EPA presents smart growth awards

Transit-oriented development (TOD) captured attention in the US Environmental Protection Agency ‘s first annual National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement, which were presented November 18. Two of the four recipients — Arlington County, Virginia, and San Mateo County, California – won recognition for achievements in transit-oriented development. The other winners were Wellington, a new urban community in Breckenridge, Colorado, and the State of Massachusetts’ Community Preservation Initiative. The program, sponsored by EPA’s Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, attracted more than 100 entries. Winners were selected for replicability, effectiveness in advancing smart growth, and citizen and stakeholder participation. Category 1: overall excellence Arlington County won for overall excellence because of smart growth efforts in the Roslyn-Ballston Metro Corridor. Arlington’s planning approach places dense, mixed-use, infill development at five Metro stations and tapers it down to residential neighborhoods. “The result? Over 21 million square feet of office/retail/commercial space, 3,000-plus hotel rooms and 22,500 residential units creating vibrant ‘urban villages’ where people live, shop, work and play using transit, pedestrian walkways, bicycles or cars,” according to EPA. Metro ridership doubled in the corridor between 1991 and 2002. Nearly 50 percent of corridor residents use transit to commute. At typical suburban densities, the same volume of development could consume over 14 square miles of open space compared to the roughly two-square-mile Roslyn-Ballston corridor, EPA said. Category 2: built projects The Wellington Neighborhood in Breckenridge, Colorado provides affordable and market-rate housing on a site that was once dredge-mined. The project recycles land, creates housing for working families, provides a free transit shuttle to the nearby downtown, and helps the region avoid “mountain sprawl,” according to EPA. Locals who work in the historic resort town of Breckenridge were being squeezed out by a median price of $800,000 for single- family homes. Meanwhile, an 85-acre site in French Gulch on the town’s outskirts sat amid hundreds of acres spoiled by mining, and the zoning allowed only four homes, EPA reports. Breckenridge reclaimed 22 acres of the brownfield site to develop Wellington, a compact community of affordable houses built in the style of a traditional neighborhood. Fifty-eight of 122 approved houses have been built. An additional 20 acres are preserved as open space or community parks. Category 3: policies and regulations San Mateo’s TOD Incentive Program uses state and federal transportation funds to help build housing near rail stations. The program reflects modeling that showed that locating housing near transit could reduce congestion on the roads. The City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) provides financial incentives for land-use agencies — 20 cities as well as the county — to develop housing near transit stations. Up to 10 percent of State Transportation Improvement Program funds for the San Mateo County is allocated to the TOD Incentive Program. The incentive generally is as much as $2,000 per bedroom for housing within one-third of a mile of a rail transit station and with a density of at least 40 units per acre. The funds are used for improvements — related to transportation, landscaping, lighting, or other aspects — either on or off the site. In its first two years, the C/CAG program provided $2.3 million to five projects. The second cycle, from February 2002 to February 2004, will exceed $2.9 million for 10 projects. Category 4: community outreach and education The Massachusetts Community Preservation Initiative (CPI) provides tools, technical assistance, and outreach to help municipal officials and community leaders make informed and balanced growth decisions. CPI created a build-out map of each if the state’s 351 communities to illustrate current zoning and the quantity and location of land available for development. The maps have inspired many communities to change their bylaws and zoning. CPI also provided software tools to analyze financial implications of development, and build-out scenarios possible through alterations in zoning.