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COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH

PRESS RELEASE
November 8, 2005

Contact:
Laura Olsen, (202) 244-4408 / (202) 320-4578 (cell)
Stewart Schwartz, (202) 244-4408 / (703) 599-6437 (cell)
Chris Miller, PEC, (703) 507-5790 (cell)

Growth Issues Swing Gubernatorial Race:

Virginians Vote for More Tools to Manage Growth
Indicating Wariness about Transportation Funding

Growth management proved to be a key to Tim Kaine's election as Virginia's next Governor.

"Tim Kaine's focus on helping communities to better manage growth as the best approach to reducing traffic congestion tapped into passionate, bi-partisan concerns. It helped him to win significant votes in the heavily republican outer suburbs," said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and coordinator of a transportation reform campaign called Reconnecting Virginia.

Schwartz continued, "It was also a signal to those businesses and developers who have run a campaign to raise taxes for transportation. The public is wary of giving up more money for taxes or toll roads without action on land use planning."

In mid-October, as part of a comprehensive approach to land use and transportation, Kaine announced that he would help local governments secure the right to slow down or say no to development projects if the transportation infrastructure couldn't handle that growth. Virginia localities currently lack the authority for "adequate public facilities ordinances," which have been used for many years in Maryland and other states.

In ads and in public appearances, Kaine announced, "I'll give your community more power to stop out-of-control development that increases traffic." Kaine told the Washington Post, "You have got to connect your land use decisions with transportation decisions. There are some who find that this is a huge and controversial concept, the notion that we shouldn't just automatically rezone and develop everything when the transportation infrastructure isn't in place to support it. I think that is such a common-sense value." (Washington Post, 10.18.05 Kaine Sounds Slow-Growth Note in Exurbs)

"Out of control development is not a trivial issue, but one that has provoked citizens to passionate defense of their communities. They've watched as developers have sought to influence local officials as they plow under farmland and ask the public to foot the bill," said Chris Miller, President of the Piedmont Environmental Council and partner in the Reconnecting Virginia campaign. "Tim Kaine keyed into a huge issue in Loudoun and similar counties across the state."

"We heard many voters saying they voted for Kaine because of the growth issue," said Laura Olsen, Assistant Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. "Loudoun voters are angry. They are angry at both developers and the Loudoun Supervisors who want to add tens of thousands of houses to a county already struggling to handle existing needs and 37,000 other houses already approved to be built. Kaine's pitch for growth management tools seems to have caught people's attention."

"Voters clearly showed they know that the best way to deal with traffic problems is to get a handle on where and how we grow," said Schwartz. "Throwing away more tax dollars or using tolls will not solve the problem, which calls first for real action by the Governor and General Assembly to improve land use planning by state and local government."

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