downtown stretch along the Colorado River the ambiance of Manhattan's SoHo and San Francisco's Back Bay, promises a brochure just presented to Mayor-elect Will Wynn and 200 high-profile attendees at a retail marketing luncheon held by the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Urban Land Institute, with Dallas' Urban Partners developer Robert Bagwell, working for AMLI Residential Properties, envisioning a several-block pedestrian-friendly village of apartments and ground-floor specialty stores, boutiques and sidewalk cafes. Its first three blocks on about five acres set to open next summer, reports Austin American-Statesman writer Jonathan Osborne, experts consider such an attractive mix of retail crucial for a real world-class downtown. And in this, the Second Street District has an advantage over other downtown streets -- where property owners or managers bent on high rents prefer bars instead of stores -- thanks to its common management. The city, the writer explains, owns the former Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) block and the retail space in two other CSC buildings there, while AMLI is building an apartment complex and planning another soon. They joined forces, with AMLI entrusting all the first-floor retail leasing to Bagwell, who noted that for the district ''to really be wonderful,'' he might entice a tenant ''very expensive to get'' with ''hardly any rent,'' because that makes the mix. ''If you have ... one team that controls all the space,'' he said, ''you can spread out the cost or the loss of rent over the entire project.'' He added that people go downtown to shop, but also ''to hear new music and to see new arts,'' to be ''stimulated'' and ''have some fun, and that's how you get them to keep coming back.'' -- Austin American- Statesman   6/10/2003

Resource(s): www.statesman.com/

Editorial Declares Smart Growth Era Over for Austin

''The Smart Growth era is over,'' declares Austin American- Statesman writer Stephen Scheibal perhaps prematurely, since he backs the news with rather ambiguous generalities and retreats in the middle of his short piece into an assumption, namely that the recent City Council meeting ''probably marked the end of the Smart Growth incentives that helped guide Austin's growth through the late 1990s boom.'' He assumes so, because Transportation Planning and Sustainability Department director Austan Librach said ''the city should finish work on the five projects now up for such incentives and then blend Smart Growth programs into the larger development scheme.'' That scheme, or ''a broader plan,'' was conceived by a task force for jump-starting Austin's economy, its recommendations translated by city staff into ''general concepts'' that include ''giving regulators more flexibility in dealing with small businesses and changing incentive programs so big companies must meet ceratin goals before receiving city money,'' with a company likely to ''recoup 80 percent of its tax payments if it meets all of the city's requirement under the new policy.'' Calling Smart Growth a ''loose collection of policies designed to reduce suburban sprawl and energize Austin's urban core,'' with a focus on incentives for ''obeying construction or design standards and building in preferred areas for growth,'' the writer says it ''became a controversial emblem of a growth spurt that raised property values, extended the suburbs and received blame for the demise of local businesses.'' Still, after the attention-grabbing dramatic first sentence, his piece makes more things unclear than it clarifies. -- Austin American-Statesman   6/5/2003

Resource(s): www.statesman.com/

Austin's Mayor-Elect Acknowledges Value of Smart Growth, But Wants Job Creation to Be Main Focus

Backed by a loose across-the-spectrum political coalition and chosen by 58 percent of Austin voters last month, former councilman and now Mayor-elect Will Wynn credits Smart Growth for strong protection of the area's environment, but seeing it as ''an environmental policy and nothing else,'' he says that having learned some lessons, it's time to move forward and ''actually take those environmental blinders off a little bit and broaden the perspective to allow job creation to be the overreaching factor.'' Facing a $54 million city deficit and about 6 percent unemployment, which means 25,000 resident out of work, reports Austin Business Journal writer Colin Pope, the mayor-elect has made the creation of 10,000 jobs in three years his first priority, ahead of the usual challenge of transportation improvements. He promises to follow the footsteps of former Mayor Kirk Watson, so successful in leading the city during the economic boom of the late 1990s, counting on the same ''energy'' that flows -- in the writer's words -- from ''an educated workforce, a beautiful environment, low crime rate, and attractive income and job growth rates.'' Business leaders, like Real Estate Council of Austin president Tim Taylor, say the mayor- elect has a clear voter ''mandate'' to concentrate on economic development, and even Save Our Spring Alliance spokesman Colin Clark seems to agree that the city environmental rules are sufficient though their enforcement sometimes fails. Still, the writer also quotes a defeated mayoral candidate, restaurateur Marc Katz, who recalls from his campaign among business owners that they simply ''don't want Smart Growth.'' He argues that the mayor-elect can succeed economically only if he lowers property taxes, saying, ''We've been riding this town on the backs of homeowners for so long. Sales tax is down because people are moving out of the city and traffic is up because of that, too. Decreasing taxes is the way to go to stop this flight.'' -- Austin Business Journal   5/19/2003

Resource(s): www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/

Houston Area Residents Support Mass Transit Solutions to Gridlock

As job and economic worries deepen in Harris County, traffic congestion remains the biggest problem for 33 percent of residents, with 71 percent saying gridlock has worsened in the past three years and 27 percent calling for more roads, but 52 percent seeing mass transit as very important to the future and 24 percent backing a ''smart growth'' search for pedestrian-friendly mixed uses, says the 2003 Houston Area Survey conducted last month by Telesurveys Research Associates and supervised by Rice University sociology professor Stephen Klineberg, who has directed the annual poll since 1982. Pointing out that in an unrelated 2001 environmental survey, the professor also found 56 percent of residents for transit improvements and 24 percent for smart growth, Houston Chronicle writer Mike Snyder quotes him as saying such findings, combined with other signs of increased support for better land-use planning and city upgrades, reveal a ''strong and broad- based consensus'' in favor of transit systems that include rail and help downtown revitalization. With downtown improvements considered very important by 52 percent of city residents and 49 percent of suburbanites, the writer paraphrases the professor as noting a possible ''ideological change in a population long thought to be wedded to the automobile and resistant to public transportation.'' This, the writer adds, would greatly help the Metropolitan Transit Authority in its current consideration of a plan to ''add 41 miles of light rail across the area and perhaps a commuter train into Fort Bend County.'' -- Houston Chronicle   4/28/2003

Resource(s): www.chron.com/

Economic Benefits, Public Health and Environment Issues Are Focus of Smart Growth Forum Keynote Speech

Invited by the Coastal Ben Bays Foundation and the Corpus Christi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to their third annual Smart Growth Forum, an analyst from EPA's Development, Community & Environment Division, Brett Van Akkeren, focused his keynote speech on fiscal, public health and environmental reasons for smart growth, telling Corpus Christi officials, activists and professionals that aside from what news headlines sometimes say, smart growth isn't all about density and big buildings, ''it's about great streets, neighborhoods and communities.'' The forum was held at the Texas A&M University's Natural Resources Center as part of Earth Day activities, reports Corpus Christi Caller-Times writer Matthew Sturdevant, with Van Akkeren pointing out that smart growth advances Earth Day goals by curbing sprawl and saving open space. He also stressed that through smart growth efforts to preserve land and revitalize urban centers, communities can save money on new roads, services and other infrastructure. ''Corpus Christi can do smart development. You've got a lot of seeds. You just need to connect the dots,'' he said, advising listeners to keep the issue on the forefront, because long-term visions can be lost in year-to-year politics. Corpus Christi Planning Commission chairman David Berlanga called the city's growth still moderate and expressed hope for more mixed-use higher-density development in the future. AIA associate Connie Garza Rivera emphasized the need to prepare some decisions on future growth now ''so it doesn't become a problem later on.'' -- Corpus Christi Caller-Times   4/22/2003

Resource(s): www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/

Varied Land Uses Key for Urban Renewal, Says Fort Worth's Revitalization Task Force

Alarmed by years of suburban sprawl, which took the life out of 31 Forth Worth commercial corridors, hurt many old neighborhoods and left 10,000 vacant lots, the city set up a public-private task force in January 2000 to plan and spur revitalization -- a process now well under way in the first five priority corridors rezoned for mixed-use pedestrian-friendly urban villages, but also requiring changes in development standards and building codes, says task force member, architect Phillip Poole, because, ''We can't refill (empty lots) with things that don't fit.'' Helped by the Leland Consulting Group of Denver, the task force concluded that varied land uses, including high-density housing, are key for urban renewal, reports Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer Sandra Baker, quoting city planning director Fernando Costa, who says the city ''had been its own worst enemy'' by prohibiting such development before. He notes that another key for urban villages is the Neighborhood Empowerment Zone program, which lets the city abate property taxes, waive developer fees and release liens on abandoned buildings with absent owners. One fairly advanced redevelopment project in the priority Camp Bowie corridor is the high-density Alta Ridglea Village, where Wood Partners of Houston are building an apartment complex on a tract previously zoned commercial, with Historic Camp Bowie executive director Brandy O'Quinn expecting 400 new residents to boost retail business and revenue in the area. -- Fort Worth Star-Telegram   3/24/2003

Resource(s): www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/business/local/

Austin, Hays County Move Closer to Developing Regional Water Protection Plan

Often at odds over land use in the picturesque but fragile Edwards Aquifer, water-hungry Austin and Hays County may finally do something jointly to protect the aquifer's Barton Springs recharge zones, with Austin City Council Member Daryl Slusher and Hays County Judge Jim Powers seeing their recently co-chaired forum of area officials as a springboard for a regional development and water protection plan. Councilman Slusher, reports Austin American-Statesman writer Jeremy Schwartz, wants both a regional plan and an environmental planning board to oversee its implementation, saying, ''It has to be something everybody follows.'' Judge Powers considers such a board a possibility, but only if the county gets ''a certain number of votes,'' which would give it equal power with Austin. But the county's environmental health director, Allen Walther, would prefer to offer developer incentives for environmentally conscious projects ''instead of taking a heavy- handed approach.'' He notes that the county will soon take advantage of a new law (Senate Bill 873) that gives counties more authority over subdivisions and could it help manage aquifer area growth. With forum participants deciding to continue meetings and consult their local constituencies, Save Our Springs Alliance spokesman Colin Clark calls it a good first step to plan growth and protect the aquifer. The writer adds that Hayes County has also joined Bastrop, Caldwell, Travis and Williamson counties in a more comprehensive planning effort, called Envision Central Texas. -- American-Statesman   12/9/2002

Resource(s): www.austin360.com/

Editorial Applauds Austin for Analyzing Effectiveness of Smart Growth Program

Welcoming the Austin City Council's willingness to probe the efficiency of Smart Growth incentives as a proper business principle of periodic examination of ''what you're doing and if it's working,'' an Austin Business Journal editorial notes that although the program doesn't hand developers cash for projects in the Desired Development Zone, giving them instead breaks on the normal development fees and other help unavailable to those building outside, a move to suspend the program would be difficult. Too many people, the editorial says, like Smart Growth. Not only all environmentalists support Smart Growth breaks, but also many in the real estate community who see it as ''one more tool to make money for clients'' and economic development professionals who appreciate the ''only incentive program Austin has right now.'' And the program has ''a pebble-in-the pond effect'' as incentives ''that improve one block make many surrounding blocks more attractive and sellable or leaseable.'' It's not about philosophy; like in business, it's ''about the bottom line,'' the editorial says, agreeing that ''a moratorium might help put some more money into the staggering city budget,'' but applauding the council for seeking the answer to the real question, ''Does Smart Growth work?'' -- Austin Business Journal   6/24/2002

Resource(s): http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/

Austin to Review Smart Growth Developer Incentives

Since its 1998 inception, Austin's Smart Growth program has distributed $6.7 million in developer incentives to build in the city core's Desired Developed Zone and avoid the ecologically-fragile southwestern hills, but now the City Council, hard-pressed to reduce the expected $72 million budget shortfall, is seeing the routine review and update of the program as an opportunity to scrutinize its effectiveness and perhaps to suspend it until the city is in better fiscal shape. Notwithstanding most council members's support for Smart Growth incentives to direct and control growth, reports Austin Business Journal writer Colin Pope, Councilwoman Betty Dunkerly wants city staff to run a detailed analysis of the incentives to determine whether they pay off in higher property or sales taxes and meantime focus them on projects that promise high returns, including malls and entertainment facilities. Councilman Will Wynn, who has no kind words for those seeking ''to eliminate or change the Smart Growth incentives due to the budget situation,'' wants to know whether developers build in the target zone because of the incentives or would have built there without city subsidies. According to Budget Officer Rudy Garza, the returns from subsidized projects sometimes exceed the incentives after only a year, but non-fiscal results are also important. For example, the writer notes, the city waived $375,000 in developer fees for the Nokoma Condominium project because it helped the Smart Growth effort to balance the office-dominated downtown development with housing. The city also waived $900,000 in fees and spent $1.2 million on infrastructure upgrades for a ''Smart Growth-friendly'' shopping center nearby because it replaces an obsolete industrial block. Austin Realtor Jerry Weintroub thinks suspension of Smart Growth incentives for fiscal reasons is a bad idea, saying builders need as many incentives as they can get, ''particularly because of the economy.'' -- Austin Business Journal   6/24/2002

Resource(s): http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/

Density Concerns Delay Town Square Townhouse Project in Southlake, Tex.

Southlake residents love their nationally acclaimed Main Street Town Square -- a 130-acre old-style district of two-story offices, shops and restaurants around parks and a red-brick town hall, all opened in 1999 -- but are largely against its rezoning for developer Brian Stebbins' second-phase construction of 117 three-story upscale townhouses, which would keep the area really alive after business hours, arguing they would clash with the city's large-lot norm, put a strain on roads and classrooms, and generate insufficient tax revenue to pay for the district's improvements under its tax increment financing (TIF). To give these arguments more thought, the City Council disregarded a favorable 5-to-2 planning and zoning commission vote and voted 6-to-1 to delay the proposal's first reading until July 16. Even dissenting Mayor Rick Stacy, who likes the townhouse project, said he can't ''embrace the density'' yet and figure out what to tell developers who may propose similar housing elsewhere. In response, the developer said the $300,000 to $500,000 townhouses in ''immediate demand'' promise as much tax return as commercial development would have if demand justified it; they appeal primarily to childless couples and empty nesters who wouldn't strain schools and wouldn't worsen traffic since they would live within walking distance of shops and restaurants. He added that worries about a precedent for similar density projects elsewhere in the city are unwarranted because Town Square is a special downtown case. Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Dave Lieber strongly supports the developer's ''vision to turn his old-fashioned shoppers' paradise into a true downtown worthy of its Main Street name.'' He quotes resident Kathleen Boissevain, who ridiculed opponents' fears that ''the sky is falling'' on their beloved big lots, stressing that the city ''should provide options in our community, and not limit people and say you have to live on one acre.'' After the council's meeting, she told the columnist that opponents ''are trying to stop the wind,'' while Town Square ''needs all the things that make it Ozzie and Harriet again,'' since ''people want to get away from the big commute.'' -- Star-Telegram   6/2/2002

Resource(s): http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/

Round Rock Mixed-Use Project Includes Retail Stores with Loft-Style Apartments

From among several recent offers to augment their three-year-old 330-acre open-air shopping complex La Frontera, in Round Rock north of Austin, with a second-phase mixed-use project, developers Don Martin and Bill Smalling selected one by Trademark Cos. President and CEO Terry Montesi of Fort Worth, because he matches their desire to create a town center atmosphere and is willing to build the area's first loft-style apartments above small stores. Noting that La Frontera lies across Interstate 35 from Dell Computer Corp., Austin American-Statesman writer Tony Plohetski reports that developers see demand for apartments among young professionals who prefer urban-style living over the city's dominant single-family homes. The writer adds that Montesi hopes to break ground for his 60-acre mixed-use project in La Frontera early next year. The project, including retail stores with lofts, restaurants, a supermarket and perhaps a movie theater, is likely to cost between $70 million and $100 million.   5/15/2002

Resource(s): www.austin360.com/

New Developer Permit Law Creating Headaches in Texas

In its first month, the state's new extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) law, designed to facilitate city and county issuance of developer permits by handling them in a single office -- run by a city, a county or both -- has become a ''giant headache'' and ''bureaucratic nightmare'' in Central Texas, reports Austin American-Statesman writer Jeremy Schwartz, quoting local officials apprehensive of turf wars, rural residents fearful of lessened representation and environmentalists mindful of safeguards falling through the cracks. Developers helped push through the law last year, the writer observes, arguing that the sometimes contrary city and county regulations in extraterritorial jurisdiction areas, which extend from a half-mile to five miles beyond a city's limits depending on its size, cause permit delays and consequently increase project costs that must be passed on to home buyers. The bill's sponsor, state Republican Senator Jeff Wentworth, says developers ''were being battled back and fort like a pingpong ball,'' adding that either cities or counties need to take control of the process under written agreements. The executive vice president of the Texas Capitol Builders Association, Henry Savio, who expected the bill's implementation problems in Central Texas because of rapid area growth, says now local officials are getting a taste of what developers and landowners felt waiting years for building permits. With few area jurisdictions meeting the bill's April 1st deadline, the writer also quotes the legal director for the Texas Municipal League, Monte Akers, who notes that most of them set up joint offices and city-controlled offices became the second choice. The writer adds that a Senate subcommittee is tracking the law and may recommend changes by the next legislative session.   4/29/2002

Resource(s): www.austin360.com/aas/

Rapid Population Growth Forces Permit Moratorium in Texas Town

Too long focused on building request approvals, with no time to consider their cumulative impact on town resources, Kyle officials just learned from new City Manager Tom Mattis that its population will quadruple to 35,000 and its water needs will triple to 4.18 million gallons within four years, requiring at least a four-month permit moratorium to outline a growth strategy. Austin American- Statesman writer Jeremy Schwartz quotes the manager as saying, ''We've reached the point where the volume of projects is so great, where we're not doing justice to anybody.'' Noting that the moratorium will not affect projects already under way, but will halt at least five proposed subdivisions with hundreds of homes, the manager allows for the possibility of extending it through October. The writer adds that another community in northern Hays County, Buda, is also planning a four-month pause in construction.   3/11/2002

Resource(s): www.austin360.com/statesman/

Village That Incorporated to Manage Growth Faces Dissolution

Less than two years since the Village of Wimberley voters approved its incorporation to protect local identity and ensure orderly growth, activists decrying regulatory restraints are gathering the 400 signatures needed to force a May 4th vote to dissolve their fledgling government. Austin American-Statesman writer Jeremy Schwartz quotes the village's ''matriarchal figure,'' Dorothy Wimberley Kerbow -- a strong incorporation supporter turned dissolution leader -- who says, ''The regulations are crazy. We expected them to let us crawl before we walk. It's hindering what people want to do on their own property.'' The owner of the 7A Ranch Resort and Pioneer Town historic site next to the Blanco River, Raymond Czichos, adds, ''They come in with zoning and building codes. They are slapping regulations that make it impossible for anyone to do anything.'' The top ''they,'' Mayor Linda Hewlett, Administrator Steve Harrison and Alderman Walter Brown, warn that dissolution would make this historic village of nearly 10,000 in Hays County a prime developer target and cost it almost $1 million in state grants for a community center and open space purchase, along with its own $281,000 general fund from sales taxes and franchise fees. The mayor attributes the dissolution drive to post- incorporation shock, when ordinances and zoning, implemented gradually in older municipalities, are introduced in short order. The administrator notes that the Village Council ''goes overboard to hear from its citizens'' and balance their growth control and private property needs. Alderman Brown points out that there are options other than dissolution, saying ''You don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.''   2/25/2002

Resource(s): www.austin360.com/

Texas Officials Encouraged by Tree Protection Ordinance

Mansfield city officials are encouraged by the good start of their June tree protection ordinance that requires developers to replace all felled trees except those cleared for buildings and parking lots, with developer Bill Stonaker replanting 105 rescued elms, oaks and pecans on his Tom Thumb store construction site and city spokeswoman Belinda Willis praising him as the first to understand fully that trees are ''an asset to the project, not a liability.'' Star-Telegram writer Robert Cadwallader reports that just before the ordinance took effect, the developer dug out the big trees and put them under the care of World Green of Arlington, to be planted temporarily and irrigated on nearby property. When the trees recover leaves in the spring, the site ''will be gorgeous,'' the developers says, ''You'll have mature trees. And it's just the right thing to do if you can save some trees.'' He also saved money by not buying saplings, he adds, and will try to save even more old cedar elms on his next big project, a 20-acre complex of shopping centers, restaurants and businesses in Keller.   12/30/2001

Resource(s): http://web.star-telegram.com/

Austin Approves Plan Allowing Groups to Build and Maintain Trails on Public Land

Having spent $65 million in open space preservation bond money authorized by voters in 1998 to acquire 5,600 acres in the environmentally fragile Barton Springs watershed southwest of Austin, the City Council passed a plan to create hiking trails on 2,500 acres and subsequently open the other 3,100 acres for public use. The plan was drawn up by about 20 environmental, recreational and neighborhood groups that also assumed responsibility for building and maintaining the trails, since the city lacks the resources to make the scenic land easily accessible. A program director for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Steve Windhager, who helped with the trail plan, says now the groups have to ''figure out how to do it, how to pay for it, how to monitor it and how to keep it up.''   12/14/2001

Resource(s): www.austin360.com/aas/

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson received an International Downtown Association individual achievement award

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson received an International Downtown Association individual achievement award -- only the second of its kind under the association's award program over the past 15 years -- for his outstanding revitalization efforts, which spurred more than $2 billion in public and private investment in the downtown area since he took office in 1997. The mayor, who is stepping down next month to seek the Democratic nomination for the Texas attorney general race, pointed out that during his mayoral campaign, he had promised to make downtown Austin the city's "24-hour vibrant living room." The secretary of the Downtown Austin Alliance, Mac Pike, whose group nominated the mayor for the unusual individual award, also credits him with a key role in resolving a protracted deadlock between Austin area developers and environmentalists a few years ago. Austin Business Journal writer Alicia Pounds notes that the only other recipient of the association's individual award, Bank of America former chairman and CEO Hugh McColl, was honored for his successful efforts to revitalize Charlotte, North Carolina   10/18/2001

Resource(s): www.austin.bcentral.com

Encouraged by Austin's Green Building Program and ...

Encouraged by Austin's Green Building Program and more flexible zoning process, developer Robert Anderson of Z Development LLC is combining green standards and mixed uses in a $40-million, 300,000-square-foot East Austin project near downtown, stressing the goal of doing something "environmentally and socially responsible." Austin Business Journal writer Mary Alice Kaspar reports that the project will feature efficient building materials and systems and high indoor environmental quality. It will include retail, office and parking space, along with 80 condo units, at sale and rental prices lower than downtown. The offices, with many two-to-four-room suites, will be attractive to smaller users -- lawyers, legislators, Realtors, insurance agents, printers ant others. The developer points out that his partner, Steven Bauman, has been involved in several green projects -- including the almost completed Villas condos at Mia Tia Circle in North Austin -- and gained recognition as a green construction leader. City program manager Marc Richmond concurs, saying, "Steve doesn't just add water-saver showerheads to his projects and call them green. He is definitely a green builder, always willing to push the envelope."   9/26/2001

Resource(s): www.austin.bcentral.com

Discord among area politicians, their allies and ...

Discord among area politicians, their allies and residents over proposed State Highway 45 -- which would run through mostly vacant ranch land south of Austin -- is hindering the project, with the Austin City Council and Mayor Kirk Watson concerned about the road's incompatibility with their Smart Growth program, and Buda Mayor Billy Gray, real estate owner Gary Bradley and one homeowners association convinced it would help alleviate traffic. Austin Business Journal writer Mary Alice Kaspar quotes Mayor Watson as saying, "Part of Smart Growth was a recognition (of the need) to use infrastructure to protect assets that protect quality of life," which has been crucial for the area's economic boom. Instead of spending money on a highway that would open the environmentally-sensitive area to massive development, the mayor wants to pursue road improvements and construction in line with the Smart Growth program, which offers breaks on builder fees for projects in the Desired Development Zones. Thus, the city council has eliminated a portion of SH 45 from its Austin Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan of transportation projects -- a move criticized by some, but applauded by others. Landowner Bradley, whose property in the area would likely gain value with the highway nearby, believes "there is complete community consensus that the No. 1 problem is traffic congestion" and challenges anyone to explain to him "how not building a road is addressing our No. 1 problem." He is backed by officials and residents of Buda, just south of Austin, who point out that they need an alternative route to its airport and employment centers. But the executive director of the Save Our Spring Alliance, Bill Bunch, counters that full construction of SH 45 would made a nearby commuter highway a regional thoroughfare and destroy the Barton Springs/Edward's Aquifer by inducing commercial development in its watershed.   8/8/2001

Resource(s): www.austin.bcentral.com

After years of watching how floods gradually ...

After years of watching how floods gradually eroded their yards and gardens along the Walnut Creek, residents of the 150-house Walnut Place neighborhood northeast of Austin have moved to slow down development in this largest of 17 area watersheds. The residents argued at a recent Commissioners Court session, reports Austin American Statesman writer Alex Taylor, that runoff from a 46-acre upstream mobile home project "will slide directly into the creek and wash away even more of their property." Developer Brian Rodgers said drainage at the site will be sufficient to absorb any rainstorm. An Austin watershed protection planner, Fred Soliz, confirmed that the drainage plan seems to meet city standards. Travis County Commissioner Ron Davis told opponents of the project that commissioners can't do much since they "have to act in accordance with set regulations which govern us." The master plan coordinator for Austin's watershed protection and development review, Gene Drew, expects Walnut Creek to be "one of the worst problem areas for the city's suburban erosion," with even light rain causing a lot of damage. His department estimates the cost of controlling floods, erosion and water quality in the watershed over the next 40 years at $147 million. 07.19.2001   7/24/2001

Resource(s): www.austin360.com

Counting itself among the nation's most progressive ...

Counting itself among the nation's most progressive urban centers, Austin may become the first in the state to follow Boston, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and many European cities by helping residents with a car sharing program. Austin American-Statesman writer Kelly Daniel reports that car sharing -- introduced by Portland in 1998 and most popular in Seattle, where 1,930 members share 48 cars -- lets residents reserve a car from a convenient lot by hours, with small monthly fees for gas, parking, insurance and maintenance, and with charges of about 45 cent per mile and $2.50 to $7 per hour. Best suited for those who drive infrequently or need a second car occasionally, the sharing is lauded by Karen Ascot of Austin's Sierra Club chapter as "a brilliant idea" since the use-charges became an "incentive to drive less" and discourage frivolous trips. Still, car sharing is only one of many ways of easing traffic woes, and to be effective, the writer notes, it needs "a solid public transit system." As Barbara McCann of the Washington-based Surface Transportation Policy Project says, "You have to be in a place where you can get along without a car," which is not the case for the most of the country. The writer adds that car-sharing programs are expected soon in Chicago and Washington, D.C. 07.16.2001   7/24/2001

Resource(s): www.austin360.com

Delayed by city revenue uncertainty, Mansfield's 1998 ...

Delayed by city revenue uncertainty, Mansfield's 1998 tree preservation ordinance is finally taking effect, with assignment of a temporary landscape administrator who will oversee tree replacement and charge violation fees. Inapplicable to residential yards and considered business- friendly, the ordinance protects 19 "quality" tree species, including cedar, elm, oak and pecan, with trunk diameters of at least six inches, along with 11 "understory" tree species, including the Mexican plum, persimmon and redbud, with trunk diameters of at least two inches. Violators face fines of up to $100 per diameter inch for each removed tree or up to $500 per incident for endangering a protected tree root system. Builders must seek permits for the removal of protected trees and replace them elsewhere on their sites with trees of comparable combined diameter. City Manager Clayton Chandler hopes that builders will observe the ordinance voluntarily, with the administrator being "a negotiator ... as much as a code enforcement officer."   5/11/2001

Resource(s): www.star-telegram.com

The 10-story former State General Life ...

The 10-story former State General Life Building in Dallas' West End, listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an example of Chicago School architecture, known since its $5 million renovation 20 years ago as Renaissance Place and occupied by office workers until recent weeks, fell to the wrecking ball, with the 1920s- era bricks, mortar and terra cotta trucked to a landfill, under a city demolition permit quietly secured by Belo Corp. What makes the behind-the-scene handling of the matter more puzzling for local conservationists, reports Dallas Observer writer Thomas Korosec, is that a Belo board member and its CEO's sister, Dealey Decherd Herndon -- Governor Rick Perry's appointment director -- heads an Austin company known for work on numerous restoration projects and also sits on the board of the Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation. The writer quotes her as saying that she told the trust she "can't get in the middle of this" and she is "sort of 50-50 on it." Belo senior executive vice president Michael McCarthy says the company gave the required demolition notice and will use the site for now as a parking lot. Critics confirm there is no mechanism for wider notification in this case, noting that despite its spot in the national register, the building was not included in the 1976 West End landmark district, which could have stopped the owner from tearing it down. They suspect that the company is thinking about a prospective hotel for the nearby Dallas Convention Center.   4/12/2001

Resource(s): www.dallasobserver.com

Milburn Homes vice president Terry Mitchell is ...

Milburn Homes vice president Terry Mitchell is finalizing plans for a 252-acre, more than $200 million mixed-use project at the Morse Tract in North Austin, where his firm will build 600 single-family homes in the designated Traditional Neighborhood District section, and others will follow with 700 apartments and up to 350,000 square feet of retail, office and light industrial space, while saving 60 acres as open land under the city's Smart Growth program. The program offers developers incentives and fee breaks for building in so-called Desired Development Zones -- in this case a total of $5 million. Another local developer, Haythem Dawlett of SDC Austin Communities, is working to secure $8 million in city incentives for his mixed-use Traditional Neighborhood District project, the Brandts Crossing in South Austin. Unanimously approved by the Austin Planning Commission last November, the project calls for 50 townhouses, 200 apartments, 390 single-family houses and 475,000 retail and varied office space.   4/3/2001

Resource(s): austin.bcentral.com

Seeking to maximize the environmental potential of ...

Seeking to maximize the environmental potential of the upper Trinity River, which meanders through Fort Worth and the rest of Tarrant County, the Tarrant Regional Water District is running a $1.9 in-depth study on how to make the river a focus for central city revitalization, while controlling floods, saving green space and expanding recreational trails along its 88-mile route. The study's team leader, James Toal hopes new city projects will face the river and its tributaries rather than obstruct their view, with a possible artificial lake further enhancing the downtown redevelopment area. He says the plan will also benefit the Trinity corridor's other cities -- Benbrook, River Oaks, Haltom City, Bedford and Euless -- eventually linking area trails with Arlington's River Legacy Park and with Dallas, and preserving "thousands of acres of open space critical to water quality, air quality and quality of life." Planners will solicit public input during a series of neighborhood meetings in April and May. The water district, Fort Worth Streams and Valleys and the U.S. Corps of Engineers should receive the plan for final review by the year's end, with some key projects likely to begin next year. 02.14.2001   2/26/2001

Resource(s): www.star- telegram.com

With the "economic boom of NAFTA," tremendous ...

With the "economic boom of NAFTA," tremendous population growth exceeding Texas highway capacity and increased traffic jeopardizing its "wonderful quality of life," Governor Rick Perry called in his first State of the State address for "immediate, innovative" transportation alternatives, and especially for "a bonding program to jump-start construction" throughout the state. He pointed out that the state "should also build more toll roads, streamline the design and engineering process, and consider pavement warranties" to reduce the time and cost of road repairs. He said his $30 million "border transportation initiative" will help border counties leverage $175 million in bonds for "fixing bad roads in colonias" -- city neighborhoods or rural settlements inhabited mostly by Mexican Americans and Mexicans. Stressing that inferior border roads and health care are all-Texas challenges, the governor repeated his inaugural remark: "the border of Texas is not our back yard, but the front door to our state and nation." Better border roads, he continued, help Laredo, Brownsville and El Passo, but they also bring more jobs and trade to Odessa, Dallas and Texarcana; better border health "means healthier children and lower health care costs for all of us." Next, the governor advised long-term solutions to natural resource questions, which means "better water management and conservation, supporting our state's system of parks, and applying market-oriented approaches to preserving our open spaces." He also said Texas must persist in efforts to make deep cuts in pollution, "realizing that decisions affecting Texas' air quality should be made by Texans, and not federal bureaucrats." Noting that the State Implementation Plan would cut "ozone-related emissions" in Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth and East Texas by 75, 55 and 44 percent, respectively, he expressed confidence that the plan "has a pretty good chance of passing the new Administration's muster." 01.24.2001   2/14/2001

Resource(s): www.nga.org/governors

Despite great economic prospects for Houston next ...

Despite great economic prospects for Houston next year, the director of the Houston University Institute of Regional Forecasting, Barton Smith, lowered his prediction for the city's 20-year growth, because the city isn't ready to solve its problems of traffic congestion, flood control, water supply and urban renewal. During a speech to an audience of hundreds of business leaders, Smith presented a map showing that 93 percent of the area's population growth in the last five years has occurred outside the Inner Loop, mainly to its west. Those 533,000 new suburban residents, he said, have exacerbated Houston's traffic problems, slowing commuting on its major roads to a crawl. Unless the city relieves the traffic by expanding mass transit, toll roads and alternative transportation, the congestion can only worsen. It's not just a matter of inconvenience or frustration, he stressed, it's a matter of economic growth and development. To attract new businesses and new employees, he continued, the city must find new ways to handle its future growth, which promises 1.4 million more cars on roads, increased pollution, the conversion of 300,000 acres for residential use and the addition of 75 million square feet of office space. Meanwhile, he lowered his prediction about Houston's 20-year growth rate from 2.05 to 1.95 percent annually, which means a job creation drop from 1,045,000 to 900,000 and a population growth downgrade from 1,900,000 to 1,650,000.   11/22/2000

Resource(s): www.houstonchronicle.com

The Republican presidential candidate, Governor George W ...

The Republican presidential candidate, Governor George W. Bush, declared in USA Today that if elected he will set high standards for environmental protection and work in partnership with state and local communities to protect the quality of our air, water and natural resources. Citing Texas environmental accomplishments, he promised his support for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund to $900 million a year, with 50 percent of the money guaranteed for state and local conservation initiatives. He promised to encourage brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, with incentives and protection from federal liability under Superfund. He also promised to ensure that the federal government meets its responsibility by devoting $5 billion to eliminate the backlog in maintenance and improvements at our national parks and by directing active federal facilities to comply with environmental protection laws. Then, he concluded, A successful environmental policy for the 21st century will require a leader who can reach across party lines in Congress and create a partnership among the federal government, state governments and local communities to conserve our natural resources for future generations.   10/31/2000

Resource(s): www.usatoday.com

In a trend accelerating in Dallas and ...

In a trend accelerating in Dallas and other major cities, developers are converting commercial buildings into high-tech centers for telecommunication switches and computer servers, or so-called telecom hotels, reports Steve Brown of the Dallas Morning News. He quotes developer John Sughrue who says only a handful of people may work on an entire floor, but they pay some of the highest downtown office space rents, often doubling those paid by other users. Responding to high office demand by Internet and other telecom firms, developers who first sought vacant or obsolete buildings are now looking for newer ones both downtown and in the suburbs. The telecom hotels' proliferation, also driven by major public and private investment, can be a boon for landlords, the writer notes, but others wonder if it's a good idea to fill up buildings with machines instead of people. The president of the Central Dallas Association advocacy group, Larry Fonts, calls such buildings partly dead and would hate to see too many of them. The executive director of Preservation Dallas, Catherine Horsey, says everybody is trying to promote pedestrian traffic downtown, while the telecom industry detracts from traffic by puting mostly equipment in buildings that could host hundreds of people. The writer adds that developer Sughrue, a cheerleader for such projects, agrees that it would be bad for the city if some areas became high-tech ghettos.   8/29/2000

Deciding a 12-year-old lawsuit by developer ...

Deciding a 12-year-old lawsuit by developer Reggie Smith and a low-income housing corporation against the city of Sunnyvale, U. S. District Court Judge Jerry Buchmeyer found this predominantly white Dallas suburb guilty of discriminatory zoning since its incorporation in 1953, with the one-acre residential lot minimum and the 1971 apartment ban specifically enacted to bar minorities. Noting the presence of large minority populations and federally subsidized housing in the adjacent suburbs of Garland and Mesquite, the judge ordered Sunnyvalle to adopt laws encouraging apartment and low-income home construction and to take affirmative action to change its reputation as a municipality hostile to minorities. Sunnyvale Mayor Jim Phaup said the city might appeal, because its zoning has nothing to do with discrimination and is all about open spaces and country fields. Former mayor Jim Wade also called the judge's ruling unfair, asking rhetorically What does he want us to do? Put a billboard in the city square that a white person can't build another house in Sunnyvale until a black person does? According to urban experts, the judge's decision could set a precedent for other cases of exclusionary residential zoning.   8/10/2000

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson wants the city ...

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson wants the city to intervene in the residential market to keep middle-class residents from seeking less expensive housing in the suburbs. By keeping those residents, the mayor said, the city will save its solid tax base, prevent rush-hour traffic increases and remain socially diverse. At the mayor*s request, the City Council will look into the possibility of using about 40 percent of the tax revenue from city property as collateral for low-interest home improvement loans. In an action on the $1 million affordable housing trust fund, the council tagged $750,000 to help developers build apartments for low-income residents and $250,000 to start a home improvement loan guarantee program. The council also approved a package of affordable housing fee waivers, or SMART Housing incentives, to help build about 1,000 inexpensive units this year.   4/28/2000

In an effort to break "political and ...

In an effort to break "political and traffic gridlock" in the Austin area, Mayor Kirk Watson wants to pair the state-required Capital Metro light rail referendum with $75 million in two bond proposals for highways, sidewalks and bikeways. The mayor hopes his compromise solution will prompt highway and rail advocates to overcome their differences and campaign for voter approval of all three spending measures in May or November. Voter approval would increase the city's chances of receiving federal funds for light rail and state funds for highways. Many local leaders favor the mayor's approach. Save Our Spring Alliance President Robin Rather said that after last year's compromise between environmentalists and developers on growth and preservation of open space, agreement between different groups on transportation "is the next logical step." Texas Turnpike Authority Chairman Pete Winstead stressed the need to break "tensions between those who say, 'We want all the money for roads' and those who say, 'We want more density with light rail'." The Sierra Club local chapter's transportation chairman, Disk Kellerman, said the mayor's proposal "sounds like a sensible, balanced bond initiative" that "would make the whole ballot more attractive."   1/31/2000

In the Tarrant County area of Fort ...

In the Tarrant County area of Fort Worth and Arlington, known as the Metroplex, "commuting has become the biggest challenge of the workday for many people," writes Star-Telegram transportation reporter G. Chambers Williams III. The average commute time has increased to 38 hours a year and the rush hours are expanding. As officials strive to ease congestion by widening and building roads, construction slowdowns trap commuters everywhere. Yet a recent poll shows that commuters are less concerned with slow traffic than with rude and irresponsible drivers. One commuter says "for every law-abiding, courteous driver, there are about 15 that have no concept of law or courtesy." It is, he adds, "as if people put their brains in their trunks before they get in their cars." Another commuter is amazed by "what people will do in their cars that they wouldn't do in person." Still another singles out those who won't wait in line for an exit, but race along and force their way ahead of others, with everyone having to brake to let them in. Noting that the Metroplex population will grow from 5 to 7 million in the next 25 years, the reporter cites expert views that "building our way out of congestion would be too costly." Many experts and officials hope to relieve congestion by "finding ways to get people out of their vehicles." The reporter mentions mass transit, carpooling and telecommuting.   1/5/2000

Counting on a new land-use plan, the ...

Counting on a new land-use plan, the non-profit Mitchell Boulevard Community Development Corp. will be approaching banks, foundations and developers for investments in the run-down southeast Fort Worth neighborhood. Corporation president Gerald Shaw says a land-use plan is key to marketing an area, because "businesses want to know what's planned down the road." His plan, which is being readied at the University of Texas School of Urban and Public Affairs by Professor Ardeshir Anjomani and graduate Krishna Veeragandham, outlines a mixed-use development, with renovated homes, improved streets, and new parks, shops and offices. It also sets up two new residential sites and projects about 100 infills.   11/22/1999

To spur entrepreneurship in the low-income South ...

To spur entrepreneurship in the low-income South Dallas area, the city's six independent banks have formed a Bankers' Working Capital Coalition Inc., to help graduates of The John C. Ford Program Inc. start small businesses. The program, staffed by 400 volunteers who teach the legal, financial and managerial "nuts and bolts" of business, has graduated 500 hopefuls in the last three years. With small start-up loans hard to find, most sought jobs, but about 25 percent persisted with their business plans. They now can expect $5,000-$20,000 start-up "microloans" once the new banking coalition gets federal non-profit status.   11/22/1999

With rising rents, congestion and parking problems ...

With rising rents, congestion and parking problems in downtown Austin, some of its real estate, law and other firms are looking to the suburbs. Relocating last year to Spyglass Point on South MoPac Expressway, the law firm of Davis and Wilkerson cited needs for more amenities, easier access and a natural setting for employees. This month, Collier Oxford Commercial Inc., a brokerage, announced an imminent move to a 109-acre mixed-use project under development on the expressway, citing the need to be closer to its suburban clients.   10/6/1999

In a series of presentations for civic ...

In a series of presentations for civic groups, churches and major employers in Northeast Tarrant County, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority is promoting the area's first public transit service. The Trinity Railway Express trains will link the county with downtown Dallas in September 2000, and with downtown Fort Worth in early 2001. Officials expect 11,000 passengers daily by 2010.   9/22/1999

After detailed consultations with Austin leaders and ...

After detailed consultations with Austin leaders and Save Our Springs Alliance, the fast-growing high-tech Tivoli Systems Inc., has reaffirmed its "commitment to Smart Growth and the environment" by a well-received decision to build a 2,000-employee campus within the city's Desired Development Zone or in Williamson County's Cedar Park. The prospective sites are far away from the ecologically fragile hills of Southwest Austin. Noting "a significant shift in corporate thinking" toward environmental protection and issues of life quality, Mayor Kirk Watson expects this trend to grow in the future.   9/22/1999

Working on a transportation plan for the ...

Working on a transportation plan for the next 25 years, the San Antonio VIA transportation agency is continuing a public Transit 2025 Symposium Series for government officials, civic leaders and environmental activists. Its speaker last month, national expert Hank Dittmar urged the area to lessen its dependence on the automobile by diversifying transportation options. He recommended a system of light-rail and bus lines, along with bicycle and pedestrian paths. He said four key mass transit benefits are low-cost mobility, reduction of travel time in high- use corridors, more livable communities and mixed-use pedestrian-friendly developments around transit stops. He also cited a San Francisco study showing that rail stop proximity increases home average values by $22,000, while highway proximity depresses these values by almost the same amount.   9/22/1999

San Antonio planners hope for City Council ...

San Antonio planners hope for City Council approval of two new ordinances that together would encourage mixed-use projects outside the city's Loop 410 and help control suburban sprawl. A Planned Development Districts ordinance would allow both residential and commercial use of the same buildings, with stores and offices topped by apartments. While height, setback, yard and parking space criteria would be relaxed, developers would have to clear plans and designs with local residents. A Special Use Permit ordinance would add flexibility to zoning variances, especially for small businesses in residential neighborhoods. Mayor Howard Peak sees both proposals as long overdue for making the city code more Ňneighborhood-friendly.Ó But some developers think the ordinances could make planning and construction Ňmore cumbersome.Ó The City Council vote is scheduled for September.   8/2/1999

Troubled by the impact of fast development ...

Troubled by the impact of fast development north of San Antonio on the area's drinking water supply, the Nature Conservancy of Texas has launched a plan to protect the Edwards and Trinity aquifers with large buffers of open space and wilderness. The group's expert, Paul Barwick, expects to preserve more than 3,500 acres by buying land and securing individual or collective conservation easements in three relatively intact and ecologically diverse areas of the Hill Country. Recently, the conservancy has secured individual conservation easements for the 4,700-acre Shield Ranch north of Austin and the 700-acre Gallagher Ranch northwest of San Antonio.   8/2/1999

Austin leaders and Computer Science Corp. executives ...

Austin leaders and Computer Science Corp. executives are shaping their parts of a plan to revamp seven downtown blocks with a new City Hall and a plaza, flanked by a new Museum of Art, upscale apartments and three corporate buildings. The plan details and design compatibility must be yet worked out, but all involved agree that the planning Ňembodies the Smart Growth philosophy of creating jobs and housing in the heart of the city.Ó Mayor Kirk Watson says: ŇFor the first time ... that area of downtown near the water will be a place that has a human scale. People will be coming together and enjoying life in their downtown.Ó   7/30/1999

In a telephone survey of Austin metro ...

In a telephone survey of Austin metro residents, 70 percent listed traffic congestion as the area's top problem, and 83 percent thought it could be best solved by encouraging greater use of buses and carpools. Asked about light rail, 68 percent of respondents said they would vote for it, but only 38 percent believed it would be approved by the public. Capital Metro officials are evaluating these results and planning a series of neighborhood sessions, to help decide which transportation options will goon the November 2000 ballot.   7/12/1999

New Braunfels: The City Council unanimously extended ...

New Braunfels: The City Council unanimously extended its extraterritorial jurisdiction, connecting it with that of the city of Bulverde and completing a jurisdictional barrier against San Antonio land annexation to the north. The barrier runs from the city of Boerne in Kendall County, across Comal County, to the city of Seguin in Guadalupe County. New Braunfels Councilwoman Juliet Watson says it makes good sense to protect area residents from San Antonio's higher property taxes. She hopes that her city regulations "are strong enough to protect the environment from over-development." San Antonio Planning Manager Jesus Garza expects cooperation with nearby cities to ensure orderly suburban development and adequate groundwater protection.   7/2/1999

San Antonio: The San Antonio Express-News heralds ...

San Antonio: The San Antonio Express-News heralds a new breed of neighborhood organizations as an organized grassroots force "poised to engineer massive changes in San Antonio's planning and development policies." Noting that these umbrella organizations represent hundreds of homeowners associations, the newspaper credits them with helping "usher into office at least six of the 11 members of City Council," including Mayor Howard Peak. The new council, sworn in June 1, is expected to be "much more receptive to experiments in sustainable growth projects such as light-rail and mixed-use development, the sort of controlled growth" rare in the past.   6/3/1999

With about 97 percent of Texas land ...

With about 97 percent of Texas land in private hands, many growth-wary owners and state officials link their conservation hopes with increasingly popular land trusts. Such nonprofit trusts can protect land through conservation easements, often offering owners tax breaks. Last month, the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife helped land trusts create an umbrella group, the Land Trust Council, to coordinate their education and acquisition efforts. A department official, Carolyn Scheffer, says land trusts are not anti-development. They "work hand in hand with developers," trying to bring all segments of the population to the conservation table.   6/3/1999

San Antonio: A San Antonio Express-News editorial ...

San Antonio: A San Antonio Express-News editorial welcomes the city's new long-term urban core redevelopment plan, which aims to bring 100,000 residents inside Loop 410, as "an earnest effort to reverse urban sprawl." Counting on the City Council to be creative while setting "tax and financial incentives for those willing to risk restoring older, run-down districts," the editorial predicts that capital will flow to the inner city. The editorial adds that "if rents don't gouge, tenants will follow." The council must also speed up the permit process, because it takes "four times longer to get things done in the inner-city" than outside the outer beltway, Loop 1604.   5/28/1999

San Antonio: Rated by the Sierra Club ...

San Antonio: Rated by the Sierra Club as the nation's 19th most sprawl-threatened city, this city is stepping up planning efforts to diminish that threat. In the wake of the 1997 master plan that spurred neighborhood plans for downtown and other older districts, the city will be rewriting its 1938 unified development code, to extend zoning regulations for unincorporated areas five miles beyond the city limits. In the Texas Legislature, San Antonio's Senator Frank Madla has presented a bill to make cities give three years notice of any annexation plans, and Representative Robert Puente is sponsoring bills to allow tax credits for donations of environmentally sensitive land to government or nonprofit organizations.   4/1/1999

Austin: The city began planning for long-term ...

Austin: The city began planning for long-term development in 1994, but did not use the term "Smart Growth" until 1998, when it instantly became part of the public vernacular. City planners have translated Smart Growth into three objectives -- "determine the direction of growth, improve the quality of life and enhance the city's tax base." Accordingly, they have reset the growth boundaries to protect the aquifer zone and to concentrate development near transit routes and future parks; recast the Land Development Code to allow for infills within Smart Growth corridors; reviewed environmental ordinances for efficiency and effectiveness; and run three neighborhood planning pilot programs to ensure that future growth will not be shaped solely by developers.   4/1/1999

Austin: The Austin Sierra Club, Austin Metro ...

Austin: The Austin Sierra Club, Austin Metro Trails and Greenways, the Save Barton Creek Association and the Texas Organic Growers Association started a joint, long-term "Sprawl costs us all" campaign, with a call to delay the proposed billion-dollar Texas 130 highway and to speed up light-rail, new bus routes and bike paths. Noting that Texas 130 would invite more sprawl, but reduce traffic by only 6 to 8 percent, the Austin Sierra Club chairwoman, Kay Plavidal, says that the area urgently needs balanced transportation choices to accommodate 250,000 new residents by 2005. The business-backed Capital Area Transportation Coalition opposes delaying Texas 130. Its executive director, Bruce Byron, tells the Sierra Club "to get real."   4/1/1999

The Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative ...

The Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank in Dallas, challenges the basics of comprehensive land- use planning and smart growth, in a study entitled "The Sprawling of America: In Defense of the Dynamic City," by Samuel R. Staley. His data from more than 300 fast-growing rural counties suggest that "development outside central urban areas does not significantly threaten the quality of life for most people," and that development "can be managed more effectively through real-estate markets." The author also says no or not really to the following questions: "Are the open spaces threatened? Does suburban growth increase public service costs? Is suburban growth responsible for the decline of cities? Does suburban growth damage the environment? Can we trust policy planners to see the future?" In response, the co-chairman of the Sierra Club Challenge to Sprawl Campaign, Larry Bohlen, poses his own question: "If government is considered ill-suited to provide the communities that people want, then why have land speculators traditionally been the largest contributors in political campaigns?"   3/1/1999

Austin: After five months of tough negotiations ...

Austin: After five months of tough negotiations, sponsored by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the city's two long- time political foes, the Save Our Springs Alliance and the Real Estate Council, reached a compromise that relaxes development restrictions for the Barton Spring part of the environmentally sensitive aquifer and pledges cooperation for raising funds to save from development 50,000 acres of fragile land elsewhere. Hailed by Mayor Kirk Watson as a "historic"event, and as "a miracle" and an "amazing" feat by both parties' leaders, the agreement goes to the Austin City Council for approval as an ordinance.   3/1/1999

Surging south into Hays County, Austin's residential ...

Surging south into Hays County, Austin's residential growth has strained services and infrastructure in the rural Kyle-Buda area, and brought its residents and leaders together to create a community planning partnership. The group will seek ways to balance development, increase the commercial tax base, improve transportation and preserve local character.   2/1/1999

Austin: San Antonio-based Nature Conservancy of Texas ...

Austin: San Antonio-based Nature Conservancy of Texas, working with the city of Austin to curb growth in the ecologically sensitive Barton Creek watershed, received a conservation easement for the creek's six-and-half-mile run through the private Shield Ranch. The San Antonio Express-News urges the city to follow the Austin land-use cooperation example, and also take advantage of new federal funding initiatives, to do more for its green space and water quality protection.   1/1/1999

Austin: Briefing the school district trustees on ...

Austin: Briefing the school district trustees on the advantages of the city's Smart Growth policy for school building, Toby Futrell, assistant city manager, said: "Smart Growth is managing how and where you grow while you enhance your quality of life and while you enhance your tax base." Since Smart Growth uses tax incentives to steer development into designated growth corridors, most of which are within the school district, the policy can increase the district's tax base and improve its infrastructure.   12/1/1998

Urged by EPA Administrator Carol Browner, New ...

Urged by EPA Administrator Carol Browner, New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman and other key speakers, the 750 participants at the second national Partners for Smart Growth conference in Austin reached a broad consensus on the need to manage growth, curb sprawl, reinvest in older neighborhoods and protect open space. The newly elected president of the National Association of Home Builders, Charles Ruma, said that smart growth initiatives Ňmust improve the predictability of development,Ó and its executive vice president, Tom Downs, endorsed mixed use as a vital part of smart growth. Austin leaders, who passed their Smart Growth initiative in February, stressing that rampant growth could ruin the city, promised a concerted effort to involve all neighborhoods in growth management during 1999.   12/1/1998

Austin: Civic leaders, business owners and residents ...

Austin: Civic leaders, business owners and residents of this city's fast-growing western district have organized into the West End Alliance, to promote their area and assure that its development "reflects a true consensus of neighborhood interests." The alliance's interim president, developer Perry Lorenz, sees its main objectives as improvements in mass transit and local traffic flow.   10/1/1998

San Antonio: The Community Revitalization Action Group ...

San Antonio: The Community Revitalization Action Group calls for public and private investments to spur development in inner-city areas and bring back wealthier residents and businesses.   9/1/1998

Austin: The Community Development Corporation received $500,000 ...

Austin: The Community Development Corporation received $500,000 from the U. S. Treasury Department for loans to minority- and women-owned businesses. The grant increases the corporation's loan pool for small businesses in depressed neighborhoods to almost $2 million.   9/1/1998

In a continuing effort to make Texas ...

In a continuing effort to make Texas the best location for corporate development, state agencies and communities are advertising the state's advantages and opportunities on the Internet. A new web page, managed by the Texas Workers Compensation Commission, offers details and updates on legislation, and information on job openings, workshops for employers and other programs. Similar web pages are posted by many cities, including Athens, Lubbock and Odessa.   8/1/1998

San Antonio is enacting provisions for reinvestment ...

San Antonio is enacting provisions for reinvestment zones and tax increment financing (TIF) to spur revitalization of its urban core.   8/1/1998

San Antonio: Deputy U. S. Transportation Secretary ...

San Antonio: Deputy U. S. Transportation Secretary Mortimer Downey praised the city for upgrading its TransGuide traffic control system and taking a lead in "smart transportation services." The federal government hopes that similar technologies will be implemented in the 75 largest American cities by 2005.   7/1/1998

San Antonio neighborhood associations, seeking a greater ...

San Antonio neighborhood associations, seeking a greater role in shaping the city's future, held their ninth annual conference on growth patterns, transportation and urban renewal.   6/1/1998

Six hundred central Texas officials, business people ...

Six hundred central Texas officials, business people and activists conferred in San Marcos on a regional approach to long-term housing, transportation and pollution problems in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor. A participant poll showed 80 to 90% support for cooperation, better land use, rail transit, water system improvements, tax-base sharing and higher education planning.   5/1/1998

Cedar Park approved a new comprehensive master ...

Cedar Park approved a new comprehensive master plan, devised during year-long consultations among officials, residents and developers. Focused on preserving quality of life, the plan will spur economic development and free residents from commuting to jobs in Austin.   5/1/1998

San Antonio Mayor Howard Peak and the ...

San Antonio Mayor Howard Peak and the Downtown Alliance are looking into cases of urban renewal sparked by Business Improvement Districts. Through a series of lectures and symposia with speakers from other cities, San Antonio leaders seek Portland's insight on mass transit, Philadelphia's on office-residential development, Denver's on warehouse conversion and Baltimore's on downtown entertainment.   3/1/1998

Austin City Council announced a Smart Growth ...

Austin City Council announced a Smart Growth Initiative on Feb. 25, 1998. The ultimate goal of the Initiative is to manage growth, protect the city's quality of life and assure the creation of a healthy economy. A Subcommittee of the City Council will be charged with overhauling the City's Land Development Code to provide a foundation for the Smart Growth Initiative. This overhaul will establish new general planning principles, development a neighborhood-based planning framework, provide incentives for infill development and redevelopment, and simplify the development process, among other objectives. Houston, helped by its Small Business Development Corporation and the federal Small Business Administration, opened a One-Stop Capital Shop. Its financial and economic development institutions, with almost $200 million in federal funds, will speed up revitalization of the city's 20 square-mile core, designated as the Enhanced Enterprise Community.   3/1/1998

This web site is developed and maintained by the
National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT),
and supported with funding from the US EPA.
Disclaimer
Copyright © 1996-2010. All Rights Reserved.