Viewpointby BERYL BLAICH and BARBARA ROBESON If sprawl – the continuous spreading of poorly planned, fiscally draining development – is the problem resulting from land-use and transportation policies and regulations of the 20th century, Smart Growth is the new millenium
Viewpointby BERYL BLAICH and BARBARA ROBESON
If sprawl – the
continuous spreading of poorly planned, fiscally draining development – is the
problem resulting from land-use and transportation policies and regulations of
the 20th century, Smart Growth is the new millenium planning
solution.
States, cities and counties are rewriting comprehensive plans and
zoning and subdivision ordinances in order to stop sprawl with Smart Growth
frameworks.
Smart Growth is in the forefront of Hawai’i planning awareness.
The annual Hawai’i Congress of Planning Officials Conference was hosted by
Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and the Kaua’i County Planning Department, and the state
Office of Planning held a Smart Growth workshop in Honolulu on Sept. 22. Both
conferences featured national and local speakers on the topic.
Smart Growth
is intelligent, well-planned development that channels growth into existing
areas, provides more public transportation options and preserves farmland and
open space. Smart Growth conceives of land as a limited resource, not as a
commodity. It focuses on the development of places, not projects.
All the
lessons learned from past mistakes in land-use, transportation, environmental
and social planning are collected and integrated in Smart Growth
principles.
Kaua’i has examples of Smart Growth. Koloa town has maintained
its sense of place despite being located on the busy route to the resort area
of Po’ipu. Still surrounded by open green spaces, Koloa is compact with
well-defined boundaries. The town’s historic buildings and the many canopy
trees give it special character that is meaningful to the residents and
enticing to visitors. People can explore and get around Koloa on foot. Making
towns pedestrian-friendly is a Smart Growth concept.
In Waimea and
Hanapepe, community members, landowners and organizations have similarly
preserved their historic buildings or encouraged new buildings that honor the
traditional scale and design of their towns.
On Kaua’i, the county’s
Historic Preservation Review Commission has played a big role in encouraging
these good-planning design choices for rural towns. Smart Growth builds upon
community assets.
Another example regarding transportation is the Hanalei
region, which continues to find the community energy and means to hold on to
its rural and scenic road system. For instance, the Hanalei Bridge will be
repaired this year, and a 25-year road planning effort by the state Department
of Transportation will commence soon. Saving the one-lane bridges has shaped
the kind, if not the rate, of growth that has occurred from Hanalei through
Haena.
Good news: The Kaua’i County General Plan includes Smart Growth
principles.
The General Plan update sets forth many key, Smart Growth
policies. Some of the main principles embedded in the document by the county
Planning Department, Citizens Advisory Committee and planning consultant
include:
* Calling for coordination between state and county infrastructure
planning and implementation.
* Promoting growth in existing communities to
encourage compact development by infilling.
* Encouraging mixed land-uses,
allowing neighborhood commercial services within residential areas in order to
foster walkable neighborhoods and reduce dependence on cars.
* Preserving
open space, rural character, agricultural use of agricultural land, natural
beauty and critical environmental areas.
* And keeping our unique identity
by conserving Native Hawaiian sites and perpetuating cultural practices, as
well as by protecting the places which show our historic and cultural
heritage.
Lihu’e is a good example of how infilling could contain
sprawl, save tax dollars and enhance residential and work life. This central
core of Kaua’i is close to the major medical facility, college, shopping mall
and airport, as well as having government offices and town center that includes
historic buildings.
Already-zoned land within and adjacent to Lihu’e can
produce housing opportunities mixed with neighborhood stores and services.
Small parks, greenbelts and walking/biking paths might connect new and old
neighborhoods. As the population grows, a mini bus system or jitneys might be
feasible for shuttling people between home, work, shopping and
recreation.
These livability ideas are among the design concepts that
should be encouraged, even with incentives, in new subdivisions that are
adjacent to existing urban areas. We should be cautious of proposals such as
Princeveille Mauka which employ these ideas but develop whole new towns neither
adjacent nor within zoned lands.
Smart Growth is not only about town and
subdivision design. It strongly advocates saving open places. Open means two
things for land-use on Kaua’i: The open zone and open space.
Open zoning is
a land designation describing areas where development can be hazardous for
people and property. The geography of Kaua’i makes it tempting to build along
streams, on slopes and close to beaches. But hurricanes Iwa and Iniki and the
Anahola flood have shown us our vulnerability, and as taxpayers, we all end up
sharing the cost of some people’s bad location choices.
The Hyatt is an
example of the benefits of building back from the coast; Kapalawai, mostly in
the open zone due to flood hazards, is a risky location for a substantial
project of 250 cabin units, three restaurants and pools, a fitness center,
tennis courts and parking lots.
Open space means lands largely free from
man-made structures. It includes the greenbelts that create wide separation
between communities, the significant land forms, including streams and view
corridors that orient and uplift us, the beaches and headlands that are
essential to islanders, and the agricultural land that can feed us now and in
the future. These lands are basic to Kauai’s rural character and to our quality
of life.
The General Plan suggests restoration of Hawaiian sites,
construction of more trails and bikeways (the Anahola-to-Nawilwili project is
an excellent example), designation of important views and panoramas,
conservation of heritage landscapes like Maha’ulepu, and application of the
ahupua’a concept of watershed management.
Bad news: The General Plan
promotes sprawl.
Unfortunately, despite the many Smart Growth policies
espoused in the proposed plan, it also encourages more sprawl. Along with
policies to direct sound development, the plan will adopt a map showing areas
to be developed over the next 20 years. The left hand discourages sprawl, while
the right allows more non-contiguous development of housing, commerce and
visitor accommodations long before the need is actually documented.
It is
important to have general, foresightful awareness of where growth may be
appropriate in the next two decades. But for large landowners, being on the
General Plan map is the critical first development link in the approval chain.
Mapping greatly increases the odds that the state Land Use Commission will
confer needed redistricting. LUC redistricting must precede county land-use
zoning. Being on the map is valuable in dollars and cents, as well as
politically. The danger in making this map part of the plan is that the map
will produce a competitive race between large landowners to be first to market
with their real estate.
A huge pitfall for Smart Growth is the idea, often
spouted by decisionmakers, that the General Plan is only a guideline. However,
the plan and development plans are adopted as ordinances or regulatory laws.
Calling ordinances “guides” is a wishy-washy stance, a giant loophole, that is
unfair to citizens and developers. Smart Growth calls for making decisions
predictable, fair as well as effective.
Smart Growth recognizes the
significance of meaningful, community-based participation in development
decisions. The General Plan states “government agencies and private developers
should consult with and solicit input from community organizations and public
meetings at the earliest possible time.” But there is no “should” about it.
Going to the community first is standard procedure for development as small as
asking for a change in a conditional use to creating an agricultural
subdivision or a resort.
Will Kaua’i allow continued sprawling growth or
make smart choices for the future? The answer will be rooted in the General
Plan.
Remember, our taxes have paid for the entire General Plan process.
We, the public, have made the investment to shape our future. Will this plan
bring us the future we want?
Beryl Blaich is the coastal conservation
organizer for the Sierra Club on Kaua’i. Barbara Robeson is a former chairwoman
of the Kaua’i County Planning Commission and served on the General Plan
Citizens Advisory Committee.
