Browse
Search
APB agenda 091802
OrangeCountyNC
>
Advisory Boards and Commissions - Active
>
Agricultural Preservation Board
>
Agendas
>
2002
>
APB agenda 091802
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
8/29/2018 4:41:40 PM
Creation date
8/29/2018 4:27:28 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
BOCC
Date
9/18/2002
Meeting Type
Regular Meeting
Document Type
Agenda
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
41
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
View images
View plain text
COMMON GROUND VOL. 13 NO. 3 JULY- SEPTEMBER 2002 <br />• <br />All <br />Development <br />Is Not <br />Created <br />Equal <br />ctn mr? III <br />is published quarterly as a <br />service to the conservation <br />community by <br />The Conservation Fund <br />Patrick F. Noonan <br />Chairman <br />Lawrence A. Selzer <br />President <br />Mike McQueen <br />Editor <br />Jack Lynn <br />Editorial Consultant <br />Meg West <br />Art Director <br />For address corrections and <br />information, contact: <br />April Berry <br />Circulation Manager <br />The Conservation Fund <br />1800 N. Kent St., Suite 1120 <br />Arlington, VA 22209 <br />703/525 -6300 <br />COMMON GROUND routinely <br />grants permission for reprints. <br />Address editorial correspondence <br />and reprint queries to: <br />COMMON GROUND <br />940 Stillwater Lane <br />Earlysville, VA 22936 <br />434/973 -7324 <br />coground @aol.com <br />COMMON GROUND is available <br />on the World Wide Web at <br />www..conservationfund.org <br />Printed on recycled paper. <br />2 <br />Has your planning commission ever <br />been pressured to lower standards to gener- <br />ate economic development? Do you have <br />elected officials who think all growth is good <br />regardless of long -range costs? <br />A few years ago, during a workshop I <br />conducted in Virginia, a commissioner told <br />me that a restaurant chain wanted to erect a <br />huge sign —more than double the size per- <br />mitted by county ordinance next to a pro- <br />posed restaurant along the interstate. The <br />developer suggested that he might locate the <br />business elsewhere unless he received the <br />variance. What was my experience with this <br />kind of request? the official asked. <br />I responded that a community's image <br />is important to its economic well- being. The <br />best places to live, work and visit are those <br />that are willing to uphold their standards in <br />the face of pressure to allow lowest- common- <br />denominator development. <br />The bottom line for most businesses is se- <br />curing access to profitable trade areas. They <br />evaluate locations based on their economic <br />potential. If they are required to address local <br />design, landscaping or signage requirements, <br />they will usually do so. They might prefer a <br />gaudy 100 -foot tall sign, but they will settle <br />for the 20 -foot tall sign everybody else has. <br />By chance I had with me several slides <br />of a restaurant from the same chain located <br />across the border in Maryland. This restau- <br />rant had a low sign —and a full parking lot! I <br />later learned that the Virginia commissioners <br />denied the variance request and that, despite <br />the bluster, the restaurant had opened on <br />time in the location originally proposed. <br />Too many communities delude them- <br />selves into thinking that it doesn't really mat- <br />MCNER <br />ter whether a project is good or bad, consis- <br />tent with the local plan or inconsistent, so <br />long as it produces jobs and tax revenue. <br />Though officials may say that imposing <br />standards to assure high - quality growth will <br />scare off economic development, the truth is <br />just the opposite. In his book, Planning <br />America's Communities: Paradise Found? Para- <br />dise Lost? Herbert. Smith, a former planning <br />director of Albuquerque, examined planning <br />successes and failures in 15 cities. He con- <br />cluded that developers of quality residential, <br />commercial or industrial property "want no <br />part of an unstable, unplanned, uncontrolled <br />environment, as they know this is not a <br />place to make a long -term investment." <br />Look at Denver's Lower Downtown. Be- <br />fore it was designated a historic district, it <br />had blighted conditions and low property <br />values. Developers could build anything <br />they wanted —but there was almost no pri- <br />vate investment because there were no stan- <br />dards. After the designation, it boomed. <br />Businesses and investors were lured by the <br />area's historic warehouse buildings and the <br />knowledge that investments would be pro- <br />tected by strong zoning standards. <br />It is hard to say no to the promise of im- <br />mediate jobs and development. But success- <br />ful communities understand that saying no <br />to development that is contrary to their <br />long -term health will almost always bring <br />better development in its place. In the long <br />run, all development is not created equal. <br />— Edward McMahon <br />The author is vice president for land use <br />programs at The Conservation Fund. The edito- <br />rial is excerpted from TCF's Growing Greener <br />and the Planning Commissioner's Journal. <br />zZ <br />�el�O�e <br />See <br />9 <br />Vt11 SIJ)S <br />a9e <br />en Unplanned Groff Co <br />mmuni� <br />a <br />y <br />Or <br />h <br />S <br />a <br />Q <br />0 <br />0 <br />a <br />v <br />w <br />a <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.