A smaller footprint for progress
Third in a series
By Chris Breen and Tony Ruiz
This series has focused on the need to lower impact fees in the
city and county to spark development, create jobs, improve and
encourage new businesses and also on the paralyzing effect impact
fees can have on growth. Growth, in some form, is inevitable and
necessary to establish a sustainable economy, pay for
infrastructure, and improve the quality of life in the city and
county.
A smaller footprint for progress
Third in a series
By Chris Breen and Tony Ruiz
This series has focused on the need to lower impact fees in the city and county to spark development, create jobs, improve and encourage new businesses and also on the paralyzing effect impact fees can have on growth. Growth, in some form, is inevitable and necessary to establish a sustainable economy, pay for infrastructure, and improve the quality of life in the city and county.
Progress is taking place. The supervisors are looking to review the county’s impact fees, ordinances and policies. Four enterprise zones are being promoted by “no-nonsense” EDC President Nancy Martin. And, at least one council member is taking a proactive approach to obtain control of San Benito Street by the city.
Growth alone, however, is not the answer. As we have seen, growth and development that is only profit-driven and does not consider the community context will over-tax resources and fragmentize neighborhoods. We must promote smart growth principles and ensure that they are incorporated into new development in order to promote the physical and social health of our community.
One of us recently spent a week at Glenwood Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
Located in southeast Atlanta, this area was bordered by an older, rundown residential neighborhood and light industrial buildings. The developers took cues from the adjacent areas in designing Glenwood. The result is a new neighborhood that links visually and physically with its surroundings and enhances the larger region within which it was built.
Glenwood Park is comprised of single-family residences, condominiums, lofts, and apartments, as well as neighborhood commercial – three restaurants, a coffee shop, a wine bar, a gym, and a physician’s office. The centerpiece of the development is a simple, expansive park, anchored at one end by a pond and the other by a play structure.
The yards in Glenwood Park are small because the park serves as a collective “backyard” for the neighborhood and surrounding areas. Because of the diversity of residential options, the residents are truly a cross-section of the region: families, retirees, university students and young professionals, and defined by generation and income-level mix. The park is a primary means for these residents to interact, and is often the site for large picnics, sporting events and family celebrations on the weekends.
Glen Park is far removed from us here in San Benito County. But it is a model that has been duplicated throughout the country as cities and counties re-think how they will accommodate population growth and still preserve and strengthen community values. As developers gear up to start building again, we must ensure projects reflect our values. Obviously, projects need to be profitable. But as Glenwood Park demonstrates, profitability and quality, community-focused development need not be mutually exclusive.
We must develop our own community objectives and ensure that they are incorporated into development agreements. As we look to streamlining the development process at the city and county level, we must do so without forsaking those goals that are most important to us, and that will ensure the community fabric is strengthened, not undermined, by the ultimate product.
Walk-ability, affordability, diversity, public space, safety and happiness are the earmarks of smart growth. They can serve as our guideposts as we work to formulate a collective vision for new development, infill and rehabilitation projects within the community.
Tony Ruiz is the chair of The Hollister Independent New Urbanism Research Group. Chris Breen is one of its members.
