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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

May 2002

Smart Growth Effort Heats Up

Photo: Chriss Poulsen
After a break of several months, the Bay Area's "citizen planners" were called back into action this spring when MTC and a host of partners convened Round Two of the public workshops associated with the Regional Agency Smart Growth Strategy/Regional Livability Footprint Project.

For many of the participants, the nine county forums in April and May present a chance to take a second look at their work from the first round of outreach workshops, held last fall. For those who did not attend the first round, the daylong Saturday workshops are an intense initiation into the realm of smart growth — a broad term used to reference a new school of thought regarding the character, density and placement of new development. Under smart growth scenarios, the accent is on transit-centric, mixed-used development that is also pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.

As with the first round of outreach, this phase of the experiment in "Saturday morning planning" is attracting a broad cross section of interests, including local elected officials, environmental activists, developers and representatives of neighborhood groups.

Smart Growth Alternatives

  1. Central Cities
    Calls for considerable compact, mixed-use development in core urban areas.
  2. Network of Neighborhoods
    Largely focuses development in the urban core, albeit at lower densities than in Alternative 1, as well as along new and existing transit lines.
  3. Smarter Suburbs
    Allows for continued development at the region's edges, but at higher densities and with a better balance of jobs and housing than has been typical. Also directs some growth to the urban core.
In the current phase, participants are examining three alternatives for growing smarter over the next two decades (see box at right). All three options attempt to address the chronic imbalance between jobs and housing that is at the root of many of the region's traffic problems. Boosting the region's supply of affordable housing is another focus.

"We hope the workshop participants will adjust and blend the alternatives to formulate the ideal vision for their particular county," said Victoria Eisen, principal planner for the Association of Bay Area Governments, who is quarterback- ing the project. At the same time, participants are being asked to identify fiscal incentives that would induce cities and counties to adopt smart growth patterns.
— Brenda Kahn

The smart growth project is sponsored by five regional agencies along with the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Development, a coalition of over 40 business, environmental and social equity organizations.

To view the online version of the Smart Growth Alternatives Report, or to sign up for one of the remaining workshops, go to www.abag.ca.gov/planning/smartgrowth/index.html.

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