Authors:
Carrie Beach
Rose-Anne
McGrail
Melissa Tronquet
Growth Management asks that citizens look at
the natural environment and recognize the limited carrying capacity of the
ecosystem. As the 
population
continues to grow, the ecosystem must be maintained so that it can sufficiently
support life. Citizens must have clean
water to drink, clean air to breathe, land on which to grow food and fiber,
and places to enjoy and recreate. Tools
of growth management that preserve open space and critical lands will improve
air and water quality and provide wildlife habitat for the better health of
citizens. At the same time, these
preserved areas will provide opportunities for recreation and tourism and
an improved quality of life.
Growth threatens many areas throughout the
United States. While the clearest effects of growth can be seen in the sprawling
urban development that consumes vast amounts of the landscape, these developments
also have troubling 
environmental
consequences because unplanned and unmanaged development can destroy the natural
environment. In urban areas, pollution of air, water and
soil reveal declining environmental quality, and the loss and deterioration
of natural areas reveals not only an aesthetic loss, but also indicates severe
threats to biodiversity and ecological systems.
Federal environmental legislation such as the
Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act has 
made
progress in slowing the degradation of the environment. However, these laws must be supported on the
state, regional and local level. State
and local governments make Development decisions, and initiatives at these
levels must be implemented to manage the negative effects of growth.
“Growth
Management” implies that growth should be managed to promote an orderly use
of land and resources, and sound development practices that conform to the
natural carrying capacity of an area. One
principle of growth management is sustainability, which encourages growing
cities to consider their impact on the larger area, and perhaps even the entire
biosphere. Growth management also
encourages compact development within or near existing urban fabric, rather
than sprawling development on virgin land.
This development goal encompasses many environmental objectives, all
illustrating interconnectedness of natural resources, the ecosystem, biodiversity,
sustainability, habitat, environmental quality, and critical environmental
area, and the influence of growth in either protecting of destroying these
environmental treasures.
This section discusses issues, outlines obstacles,
describes best practice examples, and makes recommendations in four areas
related to growth management and the environment: open space preservation,
critical areas protection, significant regions management, and pollution prevention.
Principles of Growth Management and Environmental Protection:
1. Conserve critical and sensitive environmental resources:
wetlands, agricultural lands, coastal areas, floodplains, bodies of water,
steep slopes and mountaintops
2. Protect and improve air and water quality
3. Conserve contiguous parcels of land to protect habitat
and biodiversity
4. Conserve agricultural and forest lands
5. Recognize the limited carrying capacity of areas by
encouraging compact development and limiting development on virgin land
6. Promote principles of sustainability, including energy
efficiency, effective and efficient use of water, and creative incorporation
of natural elements in the urban landscape
7. Promote comprehensive watershed protection by limiting
impervious surfaces and manmade pollutants
8. Encourage organization at a regional scale, recognizing
that natural resource areas and watersheds are not bounded by political boundaries
9. Promote and preserve safe and clean natural recreation
areas on land and water for the enjoyment of citizens
I.
Open Space Preservation
The preservation of open space supports a variety
of environmental planning principles, including the conservation of critical
environmental resources, protection of groundwater, preservation of contiguous
wildlife habitat, and provision of ecologically sound tourism and recreation
areas. By protecting open space and
clustering development, jurisdictions are able to reduce air pollution (by
reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled), and water pollution (by reducing
the amount of impervious surfaces that produce polluted runoff).
Obstacles to open space protection:
Current low-density zoning threatens open space
protection on rural lands, and over-zoning in rural or agricultural areas
makes protection of contiguous open land difficult. Open space often gets developed in a scattered pattern, with houses,
driveways and connector roads fragmenting land that would otherwise be ripe
for agriculture. Down-zoning would
help solve this problem, but it is often difficult to achieve because citizens
place great value on American property rights, and often see changes in zoning
or regulations for land conservation as threats to their constitutional right
to own, enjoy, and use their land.
Small
farms are increasingly challenged to survive in the market. Because of declining agricultural profitability, increasing proximity of farms
to residential development, and increasing property taxes, growing numbers
of farms are converted to suburban development every year.
Developers also find it easier and cheaper
to purchase and develop land in rural areas.
The land in rural areas is more appealing to developers than land in
urban areas because it is not yet served by infrastructure, is less expensive,
and is governed fewer regulations and constraints.
While many jurisdictions would like to protect
open space, the cost of protection must compete with other urgent needs local
budgets. Justifying the cost of open
space protection to taxpayers becomes difficult because they would rather
see their taxes spent on school or transportation improvements. As a result, many jurisdictions often focus
on short-run economic development, and attempt to increase revenue by attracting
new development. While this drive
for economic development may be attractive in the short term, many studies
have shown that the additional costs of this type of development far outweigh
the costs of maintaining land in agricultural or open space use.
Best Practices:
Ø
Montgomery County, MD Using TDR’s to Protect
Open Space
Ø
Virginia Beach, VA Using A Green Line to
Protect Open Space
Ø
Clarke County, VA Sliding Scale
Zoning Preserves Agricultural Land
Ø
Rural Cluster Ordinance in Fauquier
County
Ø
Portland, Preservation of Urban Natural
Areas
Ø
New Jersey, 1 Million Acres in 10 Years
Ø
1 Million Acres Preserved Through Local
State Cooperation in Florida
Recommendations:
1. Identify dedicated funding source
2. Designate agricultural reserves in one of two ways:
3. Create a boundary beyond which utilities will not be
extended
4.
Create TDR and PDR
programs and encourage the use of conservation easements
5. Enact a zoning ordinance that supports open space protection.
Cluster or sliding scale zoning, paired with zoning that supports infill
development will help restrict low density, land consumptive development
6. Enact use-value taxation which taxes agricultural land
at its existing use, not its potential use
7. Utilize agricultural districts, and forestal districts,
and conservation easements
8. Use a combination of tools that complement one another
9. Take advantage of complementary state, regional and
local programs, including non-profits and collaborate towards a common goal.
10. Build political will by educating citizens and politicians
on the value of open space preservation and the significance of natural resources
to their quality of life
11. Enact policy that makes brownfield and infill development
easier, less time consuming and less costly for developers.
II.
Protection of Critical Areas
Critical areas, including wetlands, steep slopes,
coastal zones, and mountaintops, require additional protection from development.
These areas require additional protection because they are integral
components of natural systems and are irreplaceable once destroyed.
Many jurisdictions pair local regulations with state and federal regulations
to protect these sensitive areas.
Obstacles to protection of critical areas include potential claims from people who believe that
regulation of critical areas infringes on property rights. Difficulties in coordinating federal, state
and local protections create challenges in obtaining funding to support the
costs of protection programs, which may lead to ineffective regulation. Knowledge of critical areas is imperative but
often lacking. Finally, sensitive
sites like mountaintops, beachfronts, or forests are some of the most attractive
and valuable lands, and are expensive to protect from development.
Best Practices:
Ø
The Boulder Blue Line, A Boundary On Growth
Ø
NC Coastal Management ACT (CAMA)
A Variety of Tools to Protect the Coast
Ø
Dewees Island, SC – A Model Sustainable
Community
Ø
Florida Coastal Management Program
(FCMP) – An Indicator System for Progress
Recommendations:
1. States should perform a comprehensive survey of critical
environmental areas using GIS mapping and incorporating local input
2. States should develop a strategic environmental plan
to protect critical areas from development
3. States should require counties to implement comprehensive
plans and zoning which supports this plan
4. States should provide additional funding and expertise
to those jurisdictions with high proportion of critical sites.
5. States should set aside a dedicated funding source for
protection programs
6. States should specifically enable TDR or PDR legislation
as an extra tool for protection.
7. States should encourage public/private partnerships
for the protection of critical areas in the form of conservation easements,
direct purchase, and other preservation tools
8. States and localities should encourage cross-departmental
information sharing.
III.
Significant Environmental Areas that Cross Jurisdictional Lines
Jurisdictional boundaries do not restrict natural
resources. Consequently, the degradation
and protection of these resources is not restricted by political boundaries.
Critical natural resources such as the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Tahoe,
or the Pinelands are national treasures that cross political boundaries and
require regional cooperation to protect them from damage often caused by development.
Obstacles to protection of areas of regional significance:
First, because jurisdictional boundaries do
not coincide with natural boundaries, political and regulatory solutions to
environmental problems often arise. Jurisdictions
are often unwilling or unable to work together and cooperate politically,
administratively, or financially. Lack of sufficient funding limits environmental
management and regional cooperation. Neighboring jurisdictions often demonstrate uneven levels of commitment
to protection of environmental resource, resulting in the protection of a
natural resource area in one state or jurisdiction but not in another.
Best Practices:
Ø
Chesapeake Bay Program – An Innovative
Regional Partnership to Protect a National Treasure
Ø
Pinelands, NJ – 1 Million Acres
Protected Through TDR’s
Ø
California and Nevada Unit to Protect Lake
Tahoe From Development
Ø
Eastward Ho! Initiative, Florida: Guiding
Growth Away from Fragile Environmental Resources
Ø
Washington State Environmental Policy Act:
Statewide Environmental Protection
Ø
Shoreline Management Act, Washington State:
Protecting Coastlines and Water Quality
Recommendations:
1. Regional partnerships and agreements between towns,
counties and states are critical in protecting resources and areas that cross
political boundaries.
2. Stressing the long term benefits of regional cooperation,
including health and safety and economic growth from tourism, can help develop
partnerships and agreements.
3. Participants and policies must display a strong, foreword-looking
vision.
4. Scientific analysis, mapping, and inventory of resources
helps define priority areas.
5. A successful program needs public buy-in and support
of committing money and time.
6. Federal mandate and funding is critical to program success,
particularly in those areas where the resource is very large and crosses a
multitude of jurisdictional boundaries.
7. Incentives help direct development to areas where resources
will not be threatened.
8. Educational programs and policies that give community
residents a stake in community preservation will help increase public support
and enhance success.
9. The most successful programs to protect sensitive regions
combine planning, growth management, sustainability, and environmental goals
and use tools from each area to create a comprehensive program that will protect
resources and lead to responsible development practices.
IV. Pollution
Prevention (Air and Water Quality, Energy Efficiency)
To slow the degradation of natural resources,
communities need to change development patterns the ways they communities
function. Reducing waste, improving
air and water quality, encouraging alternative energy use and using green
building materials are some of the ways to prevent pollution and use resources
efficiently.
Obstacles for pollution prevention and resource overuse:
Obstacles include both behavioral issues and
problems arising from development patterns.
Short-term thinking lies at the base of many of these problems. Individuals and communities think that responsible
environmental practices are too expensive. On a higher level, federal environmental legislation
often leaves the majority of responsibility for implementation to states,
many of which do not implement strict regulations.
Best Practices:
Ø
North Carolina Solar Center Incorporating
Solar Technology Into Our Lives
Ø
The Citizens’ Pollution Reporting
and Response System, TX – Making Pollution Reporting Easier
Ø
Northwest Air Pollution Authority:
An Agency That Enforces the Clean Air Act
Ø
North Carolina Regulatory Programs
to Protect Groundwater
Ø
King County, WA : A Pay-As-You-Throw Trash
Disposal System
Recommendations:
1. Localities need to look at the long term effects of
resource depletion and the overall carrying capacity of the resource base.
2. Localities can implement small and fairly inexpensive
programs that both decrease damage to the environment and save money in the
long run.
3. If localities promote compact development, they can
support increased transit use, which will in turn support managed development
patterns.
4. Localities should invest in public transit and limit
new road building to coincide with compact development. Facilitate good environmental behavior by making
transit more accessible, providing recycling options, etc.
5. Provide incentives for business to encourage employees
to change behavior (live near work, use transit, etc.)
Summary
As we look at best practices throughout the
nation for preserving open space and habitat, improving air and water quality,
and preserving critical natural resources, many use state and federal resources
and expertise, but also work from the bottom up. They often form multi-jurisdictional partnerships to address problems
that exceed their boundaries, and create dedicated funding sources for land
and resource preservation. These examples
also demonstrate that a combination of tools need should be applied, and that
a comprehensive plan to address problems and solutions works more effectively
than programs with a single focus.
Many
regions have been successful in putting all of the pieces together to work
towards a sustainable community. One
example is Vail, Colorado, which created an environmental Strategic Plan to
maintain and improve environmental quality.
The plan includes efforts to monitor and improve air and water quality,
preserve open space, and protect natural wildlife. Highlights of this plan include saving a 48-acre land parcel from
subdivision development through a collective purchase agreement, and environmental
monitoring to ensure that skiers do not exceed the town’s carrying capacity.
Successes include replacing approximately 400 fireplaces with cleaner
burning technologies, implementation of a nonpoint source water quality management
plan, recycling program that diverts five percent of waste away from landfills,
acquisition of 75 acres of open space, protection of 33% of Vail’s land area
as open space, and the creation of a standing environmental committee by Vail’s
Board of Realtors.
It is very easy to describe examples of growth
management and environmental success—this section contains only a select few--,
and fairly easy to draw the conclusion that the best initiatives combine federal,
state, and local initiatives, set comprehensive goals and visions, and utilize
a variety of tools, partnerships, and policies to create successful programs.
As the recommendations in each section show, there are many lessons
to extract from each example. However, these examples do not fully explain
the best ways for communities and states to get started in creating programs
to manage growth and its environmental impacts.
Many communities in the State of Virginia struggle with the pressures
of growth and the impacts of development on the environment, yet Virginia
has no comprehensive growth management plan.
The following statements are recommendations for Virginia and suggestions
for how the state can begin to establish policies to manage growth and protect
the environment, but could be applied to any area that needs more balanced
development and environmental protection.
1. Create an inventory
of what you have and what you want to protect. The Blue Ridge
Mountains, the Chesapeake Bay, rich agricultural land, wetlands, wildlife,
and coal are a few valuable natural resources in Virginia that could disappear
without protection. GIS mapping can
create concrete visual descriptions of these types of areas, and scientific
inventories and analyses can provide reliable information on the quantity
and quality of other resources.
2. Think regionally! The mountains, the bay, the land, and the wildlife
are not contained in one specific county or town, and the practices that threaten
them are not isolated. Responsible
conservation will protect entire resource areas, not just pieces.
3. Cooperate with
counties and cities around you who share your resources. Establishing
programs for regional cooperation, like those in Portland, the Chesapeake
Bay, and Lake Tahoe, leads to comprehensive and uniform regulations for an
entire area or resource and can help prevent patchwork development and destruction.
4. Make a plan! Use inventories
and analyses, goals, objectives, and visions to create a plan with a regional
perspective. Set concrete goals and
invent specific ways to meet them. An
overall vision is important, but not enough. There must be rules, regulations, programs,
policies, and concrete enforcement in a successful plan.
5. Get money! Set aside
a dedicated funding source and make sure that the financial backing to run
the program is available. Without
the funds to support it, a program will be ineffective and doomed to fail.
6. Educate citizens
about what they are protecting, why they should protect it, and the benefits
of local protection. Without public support, the success of even
the most carefully planned program is dubious.
Give people a stake in their community by helping them learn about
and value the land and resources. Emphasize
positive reasons for protecting their area, such as economic and aesthetic
benefits, tourism, and quality of life.
7. Give residents
and developers incentives. The Development Credits Program in Pinelands,
New Jersey is an excellent example of a positive incentive for both rural
landowners and developers that directs growth and protects a natural area.
Try to create similar incentives that promote mutual dependence and
give equal consideration and compensation to both development and protection.
8. Make it easy!
Protecting the environment and managing growth responsibly
should not be compromised simply because it is difficult and time consuming
for people to comply with regulations. Make sure that protection policies are not more difficult, time
consuming, or expensive than traditional regulations.
9. Use what you
have. Many federal environmental regulations leave the extent of compliance
for states to decide. Make policies
that go beyond the minimum requirements.
10. Use zoning. Traditional
“Euclidian” zoning ordinances that separate uses and consume large tracts
of land holds many areas back. Enact
ordinances that support open space protection, cluster development, sliding
scale zoning, infill development, and other types of zoning that promote responsible
land consumption.
11. Combine tools
and programs. Take examples from towns, cities, and the entire
state than complement each other and combine them. The combination will lead to more options,
a more comprehensive program, and increased protection.
12. Sometimes you
need federal support. When a natural resource area is particularly
large or significant, federal support can be helpful in creating a program
and providing funding. This is done
through close, detailed work with state and local governments and will not
remove the area from state regulation. Pinelands,
NJ, is an excellent example of federal, state and local cooperation.
13. Think big,
but do not overlook the value of the small stuff! Trees planted,
water conserved, energy saved, and streams restored will make a difference
to the environment. Large programs
are crucial, but small programs have benefits as well. Participating in tree planning, recycling,
or stream restoration gets citizens involved with their environment on an
intimate level and gives them a stake in their communities, giving them more
reasons to preserve and protect their areas from growth and degradation.
Additional Resources
www.sustainable.doe
(Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development at the Department of Energy)
www.epa.gov (Environmental
Protection Agency)
Blueprint for Sustainable Development of Virginia, prepared
by the Environmental Law Institute, 1994.
Guiding Growth in Virginia: Local Incentives for Revitalization
and Preservation, Environmental Law Institute Research Report, 1998.
Managing Growth in America’s Communities, Douglas Porter, 1997.
Platt, Rutherford, et.al.
The Ecological City. Amherst:
University of Masachusetts Press, 1994.
Daniels, Tom. Holding
Our Ground: Preserving America’s Farms and Farmlands. Covelo, California: Island Press, 1997