Its Your Money - Smart Growth

In tough economic times Smart Growth makes more sense than ever. Why is the City of Cranbrook encouraging developments that are being built kilometers away from the centre of the city? Who has to pay to maintain the roads, provide fire and policing protection, basic services etc.? Is this a fiscally responsible way to plan our city?    Let Cranbrook be an example to the rest of the province that compact and sustainable growth can build a vibrant, healthier and more fiscally responsible city.  The following are excerpts from an article from NewWest.Net by Amy Linn.  It comes from an American perspective but it has many valuable ideas about why Smart Growth is a smart idea which can save us money.

Economic Downturn Shows Wisdom of Smart Growth, Expert Says

How can communities in the West avoid booms and painful busts? By growing carefully and playing it smart, says the founder and director of the Sonoran Institute.

In the wake of the economic meltdown, the world seems to have changed. And that’s for the good, said Luther Propst, the keynote speaker on the second day of the NewWest.net Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference.
Speakers at the fourth annual conference, which brought together more than 250 developers, architects, city officials, real estate agents, planners, and others, said the shift in the economy has refocused the West on some tenets that would make a Boy Scout proud: simplicity, thrift, conservation, patience, and quality of life.
“This might be an economic reset,” said Propst, a leading smart-growth expert. “We can either be victims of change or we can plan for it, shape it and emerge stronger from it.”
Propst, the director and founder of the Tucson-based Sonoran Institute—an organization that promotes land conservation, sustainability, smart growth, and healthy communities—outlined the ways that the West has suffered because of unwise growth.

Smart growth that condenses development can solve the problems—and save big money, Propst said. A “compact growth” plan in Gallatin County, for example, would save $53 million between now and 2025, he said. The savings come from simple things like reducing the miles people have to drive and reducing the roads that need to be paved or patrolled.

What are the most important things communities can do to grow smartly? The seven key steps, according to Propst, are to:

-- Develop and revitalize downtown areas
-- Create in-town residential development
-- Build traditional, walk-able, compact neighborhoods
-- Use conservation easements to protect the landscape and working ranches
-- Avoid building developments in danger zones such as fire-prone wilderness areas or flood-prone riparian areas
-- Avoid creating subdivisions that create burdens on other citizens
-- Use policies at the state level to encourage healthy, prosperous communities

The goal is “more livable, more prosperous communities,” Propst said. “We can grow in a way that is more sustainable—economically and ecologically.” There’s no need to despair, he added. “There’s a tremendous ability to influence things. We’re still writing the text.”

http://www.newwest.net/
http://www.sonoraninstitute.org/