Community Clips
Smart Growth News for the Washington, DC Region

March 20, 2008

In this issue:

• We're Hiring!
• Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan
• Victory: Backdoor Tax increase on Hold
• DC Inclusionary Zoning: Council sets April 4th Deadline for Mayor
• 7th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy, and Livable Communities
• Smart Growth Meets Smart Food
• Remembering Marilyn Praisner
• Tysons Corner
• Intercounty Connector
• Upcomming Events

Dear friends,

Thanks to the hard work of many of you, I am pleased to share some great news:

One, we have a great redevelopment plan for the neighborhood around the Braddock Road Metro station.

Two, we succeeded in making our voices heard in Richmond, where the General Assembly put Senate Bill 768 on hold.

Finally, we are looking for two fantastic smart growthers to join our team! Please see the job announcements below and forward them widely.

Thanks for your continued support,
Stewart

We're Hiring!

This spring the Coalition for Smarter Growth will have two great job opportunities opening up.  More about these positions can be found at the links below.

Campaign Director, Montgomery Countryside Alliance

Operations Manager

Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan

On Saturday, the Alexandria City Council voted 7-0 to approve the draft redevelopment plan (PDF) for the Braddock Metro neighborhood.  The plan reflects the extensive public involvement and priorities identified by residents, and is creative, comprehensive, and exciting.  This vote follows unanimous approval by the Planning Commission, two public hearings, and an extensive public outreach process.

The plan incorporates the best of what we have today with new ingredients essential to making Braddock an even more vibrant, safe place, including:

• Street improvements making it easier to walk to the places we live, work, shop and play,
• A thoughtful approach to ensuring a range of housing choices,
• Building heights that step down to nearby rowhouse neighborhoods,
• A creative approach to development at the Braddock Metro station,
• Good public spaces including a large park and pedestrian plazas,
• More retail space and a possible hotel, and,
• Specific implementation steps to ensure parking and traffic management, good design, and developer contribution to community benefits.

The next step is careful implementation of the plan, which we will continue to track.  Based on regional experience, the design and transportation policies will maximize transit, walking, and bicycling, creating safer neighborhood streets with less traffic.

Victory: Backdoor Tax increase on Hold

Great news!  Senate Bill 768 was officially tabled for further study until next year's General Assembly session. This victory happened because our voices were heard loud and clear down in Richmond.  Hundreds of Virginia residents called and emailed their legislators. 

SB 768 would have replaced proffers with minimal impact fees, shifting the tax burden associated with past and future growth from builders onto existing Virginia residents. Now local governments and taxpayers must be at the table as this bill is studied. We need to analyze the costs of growth and find a better way to balance those costs between new development and taxpayers.

Our local elected officials, key legislators and members of the business and mixed-use development community also deserve thanks in working to stop this bill, including:

Many civic organizations including the Piedmont Environmental Council and Campaign for Loudoun’s Future - Speaker Bill Howell, House of Delegates - Delegate Jim Scott, Fairfax - Senator Mark Herring, Loudoun - Senator George Barker, Fairfax & Prince William - Chairman Gerry Connolly, Fairfax County - Supervisor Marlene Durfee, Chesterfield County - Supervisor Steve Walker, Culpeper County - Chairman Scott York, Loudoun County - Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce - Mixed use developers including West*Group

DC Inclusionary Zoning: Council sets April 4th Deadline for Mayor

On January 8, the D.C. City Council voted unanimously to set an April 4 deadline for the Mayor to issue regulations for Inclusionary Zoning (IZ), an affordable housing law. Championed by Councilmembers Jim Graham and Chairman Vincent Gray, this action reflects the position of the Campaign for Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning, which has repeatedly requested implementation by the Mayor’s office since the original bill was approved in December 2006.  The loss of affordable housing remains a worsening problem for a large share of DC residents. Despite the slowdown in the housing market, DC has witnessed a dramatic decline in homes affordable for moderate and low income residents, and the highest poverty rate in nearly a decade.

IZ is one of the key policies recommended by the 2006 DC Comprehensive Housing Strategy to expand new affordable housing opportunities. IZ is a national best practice that requires most new developments set aside some percentage of the housing units as affordable to low and moderate-income residents.  This approach allows private housing developers to help address a locality’s increasing affordable housing demand at virtually no additional cost to the city.  New affordable housing opportunities continue to be lost as long as this law is delayed.  CSG is a lead partner is this Campaign to provide affordable homes in new market-rate development in the city.  The Campaign and city council members are calling on the Mayor to expedite the implementation of this important housing initiative which should have started on October 1, 2007.  Take action, visit our page on IZ.

7th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy, and Livable Communities

On February 7-9th, the Coalition for Smarter Growth was fortunate to present at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference here in the District. CSG presented on the following panels (PDF links): Smart Growth Capital Style, Integrating Affordable Housing into the Regional Smart Growth Agenda, and Washington Region’s Experience with Inclusionary Zoning. CSG also led a tour of Gallery Place and co-led a tour on local agriculture with the American Farmland Trust that focused on Loudoun County, Virginia, where there is a substantial network of relationships and issues that support—and threaten—the food-to-community connection.

The conference’s host Local Government Commission is sharing the wealth of information exchanged by providing downloadable PDFs of presentations here.

Smarter Food in Montgomery County

The Coalition’s close partner—the Montgomery Countryside Alliance—hosted a workshop for growers in Montgomery County to discuss how to enhance local food production within the county. The meeting was an opportunity to gather interested stakeholders together and generate ideas about how to more fully use the Agricultural Reserve as a source for food. Last fall, MCA published a Resource Guide for the Agricultural Reserve listing all the farms, parks and heritage sites in the Ag Reserve.

Remembering Marilyn Praisner

Montgomery County lost a dedicated public servant this month in the passing of Councilmember Marilyn Praisner. Councilmember Praisner died on February 1st due to complications from heart surgery. Her conscientious attention to detail and unwavering commitment to local government resulted in a knowledge of county politics that will be virtually impossible to replace. Mrs. Praisner was a steadfast opponent of the Intercounty Connector and an advocate for preserving the county’s 93,000 acre Agricultural Reserve. We hope each candidate running for her seat will support her legacy of commitment to conservation. Read the Gazette tribute to Councilmember Praisner.  

Tysons Corner

The future of Tysons could make or break the DC region – all of us, no matter where we live, have a stake in getting it done right.  With the right ingredients, a redesigned Tysons Corner will reduce regional traffic and air and water pollution and help ensure the protection of more greenspace in and around Tysons Corner.

Based on public comments and extensive studies, the consultants created two land use scenarios for a redesigned Tysons Corner. They tested the scenarios with two different transportation networks. The final plan for Tysons will integrate the best pieces of the scenarios.  The Task Force is now finalizing their draft plan for the County Board of Supervisors, and will then be releasing their recommendations for Tysons in May. 

Thank you to all of those that attend and contributed at the February public workshops. A successfully redesigned Tysons Corner is critical to the future of Fairfax County and the DC region. We cannot foresee a situation where Metrorail doesn't connect Tysons to the region's core, but no matter what type of transit ultimately serves Tysons Corner, the redesign needs to happen.

Consultant presentations from the February 11th workshop (For both PDFs a safety warning will pop up, CSG trusts this file source):
2 prototypes for land use in Tysons
2 prototypes for transportation in Tysons

Intercounty Connnector (ICC)

There is still a chance to halt the development of the ICC. Presently before the Md. General Assembly are three bills that urge the state to halt the construction of the ICC and thoroughly study the impacts of this highway. One is a defunding package (HB1471, Barbara Frush), one is a health impact bill (Heather Mizeur, HB1595), and the other a greenhouse gas impact bill (Dana Stein, HB1416). 

If you would like to learn more about these bills and write to your elected officials, visit the Audubon Naturalist Society's page on the ICC here.

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