RI Department of Education promotes 'Smart Growth' principles in school facility planning guidelines

As a new school year gets underway, communities applying for school construction aid in Rhode Island will find a new emphasis on building guidelines that promote smart growth concepts and that ask school districts to consider the impact of sprawl in planning for school space needs.

These guidelines, which encourage renovation of existing facilities where feasible and the siting of new schools away from remote locations and closer to neighborhoods where more children can walk, were originally adopted in 2002 following a recommendation of the Governor's Growth Planning Council. [More]

Read the related editorial by the Providence Journal - 9/14

Schools for Successful Communities: An Element of Smart Growth explains why and how communities can employ smart growth planning principles to build schools that better serve and support students, staff, parents, and the entire community.

When school districts collaborate with community leaders to find a location for a school, the community benefits socially, environmentally, and economically. This booklet, published by the Council for Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) and the U.S. EPA, helps communities invest in schools that will give children the best possible education, use taxpayer dollars wisely, and improve the quality of life for all citizens.

Click here to find out how to get a free copy

New program will pay 90% of project costs to improve safety near schools

As part of the far-reaching federal transportation spending package approved by Congress and signed by the President on August 10, 2005, the new federal Safe Routes to School Program aims to invest $612 million over five years to improve the safety of children walking or bicycling to school. The program will be administered locally by RIDOT.

According to AmericaBikes.org, the number of children walking or bicycling to school has declined dramatically in recent decades, increasing school busing costs as well as traffic congestion. Public health officials say children need to get more physical activity: since the 1970s, the percentage of obese children 6 to 11 years old has tripled. At the same time, motor vehicles are the leading cause of death among children 4 to 14 years old. [More]

As President of the Washington, DC based Growth Management Leadership Alliance (GMLA), Grow Smart Rhode Island Executive Director Scott Wolf recently sealed an agreement to merge the GMLA with Smart Growth America.

GMLA has served as the professional association for state and regional organizations that carry out programs to directly shape and implement smart growth policies and actions in the United States and Canada. Smart Growth America is a coalition of some of the best-known national and statewide organizations advocating on behalf of historic preservation, the environment, farmland and open space preservation, neighborhood revitalization and more.

According to Wolf, "The merger will strengthen the smart growth movement by linking national resources more closely with the drive for policy reform at the state and local levels."

No one likes sprawl and the traffic congestion it creates; yet proposals for increasing density in new and existing neighborhoods are often squashed by community fears of public housing, crime, and ugly high-rises. Higher Density Myth and Fact dispels these negative stereotypes, by comparing the advantages and drawbacks of higher and low-density development.

Published by the Urban Land Institute, the report examines eight widespread misconceptions about higher-density development and dispels them with well-researched facts and examples of quality, compact developments.

Available in packets of 10 for $19.95 from the ULI bookstore.

Tools for Planners, Developers and Architects

Many New Englanders respond to New Urbanism by exclaiming, “Who needs New Urbanism? We have authentic old urbanism!” Unfortunately, our treasured urbanism is no longer sufficient. Our cities, villages, hamlets and countryside are under attack by development and code trends of the last 50 years that debase the very places we treasure.

This article, by town and building design consultant Bill Dennis, reviews the misunderstandings about what New Urbanism is (only for the rich, only about porches, all about artificial exclusive and upper middle-class gated communities, just for greenfields, not practical, won’t work here because we’re different, etc.). [More]

Congress on New Urbanism - New England Chapter

New 8-page Fact Sheet from the Local Government Commission

Form-based codes have become an increasingly popular approach to reforming zoning codes and creating communities where people want to live, work and play. Form-Based Codes: Implementing Smart Growth from the Local Government Commission is an eight-page fact sheet that discusses this innovative approach to regulating development and includes case studies and tips for preparing and administering a form-based code.

This publication provides a quick definition of form-based codes and provides examples of why such codes are effective. Steps for how a community can prepare a form-based code are provided, along with examples of form-based codes from other communities. [More]

Download the Fact Sheet (8 pages/3.9mb)

Wednesday, September 21

October 3-7

Friday, October 14

Grow Smart is pleased to introduce a new service beginning this month. On a space available basis, we will post positions related to smart growth and land use.

The service will be available on a complimentary basis for a trial period. Organizations interested in posting a job opening must provide a link to further information. Email your listing to us

• Executive Director, Community Housing Land Trust of Rhode Island -- see job announcement on Housing Network of RI website

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