Many municipalities have found that a smart growth approach would improve their financial bottom line. Whether by saving money on upfront infrastructure; reducing the cost of ongoing services like fire, police and ambulance; or by generating greater tax revenues in years to come, community after community has found that smart growth development would benefit their overall financial health. Many of these findings have been made publicly available.

No national survey has examined these savings as a whole until now. This report is the first to aggregate those comparisons and determine a national average of how much other communities can expect to save by using smart growth strategies.

Building Better Budgets: A National Examination of the Fiscal Benefits of Smart Growth Development surveys 17 studies that compare different development scenarios, including a brand-new study of Nashville-Davidson County, TN, commissioned specifically for this report.

The report looks at the costs associated with smart growth development and conventional suburban development, as well as each strategy’s revenue potential. When compared to one another, we find:

	1. Smart growth development costs one-third less for upfront infrastructure. Our survey concluded that smart growth development saves an average of 38 percent on upfront costs for new construction of roads, sewers, water lines and other infrastructure. Many studies have concluded that this number is as high as 50 percent.
	2. Smart growth development saves an average of 10 percent on ongoing delivery of services. Our survey concluded that smart growth development saves municipalities an average of 10 percent on police, ambulance and fire service costs.
	3. Smart growth development generates 10 times more tax revenue per acre than conventional suburban development. Our survey concluded that, on an average per-acre basis, smart growth development produces 10 times more tax revenue than conventional suburban development.

An opportunity for municipal leaders
Local leaders everywhere can use this information to make better fiscal decisions about development in their region.

The evidence presented in this report suggests improved strategies for land use and development can help local governments maintain and improve their fiscal solvency. As this report shows, smart growth development can reduce costs and in many cases increase tax revenue. This combination means that in some cases smart growth development can generate more revenue than it costs to operate.

These findings are true for any rural, suburban or urban community, anywhere in the country. Local governments throughout the United States are already facing unprecedented challenges in providing high-quality infrastructure and adequate public services to their residents on a tight budget. Choosing financially responsible development patterns can help communities across the country protect their fiscal health for generations to come.

Download the report

Click here to download Building Better Budgets: A National Examination of the Fiscal Benefits of Smart Growth Development (PDF)

A $750 Billion Infrastructure Bank – With No Federal Funds
Transportation Issues Daily – May 21, 2013
Can you imagine an infrastructure bank loaning up to $750 billion to state and local agencies, using no federal funds?

Do We Suddenly Hate Driving?
National Journal – May 21, 2013
United States policy on transportation hasn’t caught up to this phenomenon, the report argues.

Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust
New York Times – May 19, 2013
Forty-nine years ago, Ashley Yost’s grandfather sank a well deep into a half-mile square of rich Kansas farmland.

Report: More seniors are living in poverty
Politico – May 21, 2013
An alternative census estimate shows that more of America’s seniors than originally thought are living in poverty

Local News

New Jersey Realtor, Lina Panza, Advocates Walkable Neighborhoods to Combat Childhood Obesity
Newsday (NY) – May 21, 2013
While New Jersey’s self-proclaimed “Smart Realtor,” Lina Panza, loves walkable neighborhoods for many reasons, one of her favorite aspects of walkable places is the positive effect walkable environments have on health.

How Miami Lost Its Way to a Transit-Rich Future
TransitMiami (FL) – May 20, 2013
Forty years ago, Dade County officials sketched a vision for a paradigm shift away from highways and towards a multi-model transportation system for the area. Four decades onward, highway expansion is alive and well in Miami-Dade. What happened?

Lynchburg looks to build better streets
News Advance (VA) – May 21, 2013
The city, which is updating its comprehensive plan, has just completed a set of workshops on the philosophies known as “Complete Streets” and “Green Streets.”

I-81 is the most important civic decision in Syracyse 60 years, let’s get it right
Post-Standard (NY) – May 20, 2013
Call me naive, but I cling to the belief that the decision on replacing the crumbling I-81 viaduct is going to be made in the long-term best interests of the city.

Minimum Parking Requirement Threatens to Shut Down Austin’s Casa de Luz
Next City – May 21, 2013
Boneheaded local politics sometimes displace beloved institutions.

Help make Everett more walkable
HeraldNet (WA) – May 20, 2013
People are invited to a meeting Tuesday at Everett Station to share their ideas about helping the neighborhood become more walkable.

Just For Fun

The Lost Art of Luggage Labels
Atlantic Cities – May 21, 2013
What’s the modern-day version of a travel trunk?

The Suburbanization of Poverty
Atlantic Cities – May 20, 2013
There is no word more evocative in the urban vernacular than “suburb.” For most of us, those two syllables conjure a very specific type of place, with a specific kind of people comfortably living there.

PATH/Fail: The Story of the World’s Most Expensive Train Station
New York Observer – May 15, 2013
At $3.74 billion, plus another $200 million in contingencies, the “Transportation Hub” at the World Trade Center—not even the busiest station in the Financial District—will be far and away the most expensive train station built in modern history.

Cities Gain a Brain; But Will They Lose Their Souls?
Planetizen – May 20, 2013
In the quest to improve efficiency and effectiveness, “smart” technologies are helping cities become more intelligent machines.

Want to Build Your Brand in Hip Urban Centers? Sponsor a Bikeshare
Good.is – May 19, 2013
In addition to providing residents and visitors to major cities access to alternative, quick and easy transportation, bike shares are an increasingly popular way for forward-thinking brands to get more attention.

A Call for a New Model
Strongtowns.org – May 20, 2013
Building a Strong Town is a complex, long-term endeavor.

You Are Where You Eat : Let them eat downtown
Architect Magazine – May 20, 2013
Are you hungry? Because there are plenty of places to eat. They are replacing retail establishments everywhere.

Local News

Lessons from Maryland: Half of Gas Tax Increase Will Go to Transit
Keystone Politics (PA) – May 20, 2013
Martin O’Malley and the Maryland Democrats who just can’t lose are going to spend $650 million on transit – over half of the revenue they’ll collect from the gas tax increase.

Can there really be ‘Smart’ growth? Yes
The Unionville Times (PA) – May 19, 2013
Tax discount program adopted by Caln could be used to manage growth, get ratables

Rail transit-oriented development better for Kapolei than Kakaako
Star Advertiser (HI) – May 20, 2013
A recent Star-Advertiser article stressed how Kaka-ako will be built up with high-rise buildings that exceed height limitations but will be close to rail stations.

Nonprofit starts Complete Streets effort for Woodward Avenue
The Oakland Press (MI) – May 19, 2013
A local nonprofit group is working to make the entire 27-mile stretch of Woodward Avenue more pedestrian friendly in what is heralded as the single largest Complete Streets planning effort ever undertaken in North America.

Walk this way : Walking authority will take a hike through town
Observer and Eccentric (MI) – May 19, 2013
From Portland to New Zealand, Dan Burden has walked a good chunk of the world — literally.

Just for Fun

Explore history through Google Maps
My Reading Mapped – May 16, 2013
Here is your chance to digitally experience history, by zooming in on a Google satellite or terrain map, rather than just reading about it.

Nonmetro Areas as a Whole Experience First Period of Population Loss
USDA Blog – May 16, 2013
Population growth rates in nonmetro areas have been lower than those in metro areas since the mid-1990s, and the gap widened considerably in recent years.

Are streetcars the future of public transportation?
Salon – May 17, 2013
When President Obama nominated Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Anthony Foxx to head the U.S. Department of Transportation last month, he cited among Foxx’s other relevant accomplishments “a new streetcar project that’s going to bring modern electric tram service to [Charlotte’s] downtown area.”

Gas tax alternative drive takes wrong turn: Our view
USA Today – May 16, 2013
As revenue falls, states turn to punitive, complex or intrusive alternatives.

Luring developers to rebuild on polluted land
Marketplace Sustainability – May 17, 2013
When companies pack up and abandon places like apartment complexes, gas stations, factories, and rail yards, those properties often become what’s known as a brownfield.

Local News

Official’s Embrace of Gentrification Causes Stir in Detroit
Planetizen – May 16, 2013
Speaking at an event this week, Detroit’s economic development czar was unabashed in his support of gentrification for the troubled city. The subject is a sore one for a city that still recalls the rampant black displacement of the 1940s and ’50s.

O’Malley: Purple Line, other Washington area projects to benefit from gas tax increase
Washington Post (DC) – May 17, 2013
As he signed legislation Thursday raising Maryland’s gas tax, Gov. Martin O’Malley identified an initial $1.2 billion in new road and transit projects that he said the new revenue will make possible, including several in the Washington region.

Input From Bloomfield Residents Wanted at Complete Streets Interactive Event
Bloomfield Patch (MI) – May 17, 2013
The three-day charrette in nearby Birmingham will give a glimpse of the concept and provide an opportunity for residents to help shape the future of Woodward Avenue.

Montgomery County urges walkable streets for White Flint
Washington Business Journal (DC) – May 17, 2013
Montgomery County officials have been at odds with state highway planners over the reconfiguration of roads in the White Flint area.

LA Grows Up
KCRW (CA) – May 15, 2013
A conversation with Bill Fulton and others on LA’s building density.

Just for Fun

A Quest to Save NY’s Old-School Diners
Atlantic Cities – May 17, 2013
Several years ago, within a span of eight months, preservationist Michael Perlman brokered deals to rescue the classic Moondance and Cheyenne diners in Manhattan.

“Port Isabel’s history and character set us apart, and the City works hard to maintain those assets,” said Mayor Joe E. Vega. “We want to make sure Port Isabel stays a great place to live and visit for generations to come and we want to do that in the best way possible. That’s what next week’s workshop is about.”

City of Port Isabel residents are invited to join the workshop’s first day for an introductory presentation that will feature a broad overview of strategies for implementing smart growth strategies. The event will be held Tuesday, May 21, 2013 from 6:30–8:00 PM at the Port Isabel City Hall, 305 East Maxan Street, Port Isabel 78578.

“Smart Growth America is committed to providing training to help community leaders keep cities and towns livable, sustainable and vital places,” said Roger Millar, Director of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute. “Port Isabel has the potential to create and implement great sustainable plans for the future of their city. This workshop will give city officials the tools needed to start a conversation about smart growth strategies and the value it can bring to their community.”

In November 2012, the City of Port Isabel was one of 22 communities selected by Smart Growth America to participate in the free technical assistance program. Stretching from Maine to Washington State, these communities represent major cities, suburban centers, and rural towns alike.

The program, made possible through a five-year Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities, seeks to develop local planning solutions that help communities grow in ways that benefit families and businesses, while protecting the environment and preserving a sense of place. Three other nonprofit organizations—Forterra, Global Green USA and Project for Public Spaces—also received competitively awarded grants under this program to help communities get the kinds of development they want.

Learn more about our technical assistance workshops for communities.

Workshop Materials:

• Implementing Smart Growth 101 Tool Description (PDF)

The following is a guest post from Meredith Gramelspacher, Director and General Counsel of the
Indiana Brownfields Program

Indiana’s toolbox for creative brownfields financing includes one source that is seldom used outside of Indiana: Supplemental Environmental Projects.

Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) are used by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) Office of Enforcement in negotiating settlements of enforcement cases. These environmentally-beneficial projects improve, protect, or reduce risks to public health or the environment. A regulated entity agrees to undertake the project in further settlement of an enforcement action, but which the regulated entity is not otherwise legally required to perform. In certain cases, IDEM agrees to allow a respondent to make a cash payment of an agreed-upon dollar amount directly to the Indiana Finance Authority in lieu of an assessed civil penalty for use on a brownfield project in the city, town or county in which the violation underlying the enforcement action occurred. The Indiana Brownfields Program then coordinates with the beneficiary community to select a brownfield property at which to utilize the SEP Funds consistent with Brownfield SEP guidelines.

In 2007, the Indiana Brownfields Program and IDEM Office of Enforcement staff developed this unique process to directly divert enforcement penalties that would otherwise be received by IDEM to communities needing financial assistance to address their brownfields. The goal of the Brownfield SEP program is to develop an easy way for respondents to pay enforcement penalties into a fund to be made available to the community directly affected by the respondent’s environmental infraction to address contamination issues on a brownfield. When IDEM agrees to allow a respondent to settle a case with a brownfield SEP, an agreed-upon amount from a civil penalty owed to IDEM is paid directly by the respondent to the IFA for use on a brownfield project. As part of IDEM’s underlying enforcement order, the Program establishes a site or community-specific account within the Environmental Remediation Revolving Loan Fund managed by the Authority, into which the respondent’s payment of SEP Funds is deposited. The Authority then executes a financial assistance agreement with the SEP Recipient and the consultant(s) it retains to undertake site work, through which eligible SEP project activities are reimbursed by the Authority following Program approval of project activities and expenditures.

In order to administer this form of financial assistance, Program staff developed brownfield SEP guidelines for those communities that are the beneficiaries of a brownfield SEP to explain the eligible uses of the funding, administrative procedures for accepting and utilizing the funding, etc. The Brownfield SEP Guidelines were developed to permit use of SEP funds on activities that are not typically eligible activities under traditional brownfield grants, including demolition, habitat restoration, and land acquisition, and as such, often serve as key gap funding for a brownfield project. Under the guidelines, once a municipality is awarded a SEP, it can contract with a consultant it selects to complete the work or the Program can provide a contracting vehicle for selecting consultants. Any shortfall of funding to complete environmental assessment, remediation, or redevelopment efforts on the selected brownfield may be supplemented by other financial assistance awarded by the Program or a site/project-specific determination by the Program under the guidelines to provide funding to supplement the SEP Funds in order to facilitate completion of the work needed to allow site’s beneficial reuse.

To date approximately $800,000 has been collected to address brownfields in 19 municipalities across the State of Indiana. Available SEP awards have ranged from as little as $1,000, allowing a municipality to secure a Phase I Site Assessment, to as high as $270,000. The City of Gary was designated as a SEP recipient and received $270,000 to address a brownfield in the area of the underlying violation. In coordination with the City of Gary, the enforcement respondent and the Program selected the former Straughter Body Shop to benefit from the SEP funds.

The Straughter Body Shop, pictured above, was an active business (even as the building in which it operated was collapsing) that had become delinquent in paying its taxes. The City of Gary took title to the property through the tax sale process and the Program leveraged American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding to help pay for underground storage tank removal and remediation. Using the combination of SEP and ARRA funds, the on-site buildings were demolished, subsurface investigation was completed, USTs were removed and remediation was conducted to transform a blighted and contaminated corner lot in a residential neighborhood into a park. In addition to contributing to cleanup of the former Straughter Body Shop, the City of Gary was able to use the SEP funding on five additional sites to remove neighborhood blight, assess potential contamination, and conduct remediation.

In a time of scarce brownfield grant funding, Indiana’s Brownfield SEP Program has proven a highly successful way to make funding available for brownfield redevelopment activities. By making enforcement penalties available as brownfield SEPs, Indiana is creating environmental benefit in communities directly affected by an underlying environmental violation. For more information regarding brownfield SEPs in Indiana, please contact Andrea Robertson, Senior Environmental Manager, Indiana Brownfields Program, at (317) 234-0968 or aroberts [at] ifa.in [dot] gov.

Thank you to everyone who attending SGA’s National Brownfields Coalition’s webinar What the BUILD Act Could Build on Wednesday, May 8th, 2013.

On the webinar, we discussed the legislation introduced in March by Senators Lautenberg (D-NJ), Inhofe (R-OK), Crapo (R-ID), and Udall (D-NM), changes to the Brownfields Program, and how you can speak out and share your story.

	Listen in: Click here to view the archived webinar
	Click here to download the presentation

Looking for more information on the BUILD Act? Get the details here on out blog or click here to join the National Brownfields Coalition mailing list.

Interested in supporting our work on brownfields? Become a sponsor or make a donation today.

Special thanks to our webinar sponsor, Pullman & Comley Attorneys.

It’s Time For City Planners To Adapt A New Model
Forbes – May 15, 2013
Mayors and city councils are somehow more informed as to how to meet the future with ten and twenty year plans in file drawers.

Where Americans Want To Live: New ULI Report, America In 2013, Explores Housing, Transportation, Community Preferences Survey Suggests Strong Demand for Compact Development
ULI Blog – May 16, 2013
A new report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) underscores the influence that growing demographic groups in the U.S. – in particular Generation Y, African Americans, and Latinos – will have on reshaping urban growth patterns by spurring more development of compact, mixed-use communities with reliable, convenient transit service.

Bike Lane Battles Heat Up
Governing – May 16, 2013
The share of Americans commuting by bike has grown by 47 percent since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey.

10 Ways Civic Hacking Can Benefit Your Community
Planetizen – May 16, 2013
Code for America is planning a National Day of Civic Hacking next month to “promote transparency, participation and collaboration between governments and citizens.”

Local News

City officials tout South End as model for rail-oriented development
Charlotte Observer (NC) – May 16, 2013
Charlotte officials will receive help from the group as they try to figure out how best to revive other close-in areas like South End. William Fulton, a vice president with the group and a former mayor of Ventura, Calif., called South End redevelopment commendable.

As Usual, California Density Goes Its Own Way — Up!
California Planning and Development Report – May 16, 2013
Well, California’s at it again — going in a different direction than the rest of the country.

Mid Michigan needs to invest in walkability to survive and thrive
Mid-Michigan’s Second Wave – May 14, 2013
Baby boomers continue to retire with each passing day and employers are looking to millennials to fill the workforce gap.

North of Salt Lake City, a 21st-Century Highway Revolt
Next City – May 15, 2013
Activists and advocates who speak highly of those energizing days when community groups banded together to stop highway projects should consider a trip to Salt Lake City.

Beyond Farmers’ Markets: Louisville Kicks the Local Food Movement to the Next Level
Atlantic Cities – May 15, 2013
While many consumers may like the idea of sticking it to agribusiness, supporting local growers, and lowering the carbon footprint of their food choices, meat and produce don’t magically beam their way from farms to tables.

Just For Fun

How Twitter Is Changing the Geography of Communication
Atlantic Cities – May 16, 2013
Since academics first began studying communication, they’ve been trying to figure out who we talk to and how those networks change with the invention of new mediums of interaction.

Engaging community members in decisions about where, what, when and how to invest, build, and preserve is what makes smart growth smart. As basic as this principle is, though, it is not always easy to do. There is a learning curve for everyone involved in the development process and this is particularly true for brownfield sites—properties that are or are suspected to be contaminated by hazardous materials. Brownfields are some of the most complicated redevelopment projects and the more people and official processes that are involved in the process, the steeper the learning curve.

That’s why Smart Growth America is happy to release a new tool designed to help communities organize for effective public outreach. The Organizing to Promote Targeted Improvements in Our Neighborhoods (OPTIONs) Community Engagement Workbook is a series of seven worksheets with instructions designed to help community groups think about how to organize, what they need, and how to build a strategy to participate in the redevelopment process. Community groups can use these tools on their own, but they can be just as useful for local governments seeking working with partners in federally- and state-mandated community engagement programs.

The Workbook originated as a companion to a much more detailed workbook for municipalities dealing with assessing and managing risks associated with brownfield sites. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks, spurred on by extraordinary partnerships in Florida that were resulting in new clinics and other community-oriented facilities on former petroleum brownfields, observed the need for a simpler version of the tool to help people understand the redevelopment process and advocate for their community’s needs. The OPTIONs Workbook fills this role and is a great tool for any type of redevelopment project, brownfield or otherwise.

We’ll be presenting the Workbook this afternoon as part of the Brownfields 2013 national conference, and if you are in Atlanta for the conference we’d be more than happy to talk with you about it. This resource is built to last, though. Anyone involved in brownfields redevelopment can use this workbook to better connect with and gain support from community members.

Download the workbook

OPTIONs: A Community Engagement Workbook (PDF) The worksheets in this guide will help you think through the information you need, the people you need to know, and the questions you need to answer to support and even lead redevelopment efforts. Want an example of how to use this resource? Download sample completed worksheets from two different projects: Sample response from community group pursuing recreation and open space on two large sites. (PDF) Sample responses from community participating in an areawide redevelopment plan. (PDF)