Smart Growth Government Regulations

Government regulations controlling the development of land have been evolving forever. However, the 1990’s was the decade of regulatory intrusion that changed our land development practices forever!

Policies instituted in ‘90’s would not impact our industry for years to come. The regulatory efforts in the’90’s have profoundly changed the emphasis on how land is to be developed……….since government knows better……smart growth......really?

The first initiative that I will outline is smart growth. The following agencies are primarily the driving force behind smart growth initiatives. When the federal government pumps millions of dollars into these initiatives and local governments are given grant monies, what chance do we have to overcome the tidal wave of regulation. We are always in a reactive posture with insignificant resources to combat regulatory intrusion.

EPA says: “Many communities around the country are asking for tools to help them achieve their desired development goals, improve quality of life, and become more economically and environmentally sustainable. In response to this demand, EPA developed the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program.”  (REALLY???)

Let’s take a look at several federal department budgets and specific programs. Information source:  ULI.

 

Department of Interior	FY11 Enacted	FY 12 Enacted	FY13 Request	+/- From 2012
Land and Water Conservation Fund	$301 million	$345 million	$450 million	30%
NPS Land Acquisition & State Assistance	$95 million	$102 million	$119.4 million	17%
LWCF State Grants Program	$37.13 million	$44.9 million	$60 million	34%

 

Department of Agriculture	FY11 Enacted	FY 12 Enacted	FY13 Request	+/- From 2012
Watershed Flood Prevention Operations	$30 million	$15 million	$0	-100%
Wetlands Reserve Program	$494 million	$437 million	$224 million	-48.70%
Environmental Quality Incentives (EQIP)	$1.1 billion	$1.4 billion	$1.4 billion	0%
Conservation Stewardship Program	$788 million	$768 million	$972 million	26.60%
Farmlands Protection Program	$150 million	$150 million	$150 million	0%
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program	Rescinded	$50 million	$73 million	46%
Grassland Reserve Program	$44 million	$67 million	$5 million	-92.50%
Transportation
Program	FY13	Six-Year Total
Livable Communities	$4 billion	$27.4 billion

Department of Housing and Urban Development	FY11 Enacted	FY 12 Enacted	FY13 Request	+/- From 2012
Community Development Fund	$3.508 billion	$3.308 billion	$3.143 billion	-5%*
CDBG	$3.343 billion	$2.98 billion	$2.98 billion	0%
Sustainable Communities Initiative	$100 million	$0	$100 million	100%
Regional Planning Grants	$70 million	$0	$46 million
Challenge Planning Grants	$30 million	$0	$46 million
HOME	$1.61 billion	$1 billion	$1 billion	0%
HOPE VI	$100 million	$0 (program transitioned to Choice Neighborhoods)	$0 (program transitioned to Choice Neighborhoods)	0%
Choice Neighborhoods	$100 million (from HOPE VI)	$120 million	$150 million	25%

EPA	FY 2011 Enacted	FY 2012 Enacted	FY13 Request	+/- change from FY
Sustainable Communities	$10.7 million - precise number is debatable	Level funding - budget not yet public	$9.8 million

 Program descriptions are taken from each department’s website:

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs.

HOME is the largest Federal block grant to State and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households.

FY13 Funding Requests:

DOT - Livable Communities                 $4,000,000,000

HUD - Sustainable Communities                            $100,000,000
HUD - Choice Neighborhoods                      $150,000,000
EPA - Sustainable Communities                                      $9,800,000

Livability Principles and the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities (PSC)
In June 2009, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced a new Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities to improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. The Partnership established six livability principles to act as a foundation for interagency coordination:

·                     Provide more transportation choices

·                     Promote equitable, affordable housing

·                     Enhance economic competitiveness

·                     Support existing communities

·                     Coordinate policies and leverage investment

·                     Value communities and neighborhoods

In the development of Choice Neighborhoods, HUD has focused on directing resources into three core goals:

1. Housing: Transform distressed public and assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that is physically and financially viable over the long-term;

2. People: Support positive outcomes for families who live in the target development(s) and the surrounding neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents’ health, safety, employment, mobility, and education; and

3. Neighborhood: Transform neighborhoods of poverty into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to well-functioning services, high quality public schools and education programs, high quality early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs.

To achieve these core goals, communities must develop a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan.

A offers a variety of tools through the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program. Not every tool is offered in every round. Once EPA has used a tool in several communities, we work to refine it to create a product that any community can use with limited outside assistance.

EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program

The Smart Growth Implementation Assistance program focuses on complex or cutting-edge issues, and projects can take about 18 months to complete. These projects explore innovative ideas to overcome barriers that are preventing communities from getting the kind of development they want. Since 2005, the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance program has allowed the Office of Sustainable Communities to work with a diverse array of communities from across the country on issues such as stormwater management, code revision, transit-oriented development, affordable housing, infill development, corridor planning, green building, and climate change.

MY NOTE: the problem is too many federal programs within multiple agencies with significant funding used to persuade us on how to grow our communities! Remember, the real estate development industry is fragmented by local markets. Let’s take a quick look at EPA’s project list:

In the past three years EPA selected 32 communities from two sources to receive Building Blocks assistance (financial assistance).

Complete Streets: Teaches communities how to set investment priorities, draft policies, and implement changes to make their streets safe and appealing to all users, including drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.

Creating a Green Streets Strategy: Helps communities begin to develop strategies for greening their streets by adapting national best practices and case studies to their local context.

Green Building Toolkit: Assists local governments in identifying policies that support compact development that features sustainably built homes and buildings.

Land Use Strategies to Protect Water Quality: Helps local governments examine land use approaches to green infrastructure that manage stormwater.

Neighborhood Planning for Healthy Aging: Explores the role of supportive neighborhood design in creating great places for aging residents.

Parking Audit: Evaluates local parking policies and offers advice on parking management strategies, drawing from successful strategies in other communities.

Planning Bikeshare Programs: Provides a framework to explore establishing or expanding a bikeshare program in a community.

Preferred Growth Areas: Offers a process for communities to review values, opportunities, tools, and constraints to determine the most environmentally beneficial locations for growth.

Smart Growth Guidelines for Sustainable Design and Development: Helps the community understand the key principles and decisions at the location, site, and building levels that can result in a more sustainable plan or development proposal.

Supporting Equitable Development: Helps communities evaluate their needs around equitable development and identify strategies to manage neighborhood change and support community goals around housing, culture, and local businesses.

Sustainable Land Use Code Audit: Evaluates local land use codes, including zoning and subdivision regulations, for opportunities to incorporate community sustainability goals, remove barriers, and create incentives.

Sustainability Strategies for Small Cities and Rural Areas: Offers a menu of quick fixes that rural and small-town governments can make to their zoning codes and planning documents to protect community character and quality of life. This tool used to be called "Smart Growth Zoning Codes for Small Cities and Rural Areas."

Using Smart Growth to Produce Fiscal and Economic Health: Helps communities evaluate how to get better economic results from private development and public investments.

Walking Audit: Guides communities in assessing the pedestrian environment and forming a vision for short- and long-term improvements to sidewalks and streets. This tool, completed in 2012, is now online: Walkability Workbook

The above is ONLY the effort by the EPA!

7-years+ of federal funding for the above initiatives have already taken root simply because of the regulatory foundation established in the 1990’s.

Also over $1,000,000,000 has been allocated for the Federal Government to buy land and remove the land from use!

If you Google “smart growth” -  about 100 million hits!

We ALL realize spending is out of control in Washington DC and the funds allocated for “smart growth” initiatives is small in comparison to the overall spending by the federal government. However, there is a tremendous amount of money and personnel allocated to “smart growth”. WHY?   

In subsequent posts, I will show you how the above federal initiatives stem from Agenda 21, ICLEI, and the Sustainable Council.

Let’s start with smart growth. I would like for everyone reading this post to think about each of the following principles and how the federal government through funding are changing our local markets. I have added my comments to each of the smart growth principles.

EPA - Smart Growth Principles (source: EPA website)

Based on the experience of communities around the nation that have used smart growth approaches to create and maintain great neighborhoods, the Smart Growth Network developed a set of ten basic principles:

1.          Mix land uses

Horizontal and vertical mixed uses can increase the marketability of the project to buyers and retailers but the financial capabilities of developers to hold the land while obtaining rezoning or project approvals is significant and in most cases unlikely. Many local governments have yet to incorporate mixed land use approaches in their ordinances as a standard or permitted option.

70’s – mixed uses were in community design

80’s – not much difference

90’s – starting to see vertical mixed uses

2000 and beyond – are horizontal and vertical mixed uses a panacea?

2.          Take advantage of compact building design

Does this mean Promote?

Does this mean small houses on smaller lots?

Does this mean higher densities?

Why is government involved in design?

Do you want to research this EPA basic principle?  I will wait for your input.

3.          Create a range of housing opportunities and choices

Sorry but we already achieve this except for low and moderate income housing which is also included in the “not in my back yard” mentality. I always thought the market established set the price point and attributes.

Will government establish the market in 2013 and beyond? Or will local government spend all of its limited resources on attracting businesses and job producing industries by public concessions…… tax relief, purchasing the property and giving away the land, etc/

4.          Create walkable neighborhoods

From the ‘70’s to 2013:

No sidewalk

Sidewalk on one side of the street

Sidewalk on both sides of the street

Bike lanes incorporated in the road section

Pedestrian connectivity and pathway systems

Wider sidewalks – not the standard 4-ft sidewalk but now as wide as 6-ft. or 8-ft.

5.          Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place

In my opinion, schools, fire stations, libraries, Town Hall, police department buildings, and county buildings are already the nicest looking and well appointed buildings in our communities. Spending less money on political monuments and spend money to maintain the infrastructure would seem to be a better use of tax dollars.

Government and other public buildings give us a “sense of place”? Really?

I have had local planners ask to review and approve the single family architectural elevations of a production builder.

6.          Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas

Why is the federal government buying private property?

7.          Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities

In real estate, this is called steering! 

This practice will drive up the price of land.

Or the unintended consequences will be the acceleration of gentrification or “the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents”

8.          Provide a variety of transportation choices

Does this mean walking, electric cars or should I be able to commute by bus, train, plane, light rail, or scooter?

9.          Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective

WOW -  this is a loaded principle! The real estate development industry has always asked for a level playing field. Local politicians have become the judge, attorney and jury. The playing field will never be level again. If so, this principle is unattainable.

10.       Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions

The pendulum has been swinging away from individual property rights to community rights. Now, the community as a whole has more input on real estate development projects than the entrepreneur. Do you really think the momentum of seeking community input will diminish over time?

Well, enough said! We all know that government has been controlling land more and more from one decade to another.

How would you feel if local government added sales price ranges for single family homes to the zoning bulk requirements?

How would you feel if all local governments put an umbrella over your community and development would not be permitted outside the arbitrary circle?

We are not standing up to local changes because we are striving to survive! Your comments are appreciated and let me know if I am out in left field on the above. I know the above is somewhat disjointed but the subject is so massive that one blogger can’t overcome millions of dollars and thousands of regulators.

Upcoming are posts on Agenda 21, Sustainable Council and ICLEI – the ‘90’s, a decade of government regulations that changed our development patterns for years to come.

Comments Welcome