http://www.smartgrowth.org A selection of published news articles, resources, and events relating to smart growth issues. en-us Copyright 2003 DevX http://backend.userland.com/rss Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST webmaster@smartgrowth.org http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4492 This lavishly illustrated, hardcover awards book from the Urban Land Institute profiles 48 top development projects throughout the world. Each project description includes photos, the development story, and project data. Each project is a winner or finalist for the prestigious ULI Awards for Excellence. The annual prize is based on financial viability, the resourceful use of land, design, relevance to contemporary issues, and sensitivity to the community and environment. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4491 The latest booklet in the Center for Transit-Oriented Development's series of ''100'' and ''200'' manuals is now available. These booklets explain the theory and best practices of transit-oriented development. The TOD 201 booklet Mixed-Income Housing Near Transit: Increasing Affordability With Location Efficiency discusses how providing for a mix of incomes in walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods near transit improves the already considerable benefits of having mixed-income neighborhoods by significantly reducing transportation costs. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/article.asp?resource=4499 The LEED 2009 Reference Guide for Green Neighborhood Development is a user's manual that guides a LEED-ND project from registration to certification. This guide is specifically designed to provide the tools necessary for sustainable choices to be made by developers, planners, architects and others involved in the vertical and horizontal development of a neighborhood development project. The Reference Guide includes detailed information on the process for achieving LEED-ND certification, detailed credit and prerequisite information, resources, and standards for the LEED 2009 for Neighborhood Development Rating System. For each credit or prerequisite, the guide provides: intent, requirements, point values, environmental, economic and social issues, related credits, summary of referenced standards, credit implementation discussion, timeline, and team recommendations, calculation methods and formulas, documentation guidance, examples, exemplary performance options, regional variations, resources, and definitions. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7475 Given the Montgomery County Council’s tentative approval last November of a $27.5-million allocation for additional classrooms in the crowded Bethesda and Germantown school zones, the County Planning Board unanimously lifted their six-month development moratorium, criticized by some for undercutting smart growth. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4480 The Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles is proposing that traffic lanes between 9th and Olympic Avenue in downtown be reduced by two lanes and replaced with public green space. +In addition to providing desperately needed open space in dense downtown Los Angeles, the reduction in lanes would also serve the purpose of creating a more pedestrian-oriented environment. ''The bottom line is, we need more park space,'' said Mike Pfeiffer, president of a downtown neighborhood stakeholders group. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7478 Created by House Speaker Armond Budish and 20 other Democratic co-sponsors in March 2009, the bipartisan Compact with Ohio Cities Task Force has released its 20-point urban redevelopment and smart growth report. The report urges extra incentives to help cities regain residents and businesses and seeks a dedicated funding source for transit. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7476 First designed by New Urbanism practitioners Andres Duany and Steve Mouzon as a much more livable alternative to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, ''Katrina Cottages'' have since won many industry and public champions. The cottages are now becoming a model for green, highly affordable, flood-resistant housing on Long Island. Thurs, 21 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4480 A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that in the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways. The new report, What we learned from the Stimulus and how to use what we learned to speed job creation in the 2010 jobs bill, shows that by mimicking funding levels for transportation set out in ARRA, the Jobs for Main Street Act (H.R. 2847), passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December, missed an opportunity to create additional jobs where they are needed most. Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/article.asp?resource=4487 The EPA has announced that it will hold five listening sessions to provide information to the public and to seek feedback about a potential new regulation that would address stormwater management and establish a comprehensive program to reduce stormwater from new development and redevelopment. Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7457 Conservationist organizations around the United States are buying up land to set aside, often at a fraction of what the asking price was only a couple years ago. This article in The New York Times notes that the recession has provided a silver lining for conservationist groups that are setting aside land in perpetuity for parks, watershed protection, habitat conservation and open space. Many of the deals are done with banks eager to get bad assets off their books and willing to slash prices by more than half. Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7457 Inspired by the 2009 New Partners for Smart Growth conference and by President Obama’s push for renewable energy, Maui County Council Vice-Chair Mike Molina introduced a bill to allow small wind turbines in all county zoning districts. ''This is just one small piece of the puzzle within the whole green movement to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and significantly reduce greenhouse gases,'' Molina observed in this Maui News article. He added that the 2009 conference attendees ''were amazed with all of Hawaii’s sun and wind that we were so far behind on using this technology.'' Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7457 A café catering to bicycle riders has opened in Oakland, creating a new neighborhood center in a low-income area of the city. KNTV, a news station based in the Bay Area, did an extensive interview with patrons and the owner of the café in this video. The café Shindig opened on what was a previously vacant site once home to a fishing bait store. Shindig includes mounting racks for riders to store their bikes, a bicycle powered television, and recycled furniture and light fixtures. The café’s owner, Sal Bednarz, hopes that the café will become a local meeting spot where neighbors interested in bicycle culture can meet together and be an example of how businesses can be both sustainable and profitable. Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7467 Kimberly’s Plan Commission and Village Board each unanimously approved a 20-year comprehensive plan to bring the city into compliance with Wisconsin’s Smart Growth law. The law requires municipalities to have a land-use plan in place that addresses future housing and transportation needs. The approved plan calls for further development of the Kimberly trail system and zoning that protects existing residential areas. In addition, potential roundabouts and other traffic claiming measures are included in the plan. Officials hope that the plan will help guide future decision making and keep development in line with an overall vision for the community. Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7468 Although some real estate agents, home builders and others threatened Kent County commissioners with ''a political cost'' for approving preservation of 25,000 of the county’s 170,000 rural acres in years ahead, the program passed on a 13-6 vote last month. Despite ''cruel'' economic times and budgetary cuts, the Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board notes, commissioners set aside $275,000 in seed money for the program this year, expecting to leverage almost $4 million in matching grants from foundations and other groups, with about three dozen farms, which have already applied for aid, ready to keep a total of 3,000 acres undeveloped. Tues, 12 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7457 Robert Cervero from the University of California Transportation Center and UC Berkeley examines the common problem of providing too much parking at transit-oriented development (TOD) in this expert blog spot at ReconnectingAmerica.org. Cervero notes that too much parking ''can drive up the cost of housing, consume valuable land near transit, and impose environmental costs such as water pollution from enlarged impervious surfaces.'' Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4473 In his new book, Philip L. Walker, an experienced downtown-planning consultant, offers practical tips for preserving a sense of place, improving fiscal efficiency, and enhancing quality of life. Planners and revitalization officials will learn how to address physical components of the downtown, as well as economic development. Walker also explains how to develop an organization to implement a downtown plan; how federal, state, and local policies may influence the planning process; and how to fund a downtown revitalization effort. Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4474 Cities and towns across the country are embracing smart growth as a better solution to meet the needs of their growing populations. See NRDC's visions for how 70 U.S. communities could apply smart growth principles that accommodate growth and development while saving open space, revitalizing neighborhoods and helping cool the planet. Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=4478 The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, requests proposals for the FTA Bus and Bus Facilities Livability Initiative. This program makes funds available to public transit providers to finance capital projects to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment and to construct bus-related facilities. Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/article.asp?resource=4479 The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building Technologies Program is offering a Webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. EST titled ''Greensburg, Kansas: Lessons Learned and Steps Forward.'' This is the third and final Webinar about Greensburg, Kansas, presented by the Building Technologies Program. With the help of DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Greensburg is rebuilding as a model green community after recovering from a massive tornado in May 2007. The town is incorporating ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency strategies to realize its vision of becoming an affordable sustainable community. Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7463 Dedicated to regionalism, urban revitalization, and smart growth in Lehigh and Northampton counties, the Bethlehem-based Renew Lehigh Valley (RenewLV) nonprofit is planning a grassroots lobbying campaign. The campaign will push for approval of a proposed joint health department, a public forum on the advantages of passenger rail and multimodal transportation, and creation of a regional water council to ensure sustainable management of water and wastewater services. Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7461 Narrow Streets: Los Angeles is re-imaging some of Los Angeles’s best known streets by using Photoshop to narrow them. The idea is called design by proximity, where the viewer assigns more meaning as two objects come closer together. This blog hopes to show how better street design can help create more walkable streets even in a city known for its dependence on automobiles. Over 18 intersections have been altered, presenting streets that help create a more urban and pedestrian setting. Tues, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST