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WCEL
> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part
1
Smart Bylaws Guide – Part 1
1. Promote urban revitalization and rural preservation by
containing urban areas, channelling development into existing
neighbourhoods and adopting integrated planning and management
approaches
The key to supporting both urban and rural economies is to
maintain the integrity of the working land base, and to direct
investment into commercial centres. Communities can do this by
ensuring that new development does not interfere with rural
industries such as farming, and that new commercial activity builds
on existing assets. By using available infrastructure, redevelopment
revitalizes already built areas and decreases the pressure for rural
development that threatens the viability of working lands. These
strategies can be managed on a municipal- or region-wide basis
through integrated planning (planning for the community as a whole,
including its environmental, economic and social health) and
permitting. West Coast's report, Protecting the Working Landscape of Agriculture: A Smart Growth Direction for Municipalities in BC
[PDF 725 Kb], describes all of these issues, and strategies for addressing them, in greater detail.
An often-overlooked aspect of land design is that creating good
neighbourhoods fosters a sense of community by providing
opportunities for neighbours to interact. Informal gathering places
(parks, coffee shops, libraries, and plazas) and other land use
patterns (narrow streets, mixed uses, and pedestrian-friendly
environments) typical of traditional neighbourhoods bring people
together and help develop a positive neighbourhood identity.
Patterns of Compact
Development
This includes siting commercial, industrial and most
residential development within or immediately adjacent to
existing settlements – through the adaptive reuse of old
buildings, strategic infill development, “brownfield”
[unused industrial lands that may or may not be contaminated,
or that have been remediated] development, and suburban
redevelopment – or within newly designated growth centres
served by central infrastructure. Vermont Forum on Sprawl,
Best Site Planning for Residential, Commercial and Industrial
Development (2001) www.vtsprawl.org/Pdfs/SPRAWLbestpractices.pdf See
also West Coast's Green
Buildings Guide [PDF 990 Kb] for a discussion of
regulatory aspects of siting with sustainability
considerations in mind. |
Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) are lines drawn on planning maps
around developed areas showing where urban land ends and rural land
begins. By channelling growth into existing neighbourhoods and areas
where density can be maximized, UGBs assist local governments to
meet planning goals such as downtown revitalization, creating
vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods, protecting the environment and
improving the viability of transit. UGBs also create certainty for
developers by directing where infrastructure investment will occur.
One study of the land and
infrastructure needs for the Central Okanagan over the next
forty years found that conventional residential development
would require 20,645 acres and cost $1.57 billion to service.
Using a more compact development scenario, the total acreage
needed could be cut in half, and cost $1.04 billion to
service. |
Making the most of existing infrastructure and revitalizing
commercial areas requires that new development is concentrated in
neighbourhoods with clearly defined centres. Both large and small
municipalities are using this strategy to decrease long-term
servicing costs and to create vibrant mixed-use districts that have
their own unique character. This also helps to maintain small town
character by following traditional patterns of compact development.
One study from the University
of British Columbia demonstrated that infrastructure in a
smart growth subdivision would cost $12,000 per unit less than
in a conventional subdivision. Likewise, the diversity and
clustering of housing decreases land costs and the amount of
paved surfaces. |
Municipalities are increasingly adopting a systems approach to
planning because all land use decisions have implications for
economic development, the green infrastructure, transportation,
community health, and the environment. This is accomplished through
the use of a hierarchy of plans from the regional to the
neighbourhood level, management plans, integrated permitting
processes, and development agreements. Design charrettes (design
workshops for a neighbourhood or centre) and community energy
planning are at the forefront of proactive planning.
Official community plans (OCPs) and neighbourhood plans set the
long-term vision for how a community will evolve. It is difficult to
evaluate what effect piecemeal changes, such as rezonings, have on
that vision. Several municipalities in BC entertain OCP amendments
and rezonings only once or twice per year to ensure that new
development is in keeping with the long-term plan for the
community.
Local governments across North America are becoming involved in
quality of life monitoring. Indicators, representing environmental,
social and economic measures such as percentage green space per
capita, availability of public transit, and number of cross-country
ski visits to the municipality, can show trends in the health of a
municipality or region. Local governments use the results of
monitoring programs to establish priorities and set policy.
Indicators also provide crucial baseline data to determine changes
in municipal conditions.
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