Smart Growth Around America

The Chesapeake Bay, one of our country’s most precious natural resources and one of its most troubled, is suffering in a new way these days. Agriculture was once its biggest problem; improperly treated waste from farmland contaminated the rivers that lead into the estuary. As farmers have gotten smarter and more diligent about their role in contaminating the waterways, a new problem has emerged: development.

A few of the record-breaking 1,700 attendees at the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Seattle might have been pinching themselves on Thursday night after hearing three of President Obama’s cabinet secretaries emphasize the importance of smart growth, sustainability and livability as core goals shaping the work of their three massive federal agencies. Demonstrating the Obama Administration’s commitment to making neighborhoods more livable, sustainable and affordable, Secretaries Ray Lahood and Shaun Donovan of the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development came to Seattle to discuss their plans to use their giant agencies’ budgets and programs in unison to help American families in rural, suburban and urban communities have better options for affordable housing and getting where they need to go each day.

President Obama’s budget for the 2011 fiscal year, released this morning, contains more than $1 billion in programs and grants that will help create and support livable, sustainable communities and neighborhoods across the country. “This is good news for anyone looking to cut their transportation costs, find an affordable home in a walkable neighborhood, or live in a community with a multitude of transportation options,” said SGA President Geoff Anderson.

The recession may have slowed growth in many places across the country, but the economic difficulties have only reaffirmed the need to be smarter than ever about what we build, and where we build it. Earlier this week, four municipalities from across the country were recognized by the US EPA for their innovative work in promoting smarter growth and creating places worth caring about. EPA created the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement back in 2002 to recognize outstanding and innovative approaches to development that “respect the environment, foster economic vitality, and enhance quality of life.”

This is the latest edition of the Washington Update from Smart Growth America. The Washington Update is a typically policy-heavy newsletter covering federal policy developments here in Washington. If you want to know more about the details of policy and would like to receive this regularly via email, you can sign up for it (and [...]

Yesterday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced several new ways her department will further the Sustainable Communities Partnership — including interagency cooperation in the technical assistance program offered through the EPA Smart Growth program.
Administrator Jackson is spending three days touring the country with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan [...]

Too often, communities are built with housing meant to serve only one segment of the population. People have different housing needs as young adults than they do as part of a family, or as empty-nesters. And as our population skews older and older, we need to ensure our communities can accommodate older [...]

For a few years now, EPA and the Smart Growth Network have been sponsoring a regular series of terrific lectures on smart growth and related issues here in Washington, D.C. at the National Building Museum. They’ve had well-known authors, innovators and special guests from all over the country come to talk about different aspects of [...]

There’s some exciting news out of Washington, DC to report this morning, where US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced in Senate testimony this morning that EPA is joining with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Transportation (USDOT) in a special partnership to work together to promote smart growth and more livable, sustainable communities across America.

John Frece, left, with former Maryland Gov. Harry Hughes in 2006. Photo by Jed Kirschbaum / Baltimore Sun.

The EPA Smart Growth office, featured here regularly over the years, has been a valuable ally in the movement for better growth and development across the country. Over the last ten years, they’ve helped countless communities strengthen their [...]

You’ve probably seen some of the anecdotal evidence in newspaper stories or other outlets recently about how many center cities have experienced a resurgence of residential growth within their borders over the last 10 to 20 years.
Many of us had wondered if there had been any systematic examination of building permit trends to document the [...]

How can we cut our emissions, fuel consumption, while also reducing congestion and providing more space for jobs and housing?
The US EPA’s smart growth office released a new study (5 mb pdf) examining the impact that good infill development can have on reducing transportation demand and lowering emissions. In some ways, this study picks up [...]

I’m just a Bill on Capitol Hill…

I just wanted to announce a new action page on our website that covers all of our current work on federal policy. It’s a great place to go to learn more about the legislation moving on the Hill right now — and what you can do about it. We’re [...]

As we usher out 2007 and look to 2008, here are a few recent victories from the policy front — some of which were finalized in just the last few weeks.
EPA Smart Growth funding restored
There won’t be coal in the EPA Smart Growth office’s stocking this year. Though the program had been threatened with a [...]

We’d like to alert you to this important annoucement from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute:
Join us for a Knowledgplex Experts (Online) Chat as we introduce the Smart Growth Implementation Toolkit on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 2 p.m. ET
The Smart Growth Leadership Institute, through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is releasing a [...]

An announcement from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute (SGLI):
SGLI, working with The Trust for Public Land (in partnership with the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the River Network) launched a new program to help state governments develop innovative ways to protect drinking water sources by improving the coordination between state land use management [...]

Since 2001, Governor Ruth Ann Minner has been blazing a path for the First State by advocating an agenda known as Livable Delaware — designed to slow sprawl, guide growth to appropriate areas, preserve open space and promote high-quality redevelopment. She is one of many governors who have embraced the power of the state government and budget to help shape the rules of the development game…

Since its inception more than 10 years ago, EPA’s Smart Growth program has won praise from city and state leaders across the country for their work advising communities in the creation of local plans to embrace growth in a smart and sustainable way, cutting down on pollution, emissions, and vehicle miles traveled.