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An Impressive 'Smart Growth' Summit By Ronald E. Roel September 27, 2002
The mood of the summit, hosted by Vision Long Island, a nonprofit, Northport-based organization aimed at advancing smart-growth principles, was one of audacious optimism. Ron Stein, the president of Vision Long Island, called the smart-growth approach a "triple win" for homeowners, developers and local communities. The principles underpinning the movement, Stein said, encompassed the building of "compact, mixed-use" residential and commercial developments, keeping in mind the needs for open space and quality-of-life issues. Smart- growth initiatives aim to involve the public in decision-making, protect and revitalize downtowns, redevelop blighted retail areas and create variably-priced housing for the workforce. And for good measure, it aims to address a "loudly resounding complaint" among local residents about ugly architecture, while not becoming the "aesthetics police." The stakes were high, Stein said. The voices of NIMBYism (not in my backyard) had reached a new decibel level, with a new acronym: BANANA, or build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody. The summit's keynote speaker, nationally known planner and retail specialist Robert Gibbs, said he was surprised by the turnout. "I've never seen so many elected officials in one room," said Gibbs, president of Gibbs Planning Group, a Michigan-based consulting organization. Long Island, he told me in a phone interview several days later, is "one of the most ready communities in the country" for smart growth. "I think there's a good buzz out there," said Brookhaven town board member Edward Hennessey of East Moriches, a summit participant and an enthusiastic supporter of smart growth. For many areas, "redevelopment is the most attractive option, because we're running out of land," Hennessey said. "There are real significant opportunities to capture public participation. It gives increased value to the land. ... It's really a developer's dream." Well, not every developer agrees. During one presentation at the summit, one real estate professional handed me his business card with a note scribbled on the back: "Smart growth is frightening!" Later, by phone, he questioned whether officials could reconcile the region's need for affordable housing with advocates' "insatiable desire" for open space. If anything, he said, smart growth required government, more than the private sector, to "reconsider what it's thinking" about regional development. Actually, it was this last point that Gibbs made disarmingly clear, in a style that combined his expertise with the delivery skills of a stand-up comic. Gibbs, who asserts that "all the moons are aligned" for retailers to return to the downtowns of small communities, tweaked the audience with comments like this: If you're creating a plan for a new town center - which should include housing, commercial spaces, retail stores and civic areas, add an "e" and make it a "towne" center and "that will get you two more votes on the planning board." "E" or no "e," officials like Hennessey say that centers of development are already being conceived to replace the congested corridors and strip malls in places such as a 1.7-mile stretch of Montauk Highway in the Mastic-Shirley area. "We've used the visioning process with the community," Hennessey said, "and we're looking to create three separate nodes of development ... to create town centers, parking, streetscapes [pedestrian-friendly designs that provide easy access to retailers from the street]." Officials hope to change zoning codes by the end of the year "and effect change in two to five years - instead of waiting for 20 years." For more information
about the conference and follow-up events, contact Vision Long Island
(631-261-0242; www.visionlongisland.org). And for more about the
world according to Gibbs, contact him at Gibbs Planning Group (248-642-4800;
www.gibbsplanning.com). Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
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