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2004 Smart Growth Summit "Setting the Standard" Friday, November 19th from 8:00AM - 4:00PM |
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Regional Planning
Background Housing prices are soaring out of the reach of our economy. Taxes are going through the roof. Traffic is unbearable. Farms and open spaces are disappearing, while ugly blight metastasizes throughout our roadways. There are no places for kids to go, and no ways for them to get there outside of a car. And it's getting worse. Ask the kids, ask our seniors: we like Long Island , but we're heading in the wrong direction. What was once a dream has become a nightmare. What will Long Island be like in ten, twenty, thirty years? With more cars, will traffic improve? With more road widenings, will getting around get any easier? With more houses and big boxes being constructed, will open space be preserved? With kids returning from college, will they afford to stay? And just how much say will the resident on Long Island have in determining their collective future? The feedback is clear: the average Long Islander feels hopelessly out of the loop of planning the future of their town and feels largely helpless to affect the outcomes. Will we continue this way, or will we seek alternative routes beyond sprawl, overdevelopment, and deteriorating quality of life? And who will decide? Will it the institutions of planning, development, and government that have led us here, or broader stakeholders working together? Together, we can stop the madness. We have already taken first steps. Our County Executives Tom Suozzi and Steve Levy are already working to reinvigorate Long Island 's Regional Planning Board. A more important next step, however, is the undertaking of a comprehensive analysis of the best regional planning and visioning practices nationwide, followed by the crafting of a comprehensive vision. If Long Island can follow the good examples of other places that have led communities through comprehensive, community-based, regional planning efforts, we will be well on our way to achieving essential goals. Guiding Principles • Approach issues with fresh eyes. We don't need to change our values and who we are, but we do need to reexamine our beliefs about the best way to put those values to action. A key exercise is to explore the various planning tools and alternative development forms that are working nation-wide. • Bring Regulations Up to Date. Long Island 's archaic planning codes and approaches embrace single use development that increases auto use and fail anticipate impact on our environment and our communities. • Revolutionize Financing. Real estate financing currently favors single-use, sprawl-style development. We need to update the formulas to recognize and support the economic value of mixed-use design. • Update Transportation Solutions. Widening is a failed, short-term solution that supports overdevelopment and increases the danger of roadways. Road building systems need to be thoroughly revised to embrace the current understanding of how best to handle traffic loads and provide safe pedestrian and realistic transit choices. • Value Community Input from the Start. Residents left only to react will react negatively. Plans made without them will neglect key considerations. Empowering communities by giving them a say in future of their homes will improve the quality of proposals and save time and money by resolving key conflicts before erupt. • Consider the Region as a Whole. Long Island 's problems fail to recognize the boundaries of 2 counties, 81 incorporated villages, 10 towns, 2 cities and countless fire and water jurisdictions. Our solutions must transcend them. A bi-county council of local governments can begin to work of together achieving the common goals of our municipalities. Mutual benefits -- including increased likelihood of state and federal subsidies – offer powerful incentive. Similarly, diverse stakeholder groups – business, community and special interest – must be supported in efforts to overcome their barriers and together identify and achieve common goals.
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Vision
Long Island |