Focus
'Smart Growth' or suburban sprawl?
By Karl Kim
In recent years, a movement to control urban sprawl has emerged in states such as Maryland, Colorado and Oregon. Called "Smart Growth," it refers to a style of comprehensive planning in which economic growth is coordinated with investments in the roads, sewers and other public infrastructure that economic growth demands.
Advertiser library photo • May 4, 1999
It is a philosophy that shows Hawai'i — in some ways — as a national leader, and in others as far behind the national trend.
A bicyclist dressed for work makes his way down Kapi'olani Boulevard, leaving traffic congestion behind in the process.
In "Smart Growth" areas, new development is balanced against environmental concerns and the long-term interests of the community. Smart Growth involves directing new investment into areas that will strengthen the quality of life.
The movement grew out of the realization that unplanned development leads to inefficiencies in terms of government spending and higher costs to taxpayers and residents.
Large-scale subdivision development can impose new costs — not just for roads, sewers, utilities, and other infrastructure, but also for police, fire protection, emergency medical services, parks, schools, libraries and other services that all taxpayers have to bear.
Strip development, urban sprawl, suburbanization, traffic congestion, pollution, visual blight and continued degradation of the natural environment may seem to some as inevitable consequences of modern life.
On the other hand, high-quality development, located in appropriate areas, designed to be in harmony with nature, where it is supported and embraced by the community, may not only provide a better return for investors, but also may strengthen the tax base.
Evaluating development
Part of understanding Smart Growth involves evaluating where development should occur. By placing development in appropriate locations, natural resources can be protected and conserved. It is often easiest to develop raw land or areas that have been converted from agricultural to other uses. But often, this means building new, costly infrastructure.
Development may proceed in a piece-meal fashion. First, a new road is built or widened. Then power lines are added. The zoning is changed. Homes are built. As residents move in, the pressure to add municipal services, schools and parks increases. Before you know it, a new community has emerged.
Historically, this is the way in which cities have expanded.
But this form of development can create problems. Instead of using prime agricultural land for farming, subdivisions sprout up. Instead of making use of existing infrastructure, new costly wastewater treatment plants, new school buildings and fire stations have to be constructed.
Instead of building homes and communities close to where people work and go to school, people end up commuting long distances and stuck in traffic. Instead of having compact, vibrant, dense urban cities with a full range of cultural and social amenities there are sprawling, monotonous bedroom communities engulfing the landscape in a sea of sameness.
The automobile, or rather the SUV, the parking lot, the bargain box outlet mall, the fast-food restaurant become the ubiquitous elements of urban form.
The Smart Growth movement seeks to fix these problems and to build communities with a higher quality of life.
Smart Growth, therefore, seeks to ensure sustainable development.
Sustainable development includes changing not just where we build, but also, how we build. "Green" building techniques include using recycled materials and constructing environmental friendly buildings. It involves designing homes and offices that emphasize energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. Architects and builders have embraced these techniques that take advantage of natural lighting, shade, and orientation to reduce air conditioning and electricity requirements.
Sustainable communities are "walkable" and offer alternatives to driving (bicycling, public transportation, etc.).
Instead of solely relying on conventional technologies for transportation and generation of electricity, sustainable communities reduce the dependency on imported fossil fuels and promote the development of new, renewable energy sources (wind, solar, ocean thermal conversion, etc.).
The search for new solutions, for new technologies in building and construction and in the planning and development of new communities, financed by federal grants and venture capital, is part of the Smart Growth paradigm.
The tools of Smart Growth
Advertiser library photo • Sept. 8, 2000
There are many ways of encouraging Smart Growth. Designating urban growth boundaries (such as in Oregon). Or greenbelts. Or giving subsidies and tax breaks to developers that build in established communities. There are many vacant parcels or lots that could be consolidated or redeveloped in the urban core.
Unrestricted urban sprawl can lead to crowded freeways, such as this one near the Seventh Avenue overpass in Kaimuki.
Programs to encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of older industrial areas (referred to on the Mainland as Brownfields programs), or to build mixed-use developments (housing, retail and office complexes) where people can live and work in the same area, are all examples of Smart Growth. Some times tax credits are linked to job creation so that there is an incentive to integrate economic and community development efforts.
Smart Growth involves leveraging public and private capital toward development of new communities. It is not a particularly new idea. The notion of coordinating and timing investment so that the cumulative positive effects benefit the local community was the central idea behind Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago.
Certainly, other cities and regions have embarked upon ambitious efforts to comprehensively plan for their future.
Indeed, Hawai'i, with its landmark state land-use law (established in 1961) has long been recognized as a leader in the field of planning.
It is within this tradition that the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1473 to establish a Smart Growth program for the state of Hawai'i.
The bill asked the director of planning to serve as a special adviser and established a Smart Growth Advisory Council to ensure state investments and actions support Smart Growth objectives.
For example, it established three basic objectives: to save valuable natural resources before they are lost forever; to support existing communities and neighborhoods by targeting state resources to support development in areas where the infrastructure is already in place or planned; and to save taxpayers millions of dollars in the unnecessary cost of building the infrastructure required to support sprawl.
In addition to defining the specific objectives in Hawai'i, the Smart Growth adviser was to work to "foster new partnerships with business and communities," as well as "increase predictability and certainty for communities and developers" and "ensure that development and infrastructure standards enhance community character and livability."
Although Gov. Cayetano vetoed this bill, he can and should still implement many of the concepts and tools through executive order.
Some have argued that we don't need special authorization to do "smart growth." But the reality is that without focusing attention on Smart Growth, without establishing specific goals and objectives, and without evaluating the many different tools and methods associated with a Smart Growth agenda, we basically adopt a "business as usual" perspective in which the problems and concerns that have plagued the planning process will persist.
Recent planning controversies, such as the Waiahole Ditch controversy involving the diversion of Windward water to support development in 'Ewa, suggest that there is a need more than ever before to balance the management of natural resources against growth and development.
Other controversies throughout the state involving the development of resorts, golf courses, new subdivisions, and other projects suggest that we need careful, comprehensive planning and more coordination between residents, developers, landowners, government, environmental groups, and other special interests.
Some have also argued that the Smart Growth bill represents an intrusion of state government into local affairs. Those with this perspective need to be reminded of the unique situation in Hawai'i, which includes the state's land-use law and Land Use Commission, and its primary jurisdiction over the vast conservation district lands and agricultural areas.
Hawai'i is different from other states. It is not just its isolation or its island geography. Hawai'i's dependence on tourism and its natural beauty require a more aggressive approach to planning and regulation of development. It is for this reason that Hawai'i has developed its own environmental assessment procedures, as well as other planning innovations including coastal zone management, a park dedication ordinance, a ban on billboards, a historic tree ordinance and other unique planning laws.
While some have argued that we need to "streamline" the development process, our community's preferences for careful, comprehensive planning can't be ignored.
Karl Kim holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from M.I.T. and is professor of urban and regional planning and interim vice president for academic affairs at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
