The vast majority of groups concerned with local population growth – there are hundreds of them throughout the U.S. – subscribe to the approach of the “smart” growth movement. This effort, first articulated roughly 30 years ago to cope with sprawl, is today the conventional wisdom within planning departments of most thoughtful American localities (and increasingly co-opted by pro-growth forces).
“Smart growth does not seek to stop or limit growth, but rather to accommodate it…,” as the pro-development Urban Land Institute, an advocate of “smart” growth, honestly explains. Premised on the myth that growth is inevitable, but wary of the more noticeable impacts of relentlessly expanding populations, “smart” growth builds on the well-intentioned but short-sighted concept of ‘sustainable growth.’ “Smart” growth strategies aim at managing how and where growth should occur, NOT whether it should occur.
ASAP, and similar groups that seek to stabilize (i.e., stop) population growth at some point short of catastrophe, argue that “smart” growth is necessary but not sufficient. Until growth stops, we point out, it should be “smart.” The tools ASAP advocates to slow population growth and gradually level off are nothing more that the tools long encouraged by the “smart” growth movement: zoning, voluntary conservation easements, development buffers, purchase of development rights programs, urban growth boundaries, minimum density requirements, cluster development, etc.
Thus we in ASAP try to maintain close contact with our “smart” growth colleagues, with whom we agree on far more than we disagree.
To keep up with what they’re doing around the country, the Smart Growth Network (http://www.smartgrowth.org/default.asp) can be helpful. The Network, set up in 1996 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “works to encourage development that serves the economy, community and the environment.” A free subscription to their monthly e-mailed catalogue of Smart Growth related news, events, information and resources, called “Smart Growth Online”, can be had at the website.
In our Charlottesville/Albemarle area, the main “smart” growth standard-bearers are:
Piedmont Environmental Council [PEC] (http://www.pecva.org/index.php)
The dominant environmental group in nine counties of Virginia’s Piedmont, with a focus on protecting rural areas from sprawl, PEC has a strong staff at its Warrenton, VA, headquarters and field offices stretching between Loudoun and Albemarle. Jeff Werner, the Field Officer of the Albemarle office (based in Charlottesville) is a knowledgeable and tireless advocate of smart growth, and generous with his prodigious information about local population growth and land use. He recently issued a valuable report examining the huge amount of residential development in the City and County “pipeline” (http://www.pecva.org/counties/albemarle/index.php).
Southern Environmental Law Center [SELC] (http://www.southernenvironment.org/index.htm)
The Virginia office of SELC, the biggest environmental organization headquartered in the South, is in Charlottesville, where an environmental lawyer focusing on our local issues has recently been added. SELC’s work is based on “using the power of the law to conserve healthy air, clean water, wild lands, and livable communities.” The organization recognizes that these laudable environmental conditions are threatened by population growth, but in classic “smart” growth terms their website states “The problem is not that we are growing, but how we are growing.” Nevertheless SELC has made valuable contributions, both directly and indirectly, to efforts supported by ASAP.
Charlottesville Tomorrow (http://action.cvilletomorrow.org/cvilleaction/home.html)
Charlottesville Tomorrow is dedicated “to informing public opinion and policy on land use, transportation, and community design issues to ensure sensible growth and to realize the best possible future for the Charlottesville-Albemarle area.” Though local population growth is a major focus of its activities, it operates only though the most traditional “smart” growth ideology, and has avoided taking a public stance on most of the local controversial growth decisions. However in its first year, through its website, blogs, podcasts, radio appearances, etc., Charlottesville Tomorrow has succeeded in making available to the public up-to-date information about local growth and development issues.
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Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population |