A smart growth advocate rises to the state cabinet level

In May, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening appointed Harriet Tregoning as Special Secretary for Smart Growth, establishing a new cabinet post which will focus exclusively on transportation, land-use, and growth issues. “The governor created the office to have an in-house advocate for smart growth projects,” Tregoning says. “Despite our best efforts, it’s still incredibly hard to do smart growth.” As head of the new Office of Smart Growth, Tregoning will assist municipalities on development questions and will work to remove barriers to projects that are in tune with state’s smart growth law, originally passed in 1997. The office is intended as a one-stop information center for local governments and developers, and is funded with $405,000 for the first year. Currently the state secretary of planning, Tregoning says her new position will give her additional leverage. “As smart growth secretary I can marshal and coordinate the efforts of other state agencies. Before, I could ask for assistance, but not expect the same level of cooperation.” On July 1, Roy Kinitz, executive director of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, will replace Tregoning as secretary of planning. Gov. Glendening also announced that the state is poised to intervene more aggressively in local zoning decisions, with the help of a 1974 law that empowers the state to “intervene” in local land-use decisions. Though invoked “vigorously for the first 10 years,” the law has since been used rarely and in a low-key fashion, Tregoning says. She emphasizes that the state cannot “contravene, nor override” local decisions, but it can enter the fray in support of a smart growth project running into road blocks or in opposition to a project that goes against the state’s planning goals. “We can enter the process at the level of planning councils and county councils and in appeals courts,” Tregoning says. Though one of the hallmarks of the smart growth legislation has been a policy of noninterference in local decision making, Tregoning does not see the more proactive stance as politically risky. “Maryland’s citizens want better quality de- velopment, and we’re going to be principled,” she says. The legislative session that ended in April gave a boost to Glendening’s refinements of the smart growth law. The Assembly passed all of the governor’s initiatives, among them the Community Legacy program, which will help revitalize poor neighborhoods; the GreenPrint program, which will fund preservation of open space and wildlife corridors; and new tax breaks for people who donate land for open space and historic site preservation. Glendening’s biggest victory may be the passage of additional public transportation spending of $500 million over the next five years, part of an effort to double transit ridership by 2020.