ULI program eases way for smart growth projects

The Urban Land Institute is going nationwide with a program that should make it easier for smart growth and new urban projects to win the governmental approvals they need. Within the past three years, ULI has taken the lead in forming two regional “smart growth alliances” that judge projects on whether they embody smart-growth principles. Each alliance — the Washington Smart Growth Alliance, in the region centered on the nation’s capital, and the Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance, covering southeast Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware — has assembled an independent jury that reviews proposed projects and determines whether they adhere to smart growth ideals. If a project passes muster, the alliance designates it as smart growth and offers to testify on its behalf in local government proceedings. This helps counter opposition from “not in my back yard” forces and gives local officials a strong argument for approving the project, said Marc Brookman, a Philadelphia real estate lawyer who chairs the Delaware Valley alliance. John Bailey, executive director of the Washington alliance, said that when developers in his region win a smart growth designation, “we go to bat for them however they want.” Now that the Washington program has been operating for three years and the Delaware Valley program for one year, ULI is offering to help set up smart growth alliances in any other region where ULI has a district council. Seventeen of the forty-four ULI councils in the US have expressed some interest in doing so, said Marta Goldsmith, senior vice president for community outreach. The designation program is one of several activities that each smart growth alliance can choose to carry out — or to omit. Presumably many of the regional alliances would want to offer a designation program, since it would help smart growth projects get built. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving the national ULI a first-year grant of $25,000 to help in organizing the new smart growth alliances. ULI will match that sum with its own $25,000 contribution. Over five years, EPA may spend up to $400,000 to support the alliances, Goldsmith said. (ULI will provide more limited financial support beyond its initial $25,000.) multidisciplinary jury A key element in the designation program is establishment of a jury drawn from many fields and interest groups, including academia, government, business, developers, land policy groups, environmental organizations, architects, and planners. To assure broad representation, the Washington program includes one juror nominated by each of the five principal organizations that sponsor the Washington alliance: the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Washington Area Homebuilders’ Association, and the ULI Washington District Council. Seven additional jurors are chosen at large, based on their expertise in mixed-use finance, planning, and other specialties. The result is a 12-member jury, which convenes once a quarter to review projects. NEW URBAN GUIDELINES “Our design criteria is New Urbanism 101,” Bailey said of the Washington alliance’s designation program. “New Urbanism is 110 percent of what we’re talking about.” Jessica Cogan Millman, who recently moved from Smart Growth America to the Coalition for Smarter Growth, chairs the Washington alliance’s jury. Projects recognized as smart growth run the gamut from urban infill to brownfield redevelopment, transit-oriented development, and, less commonly, greenfield development. The Delaware Valley alliance says that overall, designated projects are those that “will foster regional growth and redevelopment in a manner that achieves important economic, environmental, and quality-of-life objectives.” A project must meet five criteria: • Location in an area designed or appropriate for growth or revitalization, especially infill development or sites close to already developed residential or commercial areas. “It should take advantage of existing or short-term planned community or public water and sewer service, and should be accessible to existing or short-term planned public transportation.” • “Sufficient density and scale to support a mix of uses, walkability, and public transit. The project should be integrated into the existing community fabric.” • Design, location, and programming that “offer alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle trips.” • Protection (or mitigation of damage) for open space, water, air quality, and important ecosystem components. • Benefits for the surrounding area and the host community. These include community participation, affordable housing, and public access to parks or open space. Sadsbury Park, a traditional neighborhood development planned as an extension of the old village of Sadsburyville in Chester County, Pennsylvania, is the first greenfield proposal to be designated as “true smart growth” by the Delaware Valley alliance. The 134-acre project, to be undertaken by Arcadia Land Company, won the designation in part because its 461 detached houses, townhouses, and condominiums are laid out as a walkable community, connected by comfortable streets and paths to the existing village. “Our whole project is within 4,000 feet of the main intersection of the town,” said Christy Flynn, development associate at Arcadia. “The densest uses are closest to that intersection.” Sadsbury Park is expected to inject new energy into the less than thriving crossroads village, which Arcadia partner W. Joseph Duckworth says contains between 50 and 100 structures. The project promises environmental benefits such as preservation of 33 acres of natural land. Arcadia is expecting to receive final approval from Sadsbury Township in September for the plan of the first 12-acre phase. Three more phases would follow. “What it’s done for us is give us outside certification that what we do is smart growth,” Duckworth said of the smart growth designation. Developers typically try to get the designation while they are applying for rezoning or for comprehensive plan amendments, Brookman said. The designation, he noted, “helps facilitate smart growth projects during the entitlement process.” Because the endorsement comes from a jury not controlled by the real estate industry, it can give local elected officials the courage to approve an innovative project, he said. “This encourages developers to do things that are more creative.” As Brookman sees it, local approval processes usually get caught up in all sorts of issues other than good planning; the designation program gives local officials and citizens an impetus to discuss quality of planning. Megan Susman at EPA pointed out that under the grant agreement between ULI and EPA, when an alliance member testifies at public hearings at the request of a developer, “the alliance member describes the smart growth criteria and notes that the project meets them, but does not explicitly say that the project should be approved.” ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS In three years, the Washington alliance has supported 31 proposals — three or four per quarter. A pace like this may not be enough to radically change a region’s development patterns, but advocates say it’s an important boost. “I do think it has generally helped elected officials in the region to understand better what smart growth is,” Bailey said. They learn, he said, to ask such questions as “Is it walkable? Is there ground-floor retail?” Developers, too, learn from the experience. Delaware Valley’s program is designed so that no applications are rejected outright. “We just say they’re ‘deferred,’” Brookman emphasized. This permits the applicant to mull over comments and suggestions from the jury, alter the plan, and then resubmit it —winning the smart growth designation if the project improves sufficiently. The program “has brought together groups who are often adversaries to each other,” including environmentalists and developers, Brookman added. And, he said, “This is one of the first endeavors where we’ve been able to get the support of three states, getting Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey thinking about the same issue as a more regional issue.” The organization expects to expand to include all of New Jersey in about six months, probably changing its name when that happens. The Delaware Valley alliance is staffed by Susan Baltake, who previously worked for developer Philip Angelides on Laguna West in Sacramento, California, one of the first large new urban projects planned by Peter Calthorpe. Goldsmith said ULI intends to get three smart growth alliances started per year. “We will create a network among them, and will start a Web site,” she added. EPA signed a cooperative agreement with ULI in June and expects to be closely involved in the efforts to establish the alliances. Besides recognizing worthy projects, the alliances may be involved in other forms of education and outreach. The designation program is not seen as a competitor to the LEED-ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development) program, which is being formulated by CNU, the US Green Building Council, and the National Resources Defense Council. LEED-ND, if it comes to fruition, will certify projects that are environmentally sustainable and exemplary from the standpoint of community design. u