Much has been happening with the Comprehensive Plan in the last couple of months. I’ve updated the Northfield 2045 pages with more links to documents, maps, and other information about where we are now. Your comments are welcome (subject to the moderation guidelines below).
I’d say we’re getting to the really fun part now.
The early engagement phase is always interesting; we learn what the community values about Northfield as well as the places or activities we should improve. The vision phase is a challenge to take all that input and distill it to a short statement about future Northfield. The Planning Commission and Steering Committee tested and improved how we say things to capture the right tone and intention.
Now the consultants are reading all our plans and mining them sketch recommendations for the future in the Analysis segment. This should be when we learn about how earlier choices created challenges we face now or set us up for success. It should also be when we consider what we carry forward from earlier policies, what is now obsolete, and how we revise our planning based on what we’ve learned from the community and current policy. It’s problem-solving time, in other words.
After this, the consultants start drafting the plan. Here’s what I’ll be working toward in the plan:
1. Policy direction will be more focused. There will not be that much policy change from the last two comprehensive plans. The public engagement, steering committee, vision and values all reinforce the direction established earlier. Northfield needs to refine and amplify current policy direction for affordable housing, better streets, climate action, and planning/prioritizing city investment from aspirational statements to commitments to action.
2. Implementation goals: The biggest change I’m working toward is ensuring this plan leads directly to implementation including revising city code, improving project design, consolidating all the other plans, and giving the Council better tools for evaluating the fiscal impact of projects. Earlier plans did not prioritize projects or tie planning to the budget and capital improvement plan; this plan will change that. Further, the plan will be more holistic. Rather than having a chapter for housing, one for transportation, one for climate, etc. the goal is to ensure that transportation is integral to land use (and vice versa), housing and economic development cannot be separated, and climate and equity will be the lenses through which all actions are viewed.
3. Easy and intuitive to use: The 2008 plan is almost 170 pages of repetitive and ponderous prose with ten goals, 53 objectives, and 279 (!?!!) strategies which are not prioritized. After 15 years and a lot of post-it notes, I think I can navigate it relatively well (but that’s just the land use chapter). Northfield 2045 is going to be shorter, intuitive, prioritized, and accessible to the community as well as developers, city staff, and other expert users. It is going to coordinate all the plans (and archive some).
4. Guide for capital planning and budgeting: No comprehensive plan nor the strategic plan (which is neither strategic nor a plan) has yet done what it needs to do which is guide capital planning and city budgeting. Having a wonderful vision is useless unless Northfield can be economically sustainable. No, I don’t know how this will all be accomplished yet.
Join the conversation.
Comments are moderated and require a full name for transparency and accountability. I don’t play “invisible dodgeball” where anonymous people throw comments and insults at me. I try to respond to all questions and often like to ask some, too.
What’s good: questions of all sorts, comments from your perspective, thoughtful criticism (which can be very critical) and requests/demands for more information.
What I screen out: anonymous comments, comments without full names or with obvious screen names, personal attacks (on elected officials, city staff, other commenters, or anyone else) and unsubstantiated claims about the intentions of other people or city government.
The official page says “A Comprehensive Plan is a guidebook for the city looking 20 years into the future. It starts by defining a shared vision with the community then developing steps toward achieving that vision.”
This is true but incomplete. Comprehensive planning is not just about the vision of Northfield in 20 years, but intended to create a better city with particular emphasis on making a city economically sustainable by anticipating development and the public services needed to support it.
Comprehensive planning got going in the 1960s along with urban renewal (Northfield’s first plan was funded with urban renewal grant dollars). In Minnesota, comp plans are a child of this 1965 state policy:
“The legislature finds that municipalities are faced with mounting problems in providing means of guiding future development of land so as to insure a safer, more pleasant and more economical environment for residential, commercial, industrial and public activities, to preserve agricultural and other open lands, and to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare. Municipalities can prepare for anticipated changes and by such preparations bring about significant savings in both private and public expenditures. Municipal planning, by providing public guides to future municipal action, enables other public and private agencies to plan their activities in harmony with the municipality’s plans. Municipal planning will assist in developing lands more wisely to serve citizens more effectively, will make the provision of public services less costly, and will achieve a more secure tax base.”
Preparing for “anticipated changes” is the challenge. Twenty years ago, we were in the middle of a housing and development boom and I had dial-up internet. Safe to say Northfield did not anticipate the housing bust, the explosion of the internet, Covid-19 and remote work, electric vehicles and more. Certainly not anticipated in the 2001 Comp Plan, anyway.
Looking ahead twenty years, we need to set goals for the kind of place we want Northfield to be and then bet on how many people will move here, how the climate will change, what technology will be developed, and what work will look like (to name a few) and what Northfield will need to do to accommodate these changes sustainably.
City of the Future as imagined in the Past: What should Future Northfield look like?
How will we get there?
Over on my unofficial Northfield 2045 page, you’ll find links to posts, documents, and information about the process and the content. These are all still taking shape, so stay tuned for updates. My goal is to make the City process as transparent as possible and as clear as possible beyond what may be posted on the official website.
Join the conversation.
Comments are moderated and require a full name for transparency and accountability. I don’t play “invisible dodgeball” where anonymous people throw comments and insults at me. I try to respond to all questions and often like to ask some, too.
What’s good: questions of all sorts, comments from your perspective, thoughtful criticism (which can be very critical) and requests/demands for more information.
What I screen out: anonymous comments, comments without full names or with obvious screen names, personal attacks (on elected officials, city staff, other commenters, or anyone else) and unsubstantiated claims about the intentions of other people or city government.
Ole Avenue is St. Olaf’s planned residence hall/townhome project:
Artist’s rendering of the view up St. Olaf Avenue (Image: St. Olaf)
This is an exciting project, mostly. New residence halls and townhomes will bring students back on campus, St. Olaf Avenue will be reinforced as the tree-lined entrance to the campus from downtown and the pretty, shady campus look and feel will extend further down The Hill. Older, increasingly dilapidated homes which have been used as the Honor Houses will be replaced with state of the art, purpose-built student housing. It’s a more people-scaled project than Olaf’s high rise dorms and much easier to integrate into the neighborhood. All good.
Less wonderfully, the City Council has had two frustrating discussions focused on irrelevant issues, but managing to steer clear of the big questions; now they are about to take action on February 16, 2020.
Quite a lot of these
The Issue
This development, because it is at the edge of the campus zoning, requires a conditional use permit or CUP. Student residence halls are permitted in this area. If they were permitted “by right” St. Olaf could file their plans and city staff would sign off on it with no public review. Instead, they are permitted, but require an additional layer of public review to grant the conditional use permit because this use, in this zone, in this location is deemed to have the potential to create significant impact to the surrounding property and the community.
In short, there is not much discretion to deny the permit (because the use is permitted) if it meets the requirements of our zoning code, but there is the (golden) opportunity to impose conditions which limit the impact of the more intense use on the neighborhood and the community: “The benefits of the conditional use outweigh the potential negative effects to the surrounding area or community” in terms of such things as traffic, light, noise, and the overall character of the residential neighborhood.
I went to the Planning Commission meeting concerned about impacts to west-of-Lincoln neighbors from loading zones and security lighting; the huge amount of surface parking and the lighting, stormwater, and traffic it could create looked completely out of scale for the location. I was struck by how much space St. Olaf has devoted to storing cars compared to the spaces for people and the jaw-dropping mismatch between their lofty sustainability policies and what they have proposed.
Look at the footprint of the buildings for people compared to the space devoted to storing empty cars used occasionally.
To guide our discussion, commissioner Will Schroeer took a bottom-up approach and counted parking spaces, read the code and the policy documents, marshaled evidence about parking impacts and assembled a very thoughtful memo for the PC (which you should read). It confirmed there was already enough parking on campus and the new parking should be considered “excessive parking” (not allowed by our code) and approval should add the condition that new parking should be removed.
Based on his analysis and my own policy commitments to climate action and better streets, I voted to make what I believe is a very intentional, well-supported recommendation to Council to approve the CUP with the additional condition. The parking lots will encourage driving, add security lighting, increase stormwater runoff, and be an incompatible addition to the neighborhood.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval with the condition to remove new parking which has turned out to be a very challenging condition for the Council.
Process
CUPs should be pretty routine. Staff presents the Planning Commission recommendation to the Council along with the materials they prepared for the public hearing and a summary of the input from the community and commissioners. The Council then votes and they can factor in political issues and other priorities which the PC did not, but if they disagree they are required to send their reasoning to the PC in writing.
In January, City staff brought the CUP to the Council noting briefly that the Planning Commission unanimously approved the CUP with the condition of removing new parking, but moving on to the staff recommendation eliminating that condition with the justification that many of the stalls are “replacement” stalls from Honor House demolition and “insufficient accommodation is likely to result in more parking in adjacent neighborhoods.”
It is annoying that staff invited St. Olaf to the table to lobby for their plans, present new information, and revise parking stall numbers two times rather than (at least) fully presenting the Planning Commission recommendation and its policy and research justification.
It is disturbing that the Council discussion has focused on defining terms and counting spaces, rather than whether this project and the Planning Commission recommendation is in line with City policies (in which we have invested thousands of dollars, countless staff hours, and the expertise and labor of hundreds of community members) and addresses the impact to the community which is, after all, the purpose for the CUP. There is no number of spaces which is “enough” without balancing multiple interests.
All the focus on the number of spaces has resulted in stirring up a lot of dust so the Council cannot see their way through to a forward-looking, policy-based decision.
Dust storms limit visibility
There is already enough parking
For campus development, parking is evaluated campus-wide, not on a per-building basis. The parking study St Olaf submitted states clearly that “the number of permitted parking stalls (excluding loading parking stalls) exceeds the required parking” stated in the Land Development Code. While no maximum is stated, the approval criteria does stipulate “an excessive number of parking spaces are not proposed” for project.
St. Olaf’s report goes on to describe how the college also has made efforts to “decrease students’ reliance on personal vehicles, reducing the need for long-term on-campus student parking capacity.” This suggests fewer spaces may be needed in the future, rather than more or the same amount (parking needs are also usually overestimated).
The recommendation which I believed was to remove the new paved parking lots (and could have been quickly clarified by the Planning Commission members at their last meeting) has been translated into a recommendation to remove “new” but not “replacement” parking spaces. This has triggered a new counting game asking which spaces are “new” and which are “replacement” and other number games which invite the Council to get deep into details, rather than helping them thoughtfully consider the long-term impacts to the community.
So, there is enough parking. It may not be what St. Olaf planned, it may not always be as convenient to each person as they want it to be, and, as always, removing parking spaces makes otherwise rational people batshit crazy. But there is enough.
My vote at to recommend approval with the condition that new parking be removed was meant to condition approval on removing the two large new slabs of pavement.
The proposed parking violates the LDC, Comprehensive Plan and other policies
Regardless of the number of spaces, the concentration of parking at the neighborhood edge of the campus is difficult to reconcile with the requirements for compatibility with the existing historic neighborhood, strategic goal to improve transit, stated goals to reduce carbon emissions, plans to improve car sharing (and bike and scooter sharing in the Climate Action Plan), improve bike and walk connections, enhance the small town character, and mitigate climate impact.
The development patterns of land can dictate transportation and building density, creating barriers and opportunities for where people live and how they travel. More compact land use with adequate options for non-motorized travel or transit can help reduce emissions from transportation. Conversely, low-density land use patterns that are designed for the movement of vehicles will create an auto-centric community that results in higher emissions.
The residential part of Ole Avenue is a fine example of what the City has said it wants – compact development, creating lovely streetscapes, and enhancing the interface with the St. Olaf campus which is one of the jewels of Northfield. The kind of land development pattern which can reduce emissions and mitigate stormwater issues.
The large parking lots are an example of what the City has said it does not want: The suburban parking layout is hidden from campus, but will strongly impact the surrounding neighborhood in ways which the City has said repeatedly it does not want because of their climate, human, and visual impacts. It is the kind of pattern designed for movement of vehicles.
Mixed messages: Focus on the renewable energy or easy car culture? Image: St. Olaf College
Important policy and practical questions the Council could ask
There are many questions I wish Council had asked and/or staff had considered rather than counting parking spaces as if there was a right number.
How should we balance convenience against community impact? Much has been made of ensuring students have easy access to their cars for their internships, student teaching, and jobs. Yet that convenience for a few will be purchased by encouraging more traffic in the neighborhood, more climate impact, more lighting, and less green space; is this acceptable? This balancing act applies for every street project Northfield builds where parking is proposed to be removed.
How are taxpayers’ interests being protected in the planning of this development? So far, the discussion has continued to center around the perceived need for convenient parking for students. But the CUP is intended to assess the impact to the community. The spillover effects of increased vehicle use (and lighting and stormwater) in the St. Olaf Avenue/Lincoln Street area will be felt by Northfield taxpayers who pay for the streets, parks, climate action programs, and transit. For development away from this campus/community interface (along Highway 19 or by Skoglund or near North Avenue), taxpayer interests are very small. How are you assessing the community impact — especially to taxpayers — as required by the CUP criteria rather than the student impact?
Will the parking help us carry out our policy goals? For only one example, the Strategic Plan calls for improving transit. Accomplishing this requires not just putting buses on the road, but making transit efficient. If driving is prioritized, will transit be impacted? I believe the Council’s job is to stay on a policy level, not a detail level; it is staff’s job to help them do this. Every project should be viewed through the lenses of Northfield policies focused by the Strategic Plan; how does this one stack up?
Is parking on neighborhood streets a problem? Staff and St. Olaf have both threatened “but they’ll park in the neighborhood” if the parking is eliminated. Certainly, I know homeowners are rabidly protective of their curb space and will defend it against bike lanes, curb extensions, and other people parking there. But if a variety of measures are taken to help students get around without their own vehicle (now and into the future) as St. Olaf has already indicated they intend to do, will parking in the neighborhood be significant, will it be more than a temporary issue, and are there other ways to control parking near campus (neighborhood parking permits, for example, which ensure that parking is not free except for residents)?
What other alternatives besides big parking lots and no parking lots exist? It would have been possible for staff to make a principled recommendation which does include more parking, but still took the neighborhood, traffic, and climate impact seriously by requiring parking to be distributed in smaller lots around campus with only limited parking next to the dorms, placing parking with with easy access only to the Highway 19 vehicle-oriented campus entrance, and prioritizing Lincoln, Second Street, and St. Olaf Avenue as local, walkable, bikeable connections. Can you challenge staff to bring you better answers?
Can you approve the CUP without the parking lots and see if the sky actually falls? Trying to change our planning and building behavior is really hard and Northfield’s past development has worked to make driving and parking very easy. Our newer policies point us in the right direction, but still require political will to take the first step at the project level. Could you approve the CUP with additional conditions which would prevent building the parking now, but leave it possible to construct more later if it is actually needed when other mobility and access strategies are implemented, too?
The other large parking lots on the Olaf campus are well-insulated from the neighborhood and this map shows no other residence hall has a large amount of parking.
Bottom line
This project could be a model for green development and a golden opportunity for city/college collaboration. The City priorities for better transit, climate action, and more compact land use should spur the Council to see possibilities and ask “How can we help students get around Northfield?” and the College to look at its wind turbine and sustainability policies and say “We’ve said we do care about the climate, so let’s think with the city about future-looking solutions.”
“Enough” parking is a political question, not a counting problem or pure policy question. The Planning Commission looked at the numbers and made a recommendation which, I believe, reflects the policies of the City and best practices. There certainly is “enough” if Northfield and St. Olaf follow through on their climate action planning, shared mobility, better transit, and commitment to working with the neighborhood on maintaining a wonderful interface between campus and town. Your job is to weigh the political concerns and decide how much is enough.
The late Dixon Bond once observed to me: “Northfield has a tendency to over-plan.” So when the EDA, Planning Commission and City Council meet in a worksession tonight (04/11/2017) to do some (carefully orchestrated, consultant-driven) strategic planning, I will try to be optimistic that this planning effort will lead to action, rather than simply more plans.
My one (big) priority
Implement the policies already adopted by developing the regulations and funding streams to do sowith particular emphasis on linking land use, transportation, sustainability, and building equity in city decision-making (or develop a specific plan for updating or replacing policies believed to be outdated or inappropriate).
Northfield’s 2008 Comprehensive Plan (and the one before it) established a clear vision for Northfield to thrive as a non-generic, distinctive, sustainable small town centered in the historic downtown along the Cannon River (I’ve made a little pledge to avoid the overuse of the terms placemaking, sense of place, vibrant, etc.) respecting the natural environment, increasing housing choices. Subsequent planning reinforced the picture of a city connected by wonderful streets which support all modes of transportation. Our project by isolated project decision-making and regulations have not supported that vision particularly well, but let’s give it the old college(s) try with the strategic planning process by focusing on these things:
1. Safe Complete Routes to School and everywhere else:
Transportation planning should rocket to the top of the list because building better, more walkable, more bikeable, better connected streets is so widely represented in our plans and policies (Complete Streets, GreenStep Cities, Parks and Open Space Plan, Age Friendly Northfield…see here for more). But let’s move beyond the project by project tussles about sidewalks and bike lanes to do these things:
Educate the staff, Council and public about best practices, newer research, and better planning both through workshops or seminars and by hiring better experts for projects. We have a Complete Streets policy, but everyone needs to know how this could transform planning and projects. Learn how walking and biking can save the world (and also here)
Adoptstreet design standards which will guide planning and design of projects beyond vehicular measures of Level of Service and Functional Classification to create streets which connect people and places and are sustainable.
Plan a network of low stress bike/walk connections and commit funding with particular attention to connecting important places and designing intersections for people outside of cars. Recent conversations about 246/Jefferson that a roundabout “is safe” reflect only crash statistics, but not how safe if feels; plan for making connections convenient and appealing to vulnerable users.
Prioritize completion of the Mill Towns State Trail by adopting the revised route from the Prowe Pedestrian Bridge, along Jefferson Parkway and out of town, collaborating with the DNR, Carleton and other entities to finish the Northfield segment as soon as possible. Trails help connect the city for the people who live here, as well as bringing many to town to ride and spend.
Collaborate with the Northfield School District to really connect the southern schools, reduce traffic demand, and increase walking and biking. I think “collaborate” should extend to funding, for the schools created the traffic and will benefit from solutions.
Northfielders consider how to make the Middle School more Bike Friendly with Steve Clark (Photo: Griff Wigley)
2. Land use and sustainability (both fiscal and environmental)
Revise or replace land use regulations: Although the land development code was recently rewritten, the new regulations do little to help Northfield evaluate the cost of development proposals to taxpayers, make sustainable development easier (or really any development easier), or help shift from the suburban model of development which the Comp. Plan explicitly seeks to do. Here are some suggestions (not comprehensive nor exhaustive)
Housing, affordable and denser: In the early 2000s, Northfield built many acres of market rate, single family homes, but these large lot, 3-car garage sort of houses are not affordable for many nor desirable for some of us and this pattern of development demands much more expensive infrastructure, impedes walkability, and creates income ghettos (see equity below).The Comp Plan principle of more housing choices can be approached by allowing (and encouraging) greater density in existing neighborhoods by getting rid of some of the recent regulations.
Accessory dwelling units: Repeal Northfield’s over-specific regulations such as the current accessory dwelling unit regulations (must be part of a detached garage among other things), “granny pods” and the rental code. A better strategic priority would be to make it easier for property owners to add accessory dwelling units which meet their needs and market needs (caring for relatives, investment rental property, constraints of the property itself).
“Missing middle” housingin existing older neighborhoods should be encouraged (see small scale, incremental below).
Score development proposalsbased on fiscal productivity to determine whether the private tax value generated will be sufficient to support (and replace) the public infrastructure expenditure. The NW business park is the sort of development which screamed for this sort of analysis, but the same process should be applied to new residential development, too, to take a longer term look at the benefits and liabilities of new projects justified as economic development. Simply repeating “Grows jobs and tax base” without doing some of the math is superstition of the highest order.
Take a look at the Census income map and Dot race map which show how racially and income segregated Northfield is…and then think who shows up to city meetings. Northfield city government should work for everyone, not just me as an educated, affluent, white woman who shows up at the public meetings and knows how to navigate “the system.”
Racial Dot Map with one dot per person (Image: Cooper Center)
Finally, not so much a priority as an exhortation – please do not govern by referendum or public hearing, but as informed representatives who weigh the data, the public comments (which you have worked hard to solicit from a broad range of the community), the budget, and make equitable decisions for the common good of Northfield. Please help residents learn about where the money comes from and where it goes, educate Northfield about possibilities rather than playing to fears, hire the best staff and consultants, and use real data to make decisions rather than voting by gut instinct and who shouts the loudest. Challenge yourselves to learn enough to make equitable, sustainable decisions for the rest of us.
The East Cannon River Trail is the only issue on the Northfield City Council’s special meeting agenda (although there are multiple actions to be taken) tomorrow, Tuesday, April 26 2016 (here’s the packet). While there are multiple pieces in the project puzzle, approving the trail should be easy – no-brainer easy – because building this trail segment is so richly supported by prior planning going back more than a decade. This piece of trail specifically or more general guidance for improving access to the Cannon River and increasing recreational opportunities along it is contained in all Northfield’s major planning documents. The Council can take a big step toward implementing the City’s policy vision by approving this trail.
The Trail Itself
Right now, there is a section of paved trail beginning at the Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge extending south toward Dundas, but the trail stops behind the commercial development. There have been wetland issues (and the Army Corps of Engineers) to manage (and wetland credits are also on the agenda tomorrow) as well as inter-jurisdictional negotiation (Dundas, DNR). Now, however, the Northfield city staff have lined up all the ducks for the Council to approve, culminating in approving a resolution accepting bids and awarding the contract for the East Cannon River Trail Project.
East Cannon River Trail Route
This piece of trail is important for Northfield and Dundas because it helps achieve a long-term vision to capitalize on the Cannon River as a distinctive natural, economic and recreational resource, provides an off-road link (along the busy and otherwise difficult to walk or ride Highway 3) to a charter school, commercial areas, and three parks (including Sechler Park which is being developed by CROCT as an offroad bike facility), forms another link to the Mill Towns Trail under development, and can be another small part of making Northfield good to walk, great to retire, and highly livable. No wonder it is included in all these city plans:
General plans
Comprehensive Plan: The Comp Plan highlights the importance of the Cannon River and applauds efforts “to better integrate the river into the community; its scenic beauty and recreational possibilities afford the possibility for further integration of the river into the community. The Greater Northfield Area Greenway System Action Plan is an important resource in helping with this integration.” Land Use, Community Identify and Economic Develop objectives all identify the Cannon River as critical and expanding access to the river, linking to downtown, and connecting parks, places and people.
The Economic Development Plan makes activating and leveraging the Cannon River one of three key findings for economic success; Northfield’s rich sense of place is considered critical. And, the Transportation Plan contains objectives to trail connectivity between areas of the City including current bike and pedestrian route deficiencies (current as of 2008) such as the east side trail dead ending, lack of trail integration into overall design, and challenges linking downtown with the trail system.
East Cannon River Trail specifically
Greenway Corridor Plan: Generally, this plan recommended trails should be considered on both sides of the Cannon River as well as some creeks to link neighborhoods to the river. The East River Corridor (east side of the Cannon River from Highway #3 bridge south to Dundas) was identified as the first priority “because it forms the backbone of the system, due to the potential for development, and because creation of this link will help to create strong support for the system.”
Greenway Corridor System Plan
Park, Open Space, and Trail System Plan: The plan identifies this trail connection as a Destination Trail (which neighborhood trails and linking trails connect to the rest of Northfield). Individual park plans for Babcock, Riverside Lions Park, and Compostella Park also note development of an east river trail should be integrated into master planning for these currently underutilized parks.
Parks, Open Space, and Trail System Plan
Gateway Corridor Improvement Plan: This plan to improve gateways into Northfield incorporated the Greenway Corridor and other plans to highlight trail connections and other green infrastructure.
Costs and benefits
Almost half of the approximately $1 million trail construction cost (with bids substantially less than engineering estimates) is from grants with the remainder coming from the general fund (about $200,000), TIF funding (about $175,000), and the City of Dundas (about $93,000). I’m not a big fan of grants, believing too often grants are sought to fund projects the City would not otherwise undertake. In this case, however, the plan to build the trail is well established and grant funding has been awarded to complete this well-documented, long-planned project. The City will need to build maintenance of the trail into the budget and CIP in coming years, but the costs relative to the wide benefits of this long-planned trail segment appear very reasonable.
The question of trail surface material must also be answered. In this area prone to flooding, the choice of a paved rather than crushed rock surface would provide a high-quality surface for more users with better durability. The plans for this trail emphasize its importance for access and connectivity; building for residents with limited mobility, children, skateboards, walkers, runners, and people on bikes; choosing the bituminous option provides bigger benefits to more people. I hope the Council will take action to carry out so many of Northfield’s plans by approving this trail project.
Connecting the trail for a bike-friendlier (and age-friendlier, walk-friendlier, people-friendlier) Northfield
“How to protect America’s countryside from sprawl” got my attention because of the word countryside – a very British term – and because it’s not the rural side of the boundary which gets the attention, usually, but the development pattern inside cities. Still, the “how” in the article is really just a list:
There are strategies available for helping to maintain and strengthen rural landscapes and working lands, and slowing the loss of farms and farmers, forest and other resource lands…these can include “use value” taxation, purchase/transfer of development rights, assisting local farms with agricultural economic development such as direct farm-to-market programs, urban purchasing agreements, ecosystem services markets, right-to-farm laws and, crucially, extra low density zoning. Promoting conservation easements can also be important. Newly emerging strategies such as putting rural land to 21st-century nonpolluting uses with wind farms and biomass generation may also be promising in some areas.
To help with thinking about how we protect the countryside, we need to be able to express the value of open space, green infrastructure, agricultural land, and natural resources in economic terms and in measurable improvements to air quality, water quality, and, of course, quality of life.
Part of this, of course, is anticipating objections from the folks who don’t want to be told what to do with their private property. If land was like an apartment building, where each parcel was completely separate from its neighbor with wall-like barriers at the property lines ensuring nothing would drift across into the neighboring property, then I’d agree. I’d completely agree if each parcel was completely self-sufficient. As it is, private property shares (and pays for) public resources like streets and pipes, as well as natural resources light, air, water, trees, etc. Because we do share resources and share the financial burden for them, I’d say we have to balance private property/public good to make our community as economically sustainable as possible.
Which is where I get back to the smart growth idea of knowing the value of open space to help create some additional incentive to increase density and put more taxpayers per acre (or foot of pipe) so we each pay less. And I get back to England, too.
For Northfield, I think about the four townships surrounding the city as our de facto greenbelt, at least for now. Waterford and Bridgewater townships have been clear about maintaining their rural character and perhaps we could help them do it because it would make good sense for the city, too. As in Kaid Benfield‘s piece, the “how we do it” part is still undeveloped, so to speak.
I have the 275 page draft of the new Land Development Regulations on my desk and I’ve been thinking about how best to read this tome, how (as the Planning Commission liaison) to provide some concise policy guidance to the Council, how to ensure the regulations really do further the goals of the Comprehensive Plan, and how to write about the regulations here.
Unfortunately, this is a crucially important issue which does not lend itself well to little bloggy bites, but requires rather slow slogging through the big issues and the small details.
My plan for my own review looks something like this:
Identify new policy issues Council must consider (there are regulations for small wind turnbines in residential neighborhoods, and significant changes to the development review policy, for example).
Compare key provisions to Comprehensive Plan goals and objectives
Read for consistency and clarity
Check development review process for simplicity and predictability.
Slow and steady – I’d love to have this ordinance in place with hare-like speed, but slower more careful work is needed.
I have the 275 page draft of the new Land Development Regulations on my desk and I’ve been thinking about how best to read this tome, how (as the Planning Commission liaison) to provide some concise policy guidance to the Council, how to ensure the regulations really do further the goals of the Comprehensive Plan, and how to write about the regulations here.