Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population
ASAP
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SUGGESTIONS for ACTION on LOCAL POPULATION GROWTH: WHAT CITIZENS CAN DO TO KEEP THIS THE "BEST PLACE TO LIVE"
Extracts from Jack Marshall’s presentation at the October 2, 2004, Conference of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP), Charlottesville, VA

We need to act now to slow growth – and to begin eventually leveling off at an optimal population size. Here are some thoughts about what we can do.

First, inform ourselves

What do we need to know?

  • How local governments work; when and how decisions are made
  • Local demography (population sizes, rates of growth, doubling time, buildout, etc.)
  • The costs/impacts of growth (on traffic, affordable housing, taxes, water, etc.)
  • Tools for managing growth (see books by Eben Fodor and Ed Stennett)
  • How to debunk the myths of growth

How can we learn about growth issues?

  • Read ASAP newsletters and articles, books about population growth (e.g. by Stennett, Fodor), local media, www.stopgrowthASAP.org and other internet sources
  • Attend meetings of local civic and environmental organizations
  • Listen at meetings of local government – County Board of Supervisors and City Council, Planning Commissions, TJ Planning District Committee, School Boards, MPO
  • Take Jack Marshall’s UVA/JILL course (“Controlling Population Growth: Global, National, and Local Controversies”) in the Fall of 2005

Recognize that you can’t master all the issues at once; focus on a topic important to you.

Then ACT

  1. Inform others: Raise community awareness and knowledge; ask questions; publicly challenge the myths of population growth (e.g. “Growth is inevitable”).
    • Talk with friends. Pass on the ASAP newsletter, as well as books and clippings about local growth, to others, and discuss the material.
    • Speak about growth issues at organizations you belong to
    • Arrange for a speaker from ASAP (or a debate with a pro-growth advocate) at such groups: neighborhood association, civic club, church discussion group, garden club, PTO, country club, gym, etc. -- especially groups that support more growth.
    • Write letters to the editor: respond to local events in our community; provide facts and opinions to counter pro-growth positions.
    • Slap one of ASAP’s new bumper stickers on your car and give one to a friend.
  2. Get involved in your neighborhood association – but also move beyond NIMBY issues to join forces with other neighborhoods. And work with other local organizations that tackle community growth issues: ASAP, Piedmont Environment Council (PEC), Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters, Citizens for Albemarle, ACCT, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, etc. Contribute time and money.
  3. Vote for candidates who embrace your views on growth; work for them.
  4. Participate in local government meetings. Just being in some audiences demonstrates your opposition to growth, but voicing opinions at meetings is better. Here’s a starter list of suggestions for advocacy on some growth-related public policy issues:
    • Urge that our revised Comprehensive Plan reflect seriously our commitment to the adopted Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Accords. The new Plan should include an explicit population policy and address the concept of “optimal population size.”
    • Attend the work sessions and public hearings scheduled over the next few months to revise the Rural Areas (RA) section of Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan. Insist that the county strengthen protection of the RA:
      • Support the ACE Program with enthusiasm; urge that it be funded at a higher level
      • Urge that planners more thoroughly examine the implications of cluster development and common wells on rural growth
      • Demand phased (timed) development, so that construction of residential units is stretched over years
      • Recommend that the revised Plan include expanded and strengthened overlay districts in which residential development is limited (e.g. expanded stream buffers, historic areas, watershed protection, mountains)
      • Press planners to revisit the concept of “Land Use Taxation.” At the least, increase the rollback period. Examine whether the costs of the Land Use Taxation program (i.e. $10 million in taxes not paid) could be better spent by shifting the money to a vastly expanded ACE program.
    • Reject developers’ contention that the current Growth [Development] Areas have no more room for development. Growth Areas must NOT be expanded.
    • Demand that our planners and decision makers address the big picture over the long haul. Too often “long-term” planning consists of thinking about next Thursday; too often the cumulative impact of individual developments is neglected.
    • Insist that decisions about development realistically take into account its full long-term costs; insist that the county’s ability to undertake Fiscal Impact Analysis be utilized.
    • Remind decision makers that local affordable housing is not keeping up with population growth. Between the last two censuses, Albemarle County’s population got richer, older, and whiter. Contrary to the arguments of many in the housing industry, unfettered growth – as long as it is driven by the profit motive in a free market economy – is not likely to result in affordable housing.
  5. Discourage efforts to “market” Albemarle County to outside businesses; encourage regional planning, but oppose pressure for the county to join the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development. Support local businesses. Ask the Chamber of Commerce why it encourages vast new commercial developments with huge new national chain stores and businesses that will weaken and destroy many homegrown small businesses that help give our community its character.
  6. If you own land, put it in a conservation easement (and get a tax deduction). If you can’t afford to donate your land for an easement, apply to Albemarle County’s Acquisition of Conservation Easements (ACE) Program and offer to sell your development rights.
  7. Lobby the state legislature in Richmond to enact enabling legislation that will allow localities the possibility to assess impact fees, to consider Transfer of Development Rights, and to deny development if adequate public facilities are not available.
  8. Join ASAP and actively support its mission.