Small Towns and Smart Growth--HELP!

[dsjeffries]

I grew up in Skiatook, and after having watched Owasso turn into a giant subdivision (Owasso's City Website even brags about having the most beautiful subdivisions in the metro [xx(]) complete with one huge parking lot and strip mall after another, I've been worried that Skiatook would follow the same path.  Luckily for Skiatook, development is just now starting to take off, so I think there's still hope.  For a while now, I've wanted to pitch the idea of Smart Codes to the town council or town coordinator to prevent Skiatook from just becoming a non-descript suburban parking lot wasteland.

I've had the idea for quite a while.  Starting in middle school, I took control of the official city website and worked directly with the town coordinator each week.  I made a remark about some new business that was being built in a metal building, and he told me that the town couldn't tell people what to build. I wanted to scream, "YES YOU CAN!!!" but I didn't.  Ever since that moment, I've wanted to change things.

There's a different town coordinator now, and some of the old people who don't like change have been replaced on the town council.  The time may be right to approach them with this... but here I am now, after the Wal-Mart SuperCenter has been built, still wondering just how to approach the people in charge and how to propose a change to town ordinances that wouldn't make the few remaining old fogies against change cringe.

I need documentation of the benefits of urban, non-sprawl-inducing developments.  I need photos.  I need data.  I have Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company's information from their website, but I need more.

Skiatook has a historic downtown, but all of the new businesses that come to town have been locating in strip centers to the west of downtown.  There are several open slots in the downtown buildings, just waiting to be filled.

I have developed my own revitalization/urbanization plan for downtown; one that is most importantly mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly (some parts are pedestrian only), that provides community gatherings spots like small plazas, areas that could be used for a farmer's market or a place for an idyllic town Christmas tree, two-story single-family housing units with parking in the rear, and uses the existing grid system, etc....

I have the plans laid out.  I don't have renderings yet, but I do plan on making this thing happen eventually, and I wonder if this too would be a good thing to present to the council since people generally respond well to visuals.

Does anyone have any suggestions?  Links?  Documentation?  Know how to approach the issue? or how to build a base of people in the community that care enough to back it?

[Cubs]

quote: after having watched Owasso turn into a giant subdivision  

Do you have an example of a local city without subdivisions? I think not. Except for certain areas of large cities, I think just about every town in America is made up of subdivisions.
 

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by Cubs:
Do you have an example of a local city without subdivisions? I think not. Except for certain areas of large cities, I think just about every town in America is made up of subdivisions.

I know that subdivisions are inevitable, especially in this part of the country, but there are right ways to design them and then there are the terribly wrong ways.  Most of (if not all) the subdivisions in the area are the poorly designed, culs-de-sac at every other turn type.

And though they're inevitable, I don't think that it's an impossible task to limit them (or their effects) or modify building regulations in a community, especially one the size of Skiatook.

And instead of being proud of subdivisions, I think a community should strive for excellent neighborhoods...

It's not an impossible task... Or is it?

Also, this is election time and there are two candidates for Town Council in particular that would like to see well-managed growth and a reinvention of the downtown area, so I think my chances of making a change are only improving.

[Kiah]

Enjoy the contrast, Cubs . . . .

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[dsjeffries]

Does anyone know if the Project for Public Spaces offers any kind of help for smaller towns, or is it mainly geared toward large cities?  I think they (and their grants) could be a great asset to many small towns.

Are there any other similar organizations out there??

[pmcalk]

You may already know this, but I would suggest looking into the main street program, through the national trust.  http://www.mainstreet.org/.

quote:The Main Street Approach is a community-driven, comprehensive methodology used to revitalize older, traditional business districts throughout the United States.  It is a common-sense way to address the variety of issues and problems that face traditional business districts.  The underlying premise of the Main Street approach is to encourage economic development within the context of historic preservation in ways appropriate to today's marketplace. The Main Street Approach advocates a return to community self-reliance, local empowerment, and the rebuilding of traditional commercial districts based on their unique assets: distinctive architecture, a pedestrian-friendly environment, personal service, local ownership, and a sense of community.

I would think their approach is just what you are talking about--preserving the small-town main street, discouraging the strip-mall approach.  The website also has a lot of documentation on successes, statistics, etc....  Oklahoma has local information as well:  http://www.okcommerce.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=99&Itemid=667.  I know that there are others on this board that can provide better information about the main street program, but you might begin by just looking at the websites.

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by pmcalk

You may already know this, but I would suggest looking into the main street program, through the national trust.  http://www.mainstreet.org/.

quote:The Main Street Approach is a community-driven, comprehensive methodology used to revitalize older, traditional business districts throughout the United States.  It is a common-sense way to address the variety of issues and problems that face traditional business districts.  The underlying premise of the Main Street approach is to encourage economic development within the context of historic preservation in ways appropriate to today's marketplace. The Main Street Approach advocates a return to community self-reliance, local empowerment, and the rebuilding of traditional commercial districts based on their unique assets: distinctive architecture, a pedestrian-friendly environment, personal service, local ownership, and a sense of community.

I would think their approach is just what you are talking about--preserving the small-town main street, discouraging the strip-mall approach.  The website also has a lot of documentation on successes, statistics, etc....  Oklahoma has local information as well:  http://www.okcommerce.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=99&Itemid=667.  I know that there are others on this board that can provide better information about the main street program, but you might begin by just looking at the websites.

I'd forgotten about the National Trust... Thanks!

[cecelia]

There is a style of architecture called, I believe, the New Urbanism. It's completely contrary to sprawling subdivisions and strip malls, and strives for walkable, liveable neighborhoods.

Beyond that, it might be a good idea to investigate predictions about the price of gas and present that information. In general, the common wisdom is that the sprawling subdivisions and strip malls won't fare well at all if/once gas hits $3/gal and up, which it is predicted to do. But areas built as neighborhoods with stores within walking distance and sidewalks and etc are predicted to do very well indeed.

Maybe approach your city planners with that kind of information. I would think the last thing they want is to leave behind the legacy of a dead zone.

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by cecelia

There is a style of architecture called, I believe, the New Urbanism. It's completely contrary to sprawling subdivisions and strip malls, and strives for walkable, liveable neighborhoods.

Beyond that, it might be a good idea to investigate predictions about the price of gas and present that information. In general, the common wisdom is that the sprawling subdivisions and strip malls won't fare well at all if/once gas hits $3/gal and up, which it is predicted to do. But areas built as neighborhoods with stores within walking distance and sidewalks and etc are predicted to do very well indeed.

Maybe approach your city planners with that kind of information. I would think the last thing they want is to leave behind the legacy of a dead zone.

I'm very much a proponent of new urbanism, and the development I've drawn the plans for would definitely fit into that category.

I think the gas price tactic would work for the development by itself but I'm not sure that alone would persuade them to change the actual building codes/ordinances.  It's a start, though!

Do you have any links to the studies regarding strip centers v. walkable neighborhoods?

[cecelia]

Not right on hand, but give me some time - I'm sure I can find them.

I'm not at all surprised you know about the new urbanism. I'm not *that* familiar with it, other than knowing what it looks like, but have read (and heard) quite a bit about it in the context of energy conservation, rising gas prices, etc.

Let me see what I come up with. It won't be until tomorrow.

[Chicken Little]

I've been to a several TulsaNow forums and listened to what a lot of smart folks had to say.  What really resonates with me is when the conversation gets beyond the rhetoric.  I think there's too much of that (rhetoric, that is) on both sides of the argument.

A couple of things that really stuck with me over the years:

1.  Don't be an idealogue.  You'd be tilting at windmills up there.  I suspect, after one or two attempts, they might start to tune you out.

2.  Talk about efficiency. Infrastructure costs money to maintain.  Lots of it.  Sure, the developers are paying to install the roads, water, and sewers.  But when that stuff wears out in twenty years, it's Skiatook's problem.  Just look at the problems Tulsa is having with stuff built in the 60's and 70's.  It'll catch up with them, too, eventually.

3.  Start small; start with something.  Maybe a reachable goal is to get the city fathers to start to value downtown/old town.  To see it as an asset and an alternative to the rest of town.  Not a tired old problem, but a brand new opportunity.  In Oklahoma, the Main Street Program is, hands down, the best resource for breathing a little life into downtown and generating some excitement.  All you'd need is a few key businesses and a couple of banks to get on board and you'd be rolling.  Got any friends on the Chamber?

Smart investors have stocks and bonds in their portfolio.  At any given moment in time, one is doing well and the other is flat (or tanking).  But over the long run, having both makes sense.

If Skiatook could invest some of this new-found wealth in re-creating a compact, sensible, little downtown, it could really pay off in the long run.  Again, Tulsa waited too long to realize that they needed maintain a vital core area.  Now it's hard to say if they actually have the money to do anything about it.

[cecelia]

I agree with Chicken Little, esp. about efficiency.

And I haven't really started looking for studies about walkable neighborhoods vs. strip malls, so don't have much. Might take a while.

But one thought struck me - maybe you could do an informal study yourself in Skiatook. It would need to be convincing enough that it would overwhelm any promises made by a developer - but surely your city planners would be more interested in what their own citizens say.

Or maybe not ...

And I did find this study of the attributes of successful downtowns. It's pretty good and, other than proximity to universities and colleges, seems like things any town could do.

[perspicuity85]

I recently gave two presentations on the subject of Smart Growth and New Urbanism.  These were my most heavily used resources:


Bohl, C. (2002).  Place making: developing town centers, main streets, and urban villages.  Washington, DC: ULI- The Urban Land Institute.

Duany, A; Plater-Zyberk, E; Speck, J. (2000).  Suburban nation: the rise of sprawl and the decline of the American dream.  New York: North Point Press.

El Nasser, H. (2005, October 11).  Vision: build ‘new urban’ Mississippi coast.  USA Today, pp. A, 15.

Larsen, K. (2005, September).  “New urbanism’s role in inner-city neighborhood revitalization.”  Housing Studies, 20 (5), 795-813.

Mitchell, J. (2001, July).  “Urban sprawl.”  National Geographic, 1, 48.

Mercier, G. (2003, Summer).  “The rhetoric of contemporary urbanism: a deconstructive analysis of central city neighbourhood redevelopment.”  Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 12, 71-98.

Steuteville, R. (2007, Jan/Feb).  “Commentary: cities less friendly? Phooey!”  New Urban News, 35, 2.

The location efficient mortgage. (n.d.) Retrieved Februrary 28, 2007, from http://www.locationefficiency.com/

[perspicuity85]

In my presentations, I stressed the fact that New Urbanism can lower infrastructure costs and add value to communities by preserving unique identity and culture.  I did not sell the idea to my audience as a philanthropy project, but more as an  opportunity for economic benefit.  My goal was for the audience to believe, as I do, that supporting New Urbanism allows communities to become more economically, culturally, and environmentally sustainable.