From Ohio.gov: In addition to supporting local decisions about the location of growth, the state will also supply guidance on best local land use practices for minimizing development impacts on water quality wherever the expansion of developed areas occurs, and for reducing impacts to water quality in redevelopment situations. This includes a set of model zoning ordinances and resolutions recommended for voluntary adoption by local communities, a set of guidance documents for a range of additional best practices, and training opportunities for local government elected officials and staff. Model ordinances are provided for storm water and aquatic area protection and meadow protection. Guidance documents have been prepared for Conservation Development, Compact Development, Source Water Protection, Agricultural Lands Protection, Tree and Woodland Protection, Scenic Protection, Historic Preservation, Steep Slopes Protection, Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), Brownfields Redevelopment, and Access Management. The training program, previously focused on the Lake Erie watershed, will be expanded statewide and is not limited to communities with Watershed Planning Partnerships.

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Introduction to Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century - Christine Olsenius, Southeast Watershed Forum

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century - Keynote Address - Dr. Howard Frumkin, CDC, National Center for Environmental Health

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Coastal Resiliance Planning Tools for Building Sustainable Communities - Lauren Long, NOAA Coastal Services Center

This is the first chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. The site has information on what the group is doing around the Florida region, includes an image back, publications and project examples.

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC.

Conservation Based Residential Development - David Tuch, Equinox Environmental
Part 1 / Part 2

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Creating the Jasper County Natural Resources Conservation Plan - Lindsay H. Fairchilds, S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources and April L. Turner, S.C. Sea Grant Extension Program

An article from the Hattisburg American, and featured on Smart Growth Online, discusses the economic impact of sprawl on a community and the individual taxpayer.  

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Energy for Tomorrow's Communities - Anda Ray, Tennessee Valley Authority
Part 1 / Part 2

Case studies of counties across the country--included in the report Sustaining Agriculture in Urbanizing Counties--reveal the evolving mix of conditions that are needed to keep farms near metropolitan areas healthy and viable for the future. Farmers on the urban-edge face special challenges, from development pressure to finding labor to transferring their farms to the next generation. The newly released study comprehensively analyzes the factors affecting urban-edge farm viability and lays the groundwork for actions that can help communities keep growing local.

Presentation for the Southeast Watershed Forum’s conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21^st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC.

Fusing Smart Growth and Water Quality - Jane Fowler, Southeast Watershed Forum and Joel Haden, Tennessee Valley Authority

Presentation for the Southeast Watershed Forum’s conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21^st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC.

Green Growth Guidelines - Sonny Emmert, GA Department of Natural Resources

Presentation from the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC.

Greensboro Smart Growth by Russ Clegg, AICP, Dept. of Housing and Community Development

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Growth Readiness: Outcomes and Lessons Learned in the Southeast
Patrick Beggs, North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Joe Krewer, Georgia Dept of Community Affairs
Liz Upchurch, Tennessee Valley Authority

Presentation for the Southeast Watershed Forum’s conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21^st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC.

Inital Recommendations of Miami Dade County Climate Change Advisory Task Force - Captain Dan Kipnis

Presentation from the Southeast Watershed Forum's Conference, Building Sustianable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC.

Case Study in Sustainable Community Development - Mixon, SC.
Alyssondra Campaigne, I’On Group

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Murrells Inlet 2007 and Beyond: Community Revitalization Looks to the Future and Sees Green - Nicole Saladin, North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Susan Sledz, Murrels Inlet

Online resource created by leading environmental group guides building professionals through green building process, from putting together a business case to design, construction and marketing.

Presentation at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC. 

Next American City - John Knott, Noisette
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

A new report, coordinated by Smart Growth America, details the connection between urban growth and climate change.  The report, Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, is a comprehensive review of dozens of studies, published by the Urban Land Institute, the researchers conclude that urban development is both a key contributor to climate change and an essential factor in combating it.  It is available for download from the Smart Growth America website at http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/gcindex.html.

Presentation for the Southeast Watershed Forum’s conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21^st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC.

Oak Terrace Preserve - Elias Deeb, Noisette

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Participatory GIS in Coastal Planning - Chrissa Stroh, Perot Systems Government Services

Presentation for the Southeast Watershed Forum’s conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21^st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC.

Planning Proactively for Growth - Kim Douglass, One NC Naturally

Presentation from Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC.   

Sustainable Planning Using Land Suitability Maps
William Allen, The Conservation Fund and Jeffrey Brown, Geographic Information and Analysis
Donald Belk, BRAC Regional Task Force

April 2009 - As pressure from development, drought and climate change threaten our natural resources, water availability and quality of life here in the Southeast, many communities and organizations have found solutions for managing growth while conserving their green infrastructure.  To showcase some of these most innovative case studies, the Southeast Watershed Forum is proud to announce the release of it's newest special report, Building Sustainable Communities: Quality Growth Strategies in the Southeast.  Click here to read more or to download the report (pdf).

Through a consensus process, members of the Roundtable provided the expertise needed to adapt the National Model Development Principles to specific local conditions. Roundtable membership  recommendations include general and specific code and ordinance revisions that would increase flexibility for site design standards and promote the use of open space and flexible design development in James City County.

The National Model Development Principles refined by the James City County Local Site Planning Roundtable are designed to collectively meet the objectives of Better Site Design (BSD), which are to: (1) reduce overall site impervious cover, (2) preserve and enhance existing natural areas, (3) integrate stormwater management, and (4) retain a marketable product. Code modifications and other targeted recommendations of the Roundtable were crafted to remove regulatory hurdles and provide incentives, flexibility, and guidance for developers in implementing BSD. This process is focused on model development principles at the site level and does not include discussions on zoning or land use.

The Consortium has invested a substantial amount of time and resources over the last two years in an in-depth analysis of satellite imagery of an eight-county region in the Upstate from 1985 to 2000. Using a variety of filtering and classification techniques, they determined what portion of the landscape was developed and what portion was rural in each of four images. The 1985 and the 2000 images are shown here. Go to their website to see higher-resolution versions and for more information.

This Project is designed to help states and localities use smart growth tools as key strategies for achieving clean water goals. Project objectives include:

• Educating local and state elected and appointed officials about opportunities to use smart growth tools to improve water quality and meet federal regulatory mandates.

• Fostering interaction among smart growth, brownfields, water quality, and urban and community forestry leaders.

• Showcasing and assisting specific demonstration projects that illustrate how state and local governments can use smart growth tools to improve water quality, control stormwater, meet regulatory mandates, and achieve other community objectives.

• Identifying state and federal policy barriers that are discouraging the use of smart growth tools for clean water and developing solutions to overcome these barriers.

• Disseminating information on available smart growth tools, projects, programs, and resources to help local and state governments achieve their water quality objectives.

The purpose of a smart growth scorecard is to assist elected local officials, developers, investors, neighborhood groups and designers make better project level decisions that achieve the Smart Growth objectives. The SPS is a tool that can help evaluate where a particular project is advancing the long term viability of a community or creating more impacts with little overall benefit to existing and new citizens.

By Will Fleissig and Vikie Jacobsen

 

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Sustainable Development in Coastal Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina - Lessons Learned
Melissa Pringle , Eco-Systems, Inc.

Part 1 / Part 2

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

Sustainable Planning Using Land Suitability Maps - William Allen, The Conservation Fund, Jeffrey Brown, Geographic Information and Analysis and Donald Belk, AICP, BRAC Regional Task Force
Part 1 (Allen/Brown) / Part 2 (Belk)

This paper is for funders, citizens and organizations advocating better planning for the improvementf communities and regions. It contains communications guidelines, checklists and pointers which are based on nationwide focus group research, media analysis, consultation with philanthropic funders, and a series of regional meetings and follow-up work with advocates and policy makers.
Key findings from the research include:
Growth and development are understood in local and specific terms. Participants are eager to engage on these issues, but only in terms of the particularities of places they know.
Issues about growth are understood best when a picture with details is presented. Leading with statements of principles is largely unsuccessful, because reactions vary according to each individual’s needs, beliefs, and examples.
There is a widely expressed desire for choices and options for how communities are designed and for how people live. Which consumer choices individuals make vary according to age, income, and preferences; but there is wide agreement that people should have choices.
Voters blame local officials for problems that result from poor planning, and they don’t think officials are being held accountable. Participants are not satisfied. They believe elected officials have their own agendas, set largely by developers, and that they discourage meaningful public participation. Local officials are not trusted to consider long-term consequences of their development decisions.
Fairness to everyone in the community is a strong value. There is a strong consensus that everyone should be treated fairly, that everyone’s needs should be met – including those who already live in a specific place (NIMBY). There is agreement that maintaining and restoring older and poorer neighborhoods is important for the common good.

Presentation given at the Southeast Watershed Forum's conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century, held August 12-14, 2008 in Charleston, SC. 

The Savannah River Preserve: Protecting Forests, Wildlife and a Way of Life - Matt Nespeca, Conservation Land Company, Inc. and Noel Thorn, The Nature Conservancy

Upstate Forever promotes sensible growth and the protection of special places in the Upstate region of South Carolina.  The membership-based, nonprofit organization covers nine counties: Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, and Union.

fter years of wondering how to manage growth in Volusia County, leaders are poised to adopt some revolutionary concepts.

Elected officials, planners and consultants use the phrase "smart growth" to describe a pair of goals: first, clustering homes more densely so large chunks of newly developed land can be left unscathed, and, second, lessening new neighborhoods' dependence on private vehicles for routine travel.

Holding development to these standards is supposed to protect the rural core in the center of the county, known as the Volusia Conservation Corridor, from rampant urbanization.

"The vision of smart growth was to build on what we've done," Clay Henderson told the County Council.

Henderson, an attorney and former County Council member, drafted many of the documents that could make smart growth part of the county's development law.

Southeast and Tennessee Watershed Roundtable Presentation, 2004

The choices we make about how and where to grow have a direct impact on the cost and availability of water. Development patterns have a very real impact on communities’ ability to respond to these challenges. Understanding the connection between development choices and their impacts on water can help communities adopt an approach to growth that reduces both overall demand for the limited supply of water, and the absolute cost of water provision through lower investment expenditure and less leakage.

Full Abstract

Download PDF (1.4 MB)

Presentation for the Southeast Watershed Forum’s conference, Building Sustainable Communities for the 21^st Century, held August 12-14, 2008, in Charleston, SC.

Waterfront and Coast Smart Growth - Susan Fox, NOAA Coastal Services Center