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Smart growth is an approach to community design that connects housing, transportation, and land use to create healthy, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods.
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Chesterfield County, VA_credit_Providence Hill Real Estate

In Columbus, Ohio and Chesterfield County, Virginia, IMPACT Community Action and Partnership for Smarter Growth are using mapping and visual storytelling tools to help communities better understand how zoning decisions shape health, housing, and transportation outcomes. Through ZEST, these organizations developed new tools to support more informed community engagement and advocacy.
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Throughout the fall and winter of 2025, Smart Growth America’s<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/"> Center for Zoning Solutions</a> supported 19 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country through the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/services/grants/zoning-for-equitable-solutions-and-thriving-communities-zest/">Zoning for Equitable Solutions and Thriving Communities</a> (ZEST) program. Together, they strengthened each organization’s ability to connect land use and health outcomes, identify zoning barriers, and translate complex policies into practical, community-driven strategies.
Zoning is a powerful driver of health outcomes, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life—from housing and transportation to environmental exposure and access to opportunity—in both visible and invisible ways. Over six months, Smart Growth America delivered tailored technical assistance spanning policy analysis, data analysis, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and education and advocacy tools, building participants’ capacity to turn complex zoning systems into actionable strategies for creating healthier communities.
A key takeaway from this work was the power of storytelling as an essential tool for translating complex issues into relatable, actionable narratives. This blog series <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">builds on those lessons</a>, highlighting real-world examples, tools, and insights to support others navigating zoning challenges and advancing reform in their own communities.
<h2>Introducing our partners</h2>
In central Ohio, <a href="https://www.impactca.org/">IMPACT Community Action</a> provides education and training to empower residents, cultivating advocates and local leaders who work toward creating more equitable communities. As Columbus underwent a comprehensive zoning code update through its <a href="https://zone-in-columbus.hub.arcgis.com/">Zone In Columbus</a> initiative, IMPACT saw an opportunity to engage more community members by communicating the proposed zoning changes and their implications for environmental justice, housing affordability, and health outcomes.
Similarly, in Chesterfield County, VA—just outside of Richmond—the <a href="https://www.chesterfield.gov/5102/Zoning-Ordinance-Modernization-Project">Zoning Ordinance Modernization (ZOMod)</a> project is reshaping the county’s zoning code and creating new opportunities for public engagement in decision-making. <a href="https://www.psgrichmond.org/">Partnership for Smarter Growth</a> (PSG) is a local organization working to advance smart growth by promoting infill development and multimodal transportation options.
Through ZEST, SGA developed an ArcGIS StoryMap that compares health equity indicators across the county—such as pedestrian fatalities, access to grocery stores, and physical activity levels—and overlays them with key zoning factors, including where multifamily housing development is permitted. Designed as an educational and advocacy tool, the StoryMap will help community members, planning staff, and elected officials better understand how zoning decisions shape health outcomes as they engage with the ZOMod project.
<h3 style="text-align: center;">“Many neighborhoods [in Columbus] lack access to grocery stores with fresh produce, forcing residents to rely on convenience stores and fast food.” - Katie Devlin, Director of Climate Justice Initiatives, IMPACT Community Action</h3>
<h2>Support from SGA</h2>
For both communities, SGA created unique StoryMaps to help translate zoning changes into clear, community-relevant insights. This work examined demographic trends, built-environment conditions, public health indicators, and existing and proposed zoning codes to determine the overlap between existing health inequities and the existing zoning framework.
In Columbus, we worked with IMPACT to map key indicators, including food access, environmental burdens (air pollution, asthma rates, tree canopy, and air temperature differences), and housing costs and availability. We overlaid this analysis with recent rezonings completed under the first phase of Zone In, LinkUS transit corridors slated for pedestrian, cycling, and transit infrastructure improvements, and broader residential and industrial zoning patterns. We brought these elements together in an interactive <a href="https://arcg.is/15u84q3">StoryMap</a> to visualize the intersections between zoning, the built environment, and health disparities.
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/impact-columbus-2-1.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-113312" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/impact-columbus-2-1-1024x410.png" alt="" width="1024" height="410" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/impact-columbus-2-1-1024x410.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/impact-columbus-2-1-300x120.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/impact-columbus-2-1-768x307.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/impact-columbus-2-1.png 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
For Chesterfield County, SGA conducted a similar analysis, mapping job centers, vehicle ownership, pedestrian safety, and food access alongside housing trends and changes to residential zoning under the ZOMod initiative. These findings were compiled into another StoryMap.
<h3 style="text-align: center;">“High-injury road networks are concentrated in areas with high poverty rates—communities that are often predominantly Black and Brown. While this may appear to be a transportation issue, it is fundamentally rooted in zoning.” - Finn Pollard, Coordinator for Strategy &amp; Outreach, Partnership for Smarter Growth </h3>
<h2>Connecting zoning to community health</h2>
Both IMPACT Community Action and the Partnership for Smarter Growth prioritize strengthening community participation in zoning reform because they recognize the importance of residents having a direct role in shaping the built environment.
In producing these StoryMaps, ZEST equipped both organizations with visual storytelling and educational tools to galvanize more informed and inclusive civic participation. When communities like Columbus and Chesterfield County can more clearly see how zoning shapes their daily lives, people are better positioned to participate in local decision-making and advocate for healthier, more equitable outcomes.

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McCormick County, SC_credit_Savanna Lakes Village Real Estate

Across the country, community organizations are looking to better understand how zoning shapes health, housing, and access to opportunity. Through the ZEST program, participants strengthened their ability to communicate complex land-use issues and connect them to everyday community concerns.
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Throughout the fall and winter of 2025, Smart Growth America’s<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/"> Center for Zoning Solutions</a> supported 19 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country through the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/services/grants/zoning-for-equitable-solutions-and-thriving-communities-zest/">Zoning for Equitable Solutions and Thriving Communities</a> (ZEST) program. Together, they strengthened each organization’s ability to connect land use and health outcomes, identify zoning barriers, and translate complex policies into practical, community-driven strategies.
Zoning is a powerful driver of health outcomes, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life—from housing and transportation to our environmental exposure and access to opportunity—in both visible and invisible ways. Over six months, Smart Growth America delivered tailored technical assistance spanning policy analysis, data analysis, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and education and advocacy tools, building participants’ capacity to turn complex zoning systems into actionable strategies for creating healthier communities.
A key takeaway from this work was the power of storytelling as an essential tool for translating complex issues into relatable, actionable narratives. This blog series <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">builds on those lessons</a>, highlighting real-world examples, tools, and insights to support others navigating zoning challenges and advancing reform in their own communities.
<h2>Introducing our partners</h2>
Several organizations joined ZEST to better understand zoning and support their work in areas outside traditional planning. For example, <a href="https://www.healutah.org/">Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah</a> (HEAL Utah) works to “protect Utah’s environment and its people by promoting clean air, clean energy, and comprehensive solutions to radioactive and toxic waste.” Through its policy advocacy program, <a href="https://joiningforces.connect2home.org/">Joining Forces for Affordable Housing</a>, <a href="https://www.connect2home.org/">Connections for the Homeless</a> organizes and mobilizes neighbors to advocate for equitable residential zoning that increases affordable housing while reducing displacement in northern Cook and Lake counties, IL. And in rural South Carolina, <a href="https://www.ourstrategies.org/">Organized Uplifting Resources &amp; Strategies</a> (OURS) works to “reclaim, revitalize, and sustain rural communities.” Whether addressing environmental health, housing instability, or rural community development, these organizations recognized that land-use policies are shaping outcomes, even though zoning is not their primary focus.
<figure id="attachment_114172" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114172" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/McCormick-County-SC_credit_Savanna-Lakes-Village-Real-Estate.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-114172" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/McCormick-County-SC_credit_Savanna-Lakes-Village-Real-Estate-1024x610.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="610" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/McCormick-County-SC_credit_Savanna-Lakes-Village-Real-Estate-1024x610.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/McCormick-County-SC_credit_Savanna-Lakes-Village-Real-Estate-300x179.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/McCormick-County-SC_credit_Savanna-Lakes-Village-Real-Estate-768x457.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/McCormick-County-SC_credit_Savanna-Lakes-Village-Real-Estate.jpg 1470w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-114172" class="wp-caption-text">McCormick County, SC. Photo Credit: Savanna Lakes Village Real Estate</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Barriers they face</h2>
For many participants, the challenge is not just navigating zoning systems, but explaining them to community members and partners. Zoning processes are often technical, opaque, and difficult to engage with, making it hard to know when and how to get involved in decision-making.
At the same time, clearly communicating the consequences of zoning is a barrier in itself. The connections between land use and outcomes in housing affordability, public health, and transportation access can be indirect and difficult to visualize, making it harder to build awareness and generate momentum for change.
<h3 style="text-align: center;">“This is helping a lot in figuring out the visioning piece to the puzzle on rezoning.”</h3>
<h2>Support from SGA</h2>
To address these challenges, SGA delivered support to strengthen technical knowledge and communication capacity. This work included accessible resources explaining key zoning, land-use, and housing concepts, such as Euclidean zoning, development standards, and missing-middle housing.  SGA also provided guidance on data sources and metrics that effectively demonstrate zoning impacts for advocacy efforts. HEAL Utah received support with identifying tools specifically focused on tracking environmental and health outcomes, while OURS received guidance on rural zoning processes and reform pathways tailored to McCormick County, SC. For Connections for the Homeless, SGA curated communications and messaging resources to support engagement on local housing and land-use issues. 
<h2>Connecting zoning to community health</h2>
Across the cohort, organizations reinforced that “demystifying” zoning is critical to advancing health equity. Making zoning understandable requires engaging a wide range of perspectives—skeptical elected officials, outspoken neighbors, and other community members—who care but don’t have enough time to get involved.
This requires clearly connecting land-use decisions to everyday health outcomes. Having more transportation options can reduce automobile dependence and improve air quality; better connectivity and walkable neighborhoods can increase physical activity and reduce cardiovascular disease; and building housing near daily needs can lower transportation costs and reduce financial stress and anxiety.
Providing clear, accessible language to communicate these connections is the first step toward creating meaningful change. When communities understand how zoning shapes their daily lives, they are better equipped to advocate, advance, and ultimately achieve better health outcomes.

Demystifying zoning for community advocacy | Community zoning stories

Requity

In West Baltimore, Requity Foundation is transforming vacant properties into opportunities for workforce development, environmental sustainability, and community revitalization. Through its participation in ZEST, we worked with Requity to strengthen its understanding of the zoning barriers that often make community-led land activation more difficult than it should be.
<hr />
Throughout the fall and winter of 2025, Smart Growth America’s<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/"> Center for Zoning Solutions</a> supported 19 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country through the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/services/grants/zoning-for-equitable-solutions-and-thriving-communities-zest/">Zoning for Equitable Solutions and Thriving Communities</a> (ZEST) program. Together, they strengthened each organization’s ability to connect land use and health outcomes, identify zoning barriers, and translate complex policies into practical, community-driven strategies.
Zoning is a powerful driver of health outcomes, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life—from housing and transportation to environmental exposure and access to opportunity—in both visible and invisible ways. Over six months, Smart Growth America delivered tailored technical assistance spanning policy analysis, data analysis, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and education and advocacy tools, building participants’ capacity to turn complex zoning systems into actionable strategies for creating healthier communities.
A key takeaway from this work was the power of storytelling as an essential tool for translating complex issues into relatable, actionable narratives. This blog series <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">builds on those lessons</a>, highlighting real-world examples, tools, and insights to support others navigating zoning challenges and advancing reform in their own communities.
<h2>Using vacant land for workforce development</h2>
Based in west Baltimore’s Coppin Heights-Easterwood neighborhood, <a href="https://www.requity.org/">Requity Foundation</a> runs programs that connect students from Carver Vocational-Technical High School—located across the street—and other nearby schools to real-world experience and job training in construction, digital media, business, and the culinary arts. A core feature of their programming includes transforming vacant neighborhood properties into living laboratories to train students who will become the next generation of the local workforce.
Despite being a relatively new organization, founded only in 2020, Requity quickly steeped in the community development space, working to activate unused spaces that municipal systems had struggled to revitalize. Requity launched its first major program in 2021, rooted in an idea that began nearly a decade earlier when Carver student-athlete Sterling Hardy asked his baseball coach, Michael Rosenband, “Why don’t we work on rehabilitating those houses across the street?” The question stayed with Rosenband, who later founded Requity and turned that idea into action.
The organization acquired a vacant house across from the school, which participating students have been working to rehabilitate into an environmentally sustainable, energy-efficient home. This means that “Carver House” will have significantly lower energy costs. As this project gained momentum, Requity identified another poorly maintained vacant parcel in the middle of a nearby block of rowhomes, presenting a similar opportunity—this time for a community garden.
These projects require navigating the City of Baltimore’s zoning and regulatory systems, which are—like others across the country—often bureaucratic and unintuitive. And over time, it has become clear that zoning and regulatory processes remain a key barrier to scaling their work, limiting Requity’s ability to acquire and activate vacant land to support its broader community and workforce development goals. Through its participation in ZEST, the organization gained a clearer understanding of how to navigate these systems, positioning it to expand programs to additional sites.
<figure id="attachment_114169" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114169" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-114169" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity-1024x803.png" alt="Two teenagers engaged in construction in front of a row home" width="1024" height="803" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity-1024x803.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity-300x235.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity-768x602.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity-1536x1205.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Requity.png 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-114169" class="wp-caption-text">Photo Credit: Requity</figcaption></figure>
<h2>How the city’s Comprehensive Plan makes this work difficult</h2>
The city’s zoning ordinance should make it easier for community members and organizations actively working to improve their neighborhoods in accordance with the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
For example, in Baltimore’s R-6 Residential-Zoned Districts, where Requity works, “youth vocational programming” is legally defined as a conditional commercial use rather than the simple community-serving activity it is. (Requity isn’t a trade school in the traditional sense, but a community organization.) The code also defines “urban agriculture” as an activity that requires special board approval. That means Requity has to jump through an additional regulatory barrier and get permission from the Board of Zoning Adjustments, which can add weeks, if not months, before they even begin to reactivate a long-vacant,ill-maintained lot for community benefit.
<h3 style="text-align: center;">“We’ve been stuck in limbo for several months—there’s confusion about whether we even need to go before the board, and delays in getting a site visit scheduled,” said staff members from Requity.</h3>
Acquiring city-owned lots also involves parallel, sometimes unaligned, review processes across multiple departments—including the Housing and Community Development and Planning and Permitting departments.
In short, Requity’s programming that directly aligns with Baltimore’s goals still encounters regulatory fiction. Granted, the City of Baltimore is in the process of revising its zoning ordinance to be more straightforward and congruent with the updated Comprehensive Plan.
<h2>Support from SGA</h2>
SGA conducted a targeted scan of zoning ordinances and land-use policies, identifying and explaining gaps between the lofty goals stated in Baltimore’s Comprehensive Plan and the actual legal zoning ordinances that allows the plan’s vision to be implemented.  This analysis provided Requity with a stronger understanding of the regulatory framework and explained why their efforts to acquire a vacant lot for community use aren’t as easy as they should be.
SGA also documented some of the regulatory barriers Requity has encountered, including permitting delays and parallel, separate lot-acquisition processes, and pointed out other municipalities that simplified their regulatory systems to make it easier for community-based organizations to acquire and use land.
The resulting memo translated technical definitions and provided practical strategies to help Requity navigate the city’s zoning regulations in future vacant lot acquisitions.
<h2>Connecting zoning to community health</h2>
Requity’s work addresses food access, workforce development, housing stability, and environmental sustainability—all core determinants of health outcomes. Unfortunately, most American zoning regulations are still written and structured to treat such community-serving activities as special exceptions, rather than priorities. This disconnect underscores why Smart Growth America, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is working to elevate the connection between land use and health equity through ZEST.
Our work with Requity underscores a broader lesson: When zoning codes reflect community goals and priorities, the community-based organizations already doing this important work can focus less on navigating red tape and more on building the healthier, sustainable neighborhoods that communities deserve.

Navigating land acquisition and vacant property barriers | Community zoning stories

Freedom Org

In North Carolina, Freedom Org is working to transform FEMA buyout parcels into community gardens and other spaces that make their communities thrive. Through the ZEST program, the organization strengthened its ability to navigate complex floodplain regulations and land-use requirements tied to these properties.
<hr />
Throughout the fall and winter of 2025, Smart Growth America’s<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/"> Center for Zoning Solutions</a> supported 19 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country through the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/services/grants/zoning-for-equitable-solutions-and-thriving-communities-zest/">Zoning for Equitable Solutions and Thriving Communities</a> (ZEST) program. Together, they strengthened each organization’s ability to connect land use and health outcomes, identify zoning barriers, and translate complex policies into practical, community-driven strategies.
Zoning is a powerful driver of health outcomes, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life—from housing and transportation to environmental exposure and access to opportunity—in both visible and invisible ways. Over six months, Smart Growth America delivered tailored technical assistance spanning policy analysis, data analysis, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and education and advocacy tools, building participants’ capacity to turn complex zoning systems into actionable strategies for creating healthier communities. 
A key takeaway from this work was the power of storytelling as an essential tool for translating complex issues into relatable, actionable narratives. This blog series <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">builds on those lessons</a>, highlighting real-world examples, tools, and insights to support others navigating zoning challenges and advancing reform in their own communities.
<h2>Introducing the partner</h2>
<figure id="attachment_114167" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114167" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-114167 size-large" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org-1024x768.png" alt="A group of Black children excitedly showing off cucumbers grown in The Tarboro/Edgecombe Community Demonstration Garden" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org-1024x768.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org-300x225.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org-768x576.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org-1536x1152.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Freedom-Org.png 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-114167" class="wp-caption-text">The Tarboro/Edgecombe Community Demonstration Garden. Photo Credit: Freedom Org.</figcaption></figure>
In Edgecombe County, NC, the towns of Tarboro and Princeville sit across from one another on opposite sides of the Tar River. Flooding from hurricanes Floyd (1999) and Matthew (2016) devastated both towns, leaving behind damaged lots which, through FEMA’s floodplain buyout program, are kept vacant to prevent future losses. Despite this, many residents in the region remain, driven by deep historical, cultural, and generational ties—Princeville, notably, was the <a href="https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/homecoming-race-place-and-living-tar-river-part-i">first town</a> in the U.S.  founded by freed Black people after the Civil War. 
<a href="https://www.freedomorg.org/">Freedom Org</a> works to foster growth, empowerment, and sustainable change for historically disinvested communities in both towns. Through its agriculture, cultural preservation, and economic development departments, Freedom Org works to build and maintain a sense of community, support local food systems, and promote equitable economic development. One of its key initiatives—the <a href="https://www.freedomorg.org/community-garden">Tarboro/Edgecombe Community Demonstration Garden</a>—transforms vacant lots into community gardens to improve local food access, boost flooding resilience, and provide spaces for youth agricultural education. Building on this, Freedom Org aims to continue leveraging  FEMA buyout parcels to build additional gardens and related infrastructure. 
However, overlapping federal and local regulations create significant barriers to this work. Strict and confusing requirements designed to limit future flood risk make it difficult for Freedom Org to identify eligible parcels, navigate approval processes, and ultimately move forward in the application process to acquire these lots. 
<h3 style="text-align: center;">“These requirements can be disproportionately burdensome for grassroots organizations without access to engineering support, even when projects are nature-based and low-risk.” - Aerhealle Chace, Agriculture Director, Freedom Org</h3>
<h2>Support from SGA</h2>
SGA accessed an inventory of FEMA buyout parcels in Tarboro and mapped them against the town’s zoning regulations and FEMA flood zones to conduct a targeted analysis of relevant regulations. This analysis clarified which uses are permitted and outlined in the step-by-step application process—such as community garden projects—as well as the necessary documentation and certifications needed to advance these projects. 
SGA also identified key constraints on design, construction, and operations for these land parcels, as well as potential pathways for program implementation that consider these challenges. By translating complex regulatory requirements into clear, actionable guidance, our work helped reduce uncertainty in the process and better positioned Freedom Org to expand its programming. 
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-114151" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand-1024x791.png" alt="Buyout Land and Floodplains map in Tarboro, NC" width="1024" height="791" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand-1024x791.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand-300x232.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand-768x593.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand-1536x1187.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BuyoutLand.png 1650w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
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<h2>Connecting zoning to community health </h2>
Freedom Org’s work on community gardens (as well as their other work on <a href="https://www.freedomorg.org/history-and-cultural-preservation">cultural preservation</a> and <a href="https://www.freedomorg.org/community-economic-development">economic development</a>) addresses several social determinants of health outcomes. Transforming vacant lots into community gardens not only increases access to fresh, healthy food but also cultivates a sense of place and community identity.
Freedom Org’s experience in Tarboro highlights a broader challenge faced by others in the ZEST cohort: complex and onerous zoning regulations often make community-driven projects prohibitively expensive and difficult, particularly for local organizations with limited resources. Streamlining regulations for community gardens and similar projects can unlock the potential of underutilized land and build healthier, more resilient communities.

Reimagining FEMA buyout land  | Community zoning stories

The Beacon Center, Montgomery AL

In Montgomery, Alabama the Metropolitan United Methodist Church is building community power to tackle zoning challenges. Through its participation in ZEST, we supported Metropolitan in better navigating complex land-use systems and advocating for long-term community change.
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Throughout the fall and winter of 2025, Smart Growth America’s<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/"> Center for Zoning Solutions</a> supported 19 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country through the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/services/grants/zoning-for-equitable-solutions-and-thriving-communities-zest/">Zoning for Equitable Solutions and Thriving Communities</a> (ZEST) program. Together, they strengthened each organization’s ability to connect land use and health outcomes, identify zoning barriers, and translate complex policies into practical, community-driven strategies.
Zoning is a powerful driver of health outcomes, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life—from housing and transportation to environmental exposure and access to opportunity—in both visible and invisible ways. Over six months, Smart Growth America delivered tailored technical assistance spanning policy analysis, data analysis, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and education and advocacy tools, building participants’ capacity to turn complex zoning systems into actionable strategies for creating healthier communities.
A key takeaway from this work was the power of storytelling as an essential tool for translating complex issues into relatable, actionable narratives. This blog series <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">builds on those lessons</a>, highlighting real-world examples, tools, and insights to support others navigating zoning challenges and advancing reform in their own communities.
<h2>Introducing the partner</h2>
The <a href="https://metropolitanumc.tithelysetup2.com/">Metropolitan United Methodist Church</a> (Metropolitan) is an anchor institution in western Montgomery, Alabama. Its Beacon Center, established by lead Pastor Richard Williams, serves as a community hub that distributes food and provides healthcare, education, and workforce development programming, serving more than 9,000 households through its food pantry program alone. Metropolitan provides these direct services to community members while also addressing entrenched challenges related to housing stability and limited transportation options.
Despite visionary and committed stewardship, Metropolitan is not always recognized for its important role in the community or welcomed as an equal partner in decisions that shape the lives of those it serves. In response to those experiences, Metropolitan joined ZEST to better understand the rules of the game to help change them.
<figure id="attachment_114163" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114163" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-114163" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL-1024x682.png" alt="The Beacon Center, Montgomery AL with colorful murals on the side of the building" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL-1024x682.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL-300x200.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL-768x512.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Beacon-Center-Montgomery-AL.png 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-114163" class="wp-caption-text">The Beacon Center, Montgomery, AL. Photo Credit: Jake Crandall</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Barriers to community-led change</h2>
This development disparity reflects the long-term impacts of segregation, disinvestment, and unequal access to opportunity, as investment continues to be concentrated in Montgomery’s wealthier, predominantly white eastern neighborhoods.
Additionally, the city lacks a functioning municipal land bank, leaving vacant and tax-delinquent properties inaccessible to community organizations with neighborhood-centered visions. The city's ongoing zoning rewrite offers a rare opportunity, but only for those who know how to effectively participate in this process.
<h2>Support from SGA</h2>
Through ZEST, SGA reviewed Montgomery's zoning ordinance and provided Metropolitan with a memo examining eight land-use barriers—from fragmented revitalization tools and missing middle housing to parking minimums and procedural confusion—and an advocacy roadmap identifying who holds power in Montgomery's planning system and which community voices have the most leverage. SGA also developed a customizable presentation designed to inform Pastor Williams and equip Metropolitan leaders and residents with adaptable messages for different audiences and settings—whether a traditional church meeting, a conversation over coffee with a city official, or a local interfaith gathering.
<h2>Human element</h2>
Pastor Williams envisions an interfaith coalition in which different faith communities and organizations each steward different pieces of a broad policy agenda. The goal is to move from being a messenger for the city government to being an architect of community power.
<h2>Connecting zoning to community health</h2>
Addressing Metropolitan’s challenges is critical to improving public health. Housing instability, displacement, and limited mobility are established determinants of poor health outcomes, from chronic disease and mental illness to reduced life expectancy. By building community leadership and advocacy capacity, Metropolitan is positioning itself to pursue three policy priorities with direct implications for community health:
<ol>
<li>Community-centered acquisition and redevelopment of vacant and tax-delinquent properties;</li>
<li>The modernization of Montgomery's zoning to allow a greater variety of housing types that expand affordable options for its community; and</li>
<li>The reform of parking minimums and street design standards to reduce car dependency and increase safe and efficient transportation options.</li>
</ol>
Each of these reforms addresses a structural condition that shapes the daily health and well-being of Montgomery residents served by Metropolitan. By helping Metropolitan connect land-use policy and zoning reform to its work, ZEST is equipping a faith institution already addressing the symptoms of disinvestment to pursue systemic solutions at the core of its work.
<h2>Learn more:</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/social-determinants-of-health-and-land-use-reforming-zoning-to-improve-health-outcomes/">Social Determinants of Health and the Built Environment</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">Connecting Health and Land Use: Reflections from the inaugural ZEST cohort</a></li>
<li><a href="https://envisionmontgomery2040.org/zoning/">Envision Montgomery 2040 </a><a href="https://envisionmontgomery2040.org/zoning/">Zoning Update</a></li>
</ul>

Strengthening local leadership for zoning reform | Community zoning stories

West Dallas, TX_credit_D Magazine

In Buffalo and Dallas, community organizations are addressing the long-term health impacts of industrial zoning and environmental harm. Through the ZEST program, the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York and Downwinders at Risk strengthened their advocacy efforts by examining how other communities have approached industrial land-use reform and environmental justice.
<hr />
Throughout the fall and winter of 2025, Smart Growth America’s<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/"> Center for Zoning Solutions</a> supported 19 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country through the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/services/grants/zoning-for-equitable-solutions-and-thriving-communities-zest/">Zoning for Equitable Solutions and Thriving Communities</a> (ZEST) program. Together, they strengthened each organization’s ability to connect land use and health outcomes, identify zoning barriers, and translate complex policies into practical, community-driven strategies.
Zoning is a powerful driver of health outcomes, shaping nearly every aspect of daily life—from housing and transportation to environmental exposure and access to opportunity—in both visible and invisible ways. Over six months, Smart Growth America delivered tailored technical assistance spanning policy analysis, data analysis, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and education and advocacy tools, building participants’ capacity to turn complex zoning systems into actionable strategies for creating healthier communities.
A key takeaway from this work was the power of storytelling as an essential tool for translating complex issues into relatable, actionable narratives. This blog series <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/connecting-health-and-land-use-reflections-from-the-inaugural-zest-cohort/">builds on those lessons</a>, highlighting real-world examples, tools, and insights to support others navigating zoning challenges and advancing reform in their own communities.
<h2>Legacies of former industrial centers</h2>
In upstate New York, Buffalo’s legacy as a major industrial center left behind a landscape of both active industrial uses and dormant brownfield sites. While brownfield sites offer significant redevelopment opportunities, they have historically imposed environmental health burdens on surrounding communities, particularly when redevelopment decisions were made without meaningful community input. <a href="https://www.cacwny.org/">The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York</a> is learning from other industrial regions around the country facing similar challenges to strengthen its education and advocacy efforts on environmental justice and public health.
There’s a similar story in Dallas, TX. <a href="https://www.downwindersatrisk.org/">Downwinders at Risk</a> amplifies community voices in neighborhoods across southern and western Dallas that have long experienced adverse environmental health effects of redlining and industrial zoning. These communities—whose residents are predominantly Black, Latino, and low-income—have been disproportionately exposed to air pollution and other environmental hazards from the concentration of heavy industry allowed to exist nearby. Downwinders has served as a voice for these communities during local planning processes, advocating for stronger environmental justice considerations and reimagining how former and current industrial sites can be repurposed to better serve surrounding communities. Their core belief is that "environmental justice is a civil right," and that belief guides their approach with community partners.
<h2>Challenges with recent redevelopment opportunities</h2>
In both Buffalo and Dallas, as well as countless other communities across the country, legacy industrial zoning patterns continue to negatively affect public health outcomes. Industrial sites often remain embedded in or near residential neighborhoods, and the local systems governing land-use decisions can make it confusing and difficult for community organizations like Clean Air Coalition and Downwinders to actually influence decision-making processes.
Even when redevelopment opportunities emerge, communities face barriers in navigating notoriously complicated local zoning regulations and identifying the most effective paths forward. Ensuring that the communities most adversely affected by industrial activity have a meaningful voice in shaping future land use is an ongoing challenge nationwide.
<h3 style="text-align: center;">“Poor zoning choices in the 20th century, rooted in discriminatory practices, directly contributed to many of the issues these communities face - but modern zoning practices rooted in equity and justice with a goal of reparations and reconciliation can not only make these neighborhoods whole but build a better world for today and tomorrow.” - Bridge Rauch, Environmental Justice Organizer, Clean Air Coalition</h3>
<h2>Support from SGA</h2>
Through ZEST, SGA supported both organizations by providing research and analysis of communities facing similar challenges to strengthen their advocacy strategy and engagement efforts.
For the Clean Air Coalition, our work included providing case studies of cities that incorporated environmental justice protections into their zoning codes, including <a href="https://newark.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2770971&amp;GUID=D0C566D0-463A-482D-A4AC-78884351DA79&amp;FullText=1">Newark, NJ</a>, and examples of equitable brownfield redevelopment projects, such as <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2014/04/public_shows_overwhelming_supp.html">Chevy Commons</a> in Flint, MI. SGA also provided resources on recent zoning reforms that better regulate emerging industrial uses such as data centers, which are being developed on former industrial land at an increasing rate.
For Downwinders at Risk, SGA conducted a targeted review of Dallas’ industrial zoning framework, breaking down the city’s four industrial zoning classifications, permitting processes, and allowable uses. This analysis helped clarify advocacy opportunities related to reimagining and repurposing industrial-zoned land in West Dallas. SGA also researched and compiled case studies from <a href="https://theworksatl.com/">Atlanta</a>, <a href="https://sfocii.org/projects/mission-bay/overview">San Francisco</a>, <a href="https://www.oaklandca.gov/Planning-Building/General-Plan-Neighborhood-Plans/Neighborhood-and-Citywide-Plans/West-Oakland-Specific-Plan">Oakland</a>, and other cities that have successfully transformed former industrial areas into community-oriented and mixed-use districts.
<h2>Connecting zoning to community health</h2>
Both organizations’ work centers on the connection between industrial land use, environmental conditions, and public health. Industrial facilities are often concentrated in historically disinvested communities, resulting in disproportionate exposure to air pollution and other environmental hazards that contribute to adverse health outcomes.
By providing analysis, case studies, and examples from other communities, ZEST helped the Clean Air Coalition and Downwinders at Risk advance local efforts to reshape how industrial land is regulated and repurposed. More broadly, the work of both organizations underscores a critical issue: addressing the legacy of industrial zoning is one of the most pressing land-use challenges today. Sustainable, community-centered land-use policies are essential to improving health outcomes in groups that have long borne the brunt of harmful planning decisions.

Confronting industrial zoning and environmental harm | Community zoning stories

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Communities that have successfully embraced Complete Streets often discover that safer transportation cannot be separated from housing and land-use policy. The places making the biggest improvement for their communities are not just redesigning streets; they are also updating zoning, expanding housing choices, and creating more opportunities for people to live in connected, walkable neighborhoods.
Complete Streets is a bit of a misnomer. While we focus on addressing safety and accessibility on roads, we also care about what is happening alongside them. The businesses, houses, parks, and public spaces not only create destinations for people to access using those streets we work so hard to make complete, but also give life and character to the trips being taken. Communities need a variety of housing to draw in and support the people who will make that place their home and bring their expertise to conversations about transportation and more. A strategy like Smart Growth America’s approach to building more housing in locations with abundant, safe transportation options will support this and the successful implementation of Complete Streets.
<h2>Type</h2>
In the same way that streets need to serve a clear purpose and meet the needs of all roadway users, housing needs to serve a purpose and meet the needs of all community members. That means providing a range of housing types and sizes that allow people to remain in their communities as they move through different chapters in their lives. Not every street needs a bike lane for Complete Streets to work, but to be effective, the overall network must ensure that someone on a bike can get where they need to go safely and conveniently. In that same way, we need to think about the network of housing available in different sizes, forms, and ownership options, providing options that make sense for them and their loved ones.
<hr />
<h2>Price</h2>
If you look at roadway safety data closely enough, a disturbing truth begins to emerge—people can pay a safety premium in order to reduce their risk of being killed on our roads. Whether it is by purchasing newer or larger vehicles or living in dense, walkable cities, there are ways for higher-income individuals to escape the dangers we have designed into our streets. There shouldn’t be a cost barrier to safe transportation, and similarly, there shouldn’t be a cost barrier to having a safe, stable place to call home in places that are close to your daily needs. We need housing options that provide livable places for people that are affordable across the spectrum. Investments in housing should expand access and opportunity, not drive up costs to the point where longtime residents are priced out of places they have called home.
<hr />
<h2>Place</h2>
Housing is the starting point and end destination for many of the trips people make every day. It is also where people are most likely to be pedestrians, whether taking a short trip to a nearby destination or making the first leg of a multi-modal journey. This is why where we build housing matters as much as how much housing we build. We need strategies that put houses in places that expand access to jobs, schools, and other essential places, while making walking, biking, and public transportation as convenient, safe, and accessible options. We know people want to live in walkable communities that provide shorter commutes, increased access, and improved livability. To make the most of the improvements we make for walkability, we need to build more housing in places that are already connected, while also creating opportunities for walkability in those places where housing already exists.
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A community that has successfully implemented Complete Streets will have also tackled its housing and zoning policies alongside any transportation changes. Places that are beginning work to address transportation safety should look for opportunities to combine that with efforts to improve the types of housing available at different price points and in well-connected places. Policymakers, practitioners, and advocates will quickly see the connection between the two topics as they work to achieve a shared vision for healthy, prosperous, and resilient communities.

Housing

Place

Price

Type

When more people can live near Complete Streets, everyone benefits

Advocacy

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Bipartisan House leaders drafted an amended version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the most ambitious piece of housing legislation in generations and a critical measure to alleviate America’s housing shortage. Originally passed in the Senate, the amended version addresses outstanding issues and will likely be voted on within the next week. Tell your representatives to support the amended version and its smart growth provisions so that communities across America can access more affordable housing.
On Wednesday, May 13, senior leadership in the House of Representatives negotiated across party lines and <a href="https://financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=411119">released amended text </a>for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a major federal housing package bill, originally passed by the Senate.  While President Trump had called for the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5873550-trump-congress-housing-bill-gop/">Senate version to pass as-is</a>, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and housing advocates have urged changes to key provisions, including those on community banking and the ability of large institutional investors to build and keep homes for rent.
The amended bill retains key <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/21st-century-road-to-housing-advances-in-senate-but-could-face-a-major-obstacle-in-the-house/">smart growth provisions</a> from the previous version, as well as some additions and improvements, which would support housing development in well-connected places, of diverse housing types, and at affordable prices:
<ul>
<li>NEW Title 1 miscellaneous provisions: This title includes sections that promise zoning guidance for point access block (single-stair) buildings, exempt infill development from environmental effects studies, create a publicly accessible, searchable federal database for publicly owned land, and offer grants to support local financial institutions in issuing small-dollar (under $100,000) mortgages. Under this guidance, an infill site is not eligible for preferential treatment if it is located in an area prone to flooding or wildfires.</li>
<li>NEW Title 9 community banking provisions: This title provides regulatory relief for community and rural banks and credit unions and enables new community financial institutions to develop, especially in rural areas. Improving access to community banking allows for broader access to capital for housing development.</li>
<li>IMPROVED Section 1001 (formerly 901) on large institutional investors: By changing the definition of “single family housing”, this section now allows institutional investors to purchase manufactured homes and homes built or renovated to rent. It also removes the requirement that homes owned by large institutional investors built as long-term rentals be sold after seven years to individual homebuyers. The provision, as previously written, would have negatively impacted housing supply and was the most controversial aspect of the previous version of the bill.</li>
</ul>
Despite these improvements, key provisions had been removed from the Senate version:
<ul>
<li>Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program (Section 201): HUD’s RAD program has long been used to preserve and improve affordable housing and make existing housing stock accessible to residents seeking affordable housing.</li>
<li>Price Act (Section 304): This program would have provided grant funding to improve manufactured housing communities, including improving housing units and adding community services.</li>
<li>Reforming Disaster Recovery Act (Section 501): This program would have created a new Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency at HUD and permanently authorized HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.</li>
</ul>
The federal housing package, as a whole, supports much-needed housing development and is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to implement impactful housing reform in the U.S. Many of its provisions support smart growth by enabling the development of expanded housing options that meet a range of price points, adjusting for local housing needs, and accommodating various housing types. As America faces an affordability crisis and housing supply shortage, federal efforts to support new, diverse housing supply in the right places at the right price are needed more than ever.
The bill is expected to be voted on in the House within the <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/05/13/congress/house-releases-housing-bill-text-vote-next-week-00920285">next week</a>. Because the House is attempting to suspend rules to fast-track a decision, it may require a ⅔ majority to pass, rather than a simple majority. If approved, the bill will return to the Senate for final revisions and approval before being sent to the President for signature.
While Smart Growth America and our advocacy partners have been engaging Congress on this legislation for months, constituent voices will be critical to helping this landmark bill move forward. Members of the House need to hear directly from the people and communities they represent about how the smart growth provisions in the bill can help meet their needs and why the bill deserves their support.
<h3>Tell your representatives to vote yes on the amended 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and support the bill’s smart growth provisions:</h3>
[button type="primary" size="lg" link="https://smartgrowthamerica.salsalabs.org/21st_century_road_to_housing_2026"] Take action [/button]

21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

The House releases an amended federal housing package. What does it mean for smart growth?

NBC Community Land Trusts Webinar

On May 6, the National Brownfields Coalition's Community Development Committee brought together practitioners from across the country to share how Community Land Trusts (CLTs) can transform brownfields—contaminated, underutilized land—into lasting community assets. The webinar was moderated by Jalisa Gilmore, Senior Manager of Health and Land Use Programs at <a href="https://groundworkusa.org/">Groundwork USA. </a>
[button type="primary" size="lg" link="https://youtu.be/IEyyJTD0Dlg"]Watch the webinar recording[/button]
<h2>Why this moment matters</h2>
<a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfield-overview-and-definition_.html#:~:text=The%20Environmental%20Protection%20Agency%20(EPA)%20defines%20a,definition%20of%20%22hazardous%20substance%22%20*%20Mine%2Dscarred%20land">Brownfields</a>—properties where contamination complicates redevelopment—are estimated at 450,000+ sites nationwide, concentrated in many of the same communities already facing housing unaffordability and disinvestment. Federal brownfields funding has long been a rare bipartisan bright spot, but that's at risk. With the expiration of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text">Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)</a>, annual funding is projected to drop roughly 75%, from approximately $350 million to $98 million. With Congress currently weighing reauthorization of the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/about">EPA Brownfields Program</a>, stories of community-driven brownfields work have never been more important to tell.
<h2>CLTs and brownfields: A natural fit</h2>
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-114092" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar-300x169.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar-768x432.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-Community-Land-Trusts-Webinar.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
A <a href="https://groundedsolutions.org/strengthening-neighborhoods/community-land-trusts/">Community Land Trust</a> is a nonprofit that permanently owns land so that housing and other uses on it remain affordable and community-controlled. James Yelen, Director of Technical Assistance at <a href="https://groundedsolutions.org/">Grounded Solutions Network</a>—a national organization supporting over 200 organizations shared-equity housing organizations across the country—opened the discussion by explaining why CLTs are structurally well-suited for brownfields work: their long time land stewardship horizons match remediation timelines, their community governance rebuilds trust in neighborhoods that have experienced systemic harm, and their resale formulas ensure that public investments in cleanup aren't lost to market appreciation. CLTs and land banks, he explained, are complementary tools — land banks excel at acquiring and clearing title to distressed properties, while CLTs provide the long-term community stewardship that follows.
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-CLTs-and-Brownfields-Webinar_GSN-slides.pdf">View James’ presentation slides here</a>
<h2>Voices from the Field</h2>
Three organizations shared community stories that bring this connection to life:
<h4>Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust—Los Angeles, CA</h4>
Founded in 2002, the <a href="https://www.lanlt.org/">Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT) </a>manages 30 parks and gardens across 22 acres serving 500,000 residents in a county that ranks near the bottom nationally for park access. Bz Zhang, Project Manager, shared the organization's <a href="https://www.lanlt.org/projects/jefferson-park">Jefferson Park &amp; Affordable Housing Project</a>: a 1.86-acre former urban oil drilling site that neighbors and community partners successfully fought to shut down in 2018 after years of organizing. LANLT acquired the site in 2023 and is currently in active remediation planning, with a youth-led restoration garden already underway and site construction planned for 2027–2028.
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-CLTs-and-Brownfields-Webinar_LANLT-slides.pdf">View Bz’s presentation slides here</a>
<h4>Russell: A Place of Promise—Louisville, KY</h4>
Based in Louisville, <a href="https://www.russellpromise.org/">Kentucky, Russell: A Place of Promise (RPOP)</a> is a CLT and community developer focused on building Black wealth through investment without displacement. Colby Bentley, Assistant Director of Place, presented the <a href="https://www.russellpromise.org/30th-madison">30th &amp; Madison Street Redevelopment</a>: a planned $150 million, multi-phase transformation of a long-abandoned brownfield (a former tobacco and light manufacturing site) in the predominantly Black Russell neighborhood into a mixed-use community anchor with healthcare, retail, affordable housing, and entrepreneurship space. Phase 1, a $27 million initial activation, is on track for a 2026 groundbreaking, supported by a layered funding strategy that includes brownfield remediation funding alongside tax credits, public dollars, and philanthropic capital.
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-CLTs-and-Brownfields-Webinar_Russell-Place-of-Promise-slides.pdf">View Colby’s presentation slides here</a>
<h4>East New York Community Land Trust (ENYCLT)—New York, NY</h4>
Founded in 2020 in Brooklyn, the <a href="https://www.eastnewyorkclt.org/">East New York Community Land Trust (ENYCLT)</a> works to bring land and buildings under permanent, democratic, resident control in East New York and Ocean Hill-Brownsville — communities that saw land prices increase roughly tenfold following a 2016 rezoning. Hannah Anousheh, Director, and Shantanu Dew, Senior Project Manager, presented on two active projects: the historic acquisition of <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/community-land-trust-new-york-city-topa-copa-housing/">248 Arlington Avenue</a> (the first privately acquired multifamily building by a CLT in New York City), and <a href="https://www.eastnewyorkclt.org/donate">161 Jamaica Avenue</a>, a 9,500-square-foot former manufacturing building in the process of being transformed into the East Brooklyn Liberation Center — a community-owned hub for organizing, education, and deeply affordable commercial space. Both properties required environmental due diligence, including Phase I and Phase II assessments, which came back clean and allowed the work to move forward.
<a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NBC-CLTs-and-Brownfields-Webinar_ENYCLT-slides.pdf">View Hannah’s and Shantanu’s presentation slides here</a>
<h2>The Bottom Line</h2>
As James Yelen noted in closing, don't underestimate the time it takes upfront to build trust and engage communities—everything feels urgent, but that foundation is what makes the work stick. CLTs and brownfield remediation are deeply connected strategies for community-driven revitalization, and the projects shared in this webinar are proof of what's possible when communities control land and shape their own futures. With federal funding for this work hanging in the balance, we must continue to uplift these stories and bring them to the attention of local, state, and federal policymakers.
<hr />
<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/national-brownfields-coalition/get-involved/">Click this link to learn more or get involved with the National Brownfields Coalition</a>, or contact <a href="mailto:brownfields@smartgrowthamerica.org">brownfields@smartgrowthamerica.org</a>

How Community Land Trusts are reclaiming brownfields — and why it matters now

Oneonta, AL

This year’s Complete Streets Leadership Academy will work with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) and the communities of Moody, Oneonta, and Springville. In support of the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/active-people-healthy-nation/php/about/index.html"> Active People, Healthy Nation</a><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/active-people-healthy-nation/php/about/index.html">SM</a> initiative, the program will bring together ALDOT, local staff from each community, and regional partners to address transportation safety concerns and needs to make their communities more activity-friendly.
Smart Growth America’s highly successful <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/complete-streets-leadership-academies-report/">Complete Streets Leadership Academy (CSLA) </a>has led to street design changes, stronger relationships, and systemic changes in states including Alaska, California, Connecticut, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/kentucky-complete-streets-leadership-academy/">Kentucky</a>, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/maryland-csla/">Maryland</a>, and Tennessee. Now in its fourth year, the work in Alabama will demonstrate how quick builds can be used by small towns and rural communities in collaboration with regional and state partners.
Pedestrian fatalities remain stubbornly high across the U.S., with only marginal improvements since the COVID-19 pandemic. In SGA’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/signature-reports/dangerous-by-design/">2024 Dangerous by Design</a>, Alabama was the 15th most dangerous state for pedestrians. The communities selected to participate in this year’s CSLA have something in common with many places across the U.S. experiencing road safety concerns—a state-owned highway bisecting a community, making it harder to create active, healthy, and economically thriving places. The purpose of communities implementing <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/national-complete-streets-coalition/quick-build-demonstration-projects/">quick-build demonstrations</a> through the CSLA is to identify timely, feasible ways to achieve a shared vision of success for these roads and the surrounding areas.
<blockquote>
“We know that the Complete Streets Leadership Academy model works. We have seen it bring together communities, build partnerships, and kickstart systemic changes to bring about more of the changes needed to make sure more people end up safely home at the end of the day,” said Heidi Simon, Director of Thriving Communities at Smart Growth America. “This year’s cohort will demonstrate that all this and more is possible for smaller communities as well.”
</blockquote>
Participants in the program will take part in virtual sessions with national experts, learn from peers across the state, and engage in activities designed to advance the implementation of community-specific quick-build demonstrations. The communities will partner with ALDOT, Smart Growth America, and technical experts to design, implement, and measure the effectiveness of their quick-build projects, helping identify strategies for long-term change that sustainably improve transportation safety across the state, build state and local capacity, and foster collaboration at both the state and local levels.
<figure id="attachment_114068" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114068" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-114068" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Oneonta-AL.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-114068" class="wp-caption-text">Oneonta, AL</figcaption></figure>
&nbsp;
<hr />
The Complete Streets Leadership Academy is made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Cooperative Agreement CDC-RFA-PW-24-0080). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. The program is part of the CDC’s<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/active-people-healthy-nation/php/about/index.html"> Active People, Healthy Nation</a><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/active-people-healthy-nation/php/about/index.html">SM</a> Initiative that is working to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.

alabama

Complete Streets Leadership Academy

Rural

State DOTs

2026 Complete Streets Leadership Academy launches in Alabama, bringing quick-build demonstrations to small communities across the state

300 - Cross Bronx Construction

Divided by Design

Divisive infrastructure

7 questions with Adam Paul Susaneck on the BQE and documenting the legacy of divisive infrastructure

Transportation

measuring_sprawl

In 2014, we released an <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/measuring-sprawl-2014/">updated version</a> of our report <a href="https://jacksontetonplan.com/DocumentCenter/View/767/Ewing-R-R-Pendall-and-D-Chen-2002-PDF?bidId=(02/08/2023)">Measuring Sprawl and Its Impact</a>, which provided a nationwide comparison of sprawling communities with those built in more compact, connected ways. Today, as policymakers at every level look for ways to build affordable housing, lower living costs, and make it easier to get people where they need to go, the debate over sprawl versus density has reemerged.
The current housing access and affordability crisis is just the latest example of how the flawed approach to community design in the U.S. continues to shape the daily lives of millions across the country. Recognizing the consequences of sprawling development patterns, the founders of SGA launched the organization <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/25-years-of-smart-growth-america/?type=signature-report">25 years ago</a> to push back on the status quo and help implement better practices. When examining differences between sprawling and connected communities in 2014, researchers considered residential and employment density, mixed-use development, street network connectivity, and activity center strength to produce Sprawl Index scores and rank areas by development approach. Comparing these scores with quality-of-life factors revealed startling effects on people and their communities.
Since this report was published, America’s dominant urban development strategy has gained growing recognition as a key driver of inequality, environmental degradation, and increased <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/endangered-by-sprawl/">exposure</a> to extreme weather, including contributing to the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/driving-down-emissions/">crisis itself</a>. Our findings remain relevant today because we still see sprawl <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-popest-metro-micro-counties.html">happening</a>, still see it presented as a solution, and still see its lasting negative effects. An <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/magazine/suburban-sprawl-texas.html">article</a> published in The New York Times Magazine last spring stirred up <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-27/sprawl-is-not-the-answer-to-the-us-housing-crisis">debate</a> over whether sprawl is a solution to the current housing crisis, largely driven by a supply <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">shortage</a>. The debate intensified amid discourse over the “<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/smart-growth-the-abundance-we-need/">abundance</a>” movement, which advocates building more housing, more energy, and more infrastructure by simply removing red tape.
But merely building "more" without considering <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/the-smart-growth-approach-more-homes-in-the-right-places-at-the-right-price/">what, where, and for whom</a> won’t address the root cause of this crisis. Creating more sprawling communities to build the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-housing-we-stopped-building-and-why-we-need-it-now/">4.7 million homes</a> we need will only <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-price-isnt-right-why-getting-housing-costs-under-control-matters/">artificially raise prices</a> in more connected, walkable communities, making these areas and their immense benefits accessible only to a select few—and drive up other costs for everyone else who must travel farther for jobs and basic services. As policymakers pursue solutions, we should revisit the consequences outlined in Measuring Sprawl 2014 and push for better choices rather than doubling down on the failed development patterns that got us here.
<h3>How sprawl hurts individual outcomes</h3>
Measuring Sprawl showed that people who live in communities with higher Sprawl Index scores—or more compact, connected development—have better life outcomes than those living in sprawling areas. Researchers found that these communities experience better economic mobility because residents have easier access to jobs, services, and opportunities. A child born in the bottom 20 percent of the income scale has a better chance of rising to the top 20 percent by age 30 when they live in more connected communities. Additionally, residents in these areas face lower overall living costs. Although housing costs often rise (due to demand) in denser areas, transportation savings often offset these higher housing expenses, leading to lower total costs.
More connected development patterns are also correlated with better health outcomes. Our researchers found that communities with higher Sprawl Scores experienced fewer fatal car crashes, lower obesity rates, and longer life expectancies due to slower traffic patterns, more walkable environments, and other design features.
Along with these factors, researchers identified several negative outcomes associated with sprawl, including poorer air quality, higher residential energy use, less social interaction, and slower emergency response times. The report credited these differences to development patterns such as mixed-use development that connects homes, jobs, and services; stronger downtowns and activity centers that bring people and services together; and more connected street grids that encourage walkability, making transit and emergency responses more efficient. The connection between sprawl and social interaction is even more relevant today, with escalating <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-12-14/how-to-design-a-city-that-fights-loneliness">reports</a> of a loneliness crisis, partly driven by fewer public places that bring people together and help build community.
<h3>How sprawl shapes community outcomes</h3>
Researchers also found that more connected development benefits entire communities. Placing more people and businesses in the same area lowers <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/measuring-sprawl-2014/">upfront</a> and per-person costs for roads, transit, and utilities while increasing tax income and economic activity overall and more evenly across an area. Through our technical assistance programs, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/smart-growth-americas-economic-development-approach/">SGA has seen</a> how this approach strengthens existing communities instead of creating new challenges for local leaders.
Although Measuring Sprawl 2014 did not specify the exact costs of sprawl for communities, a 2007 <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/pdf/jic_gfu_rep_0602.pdf">study</a> published in Urban Studies found that a 25 percent increase in development density could reduce public service costs by $5.6 billion annually, and that a 25 percent decrease in sprawl could save over $10 billion each year. Additionally, our 2013 Building Better Budgets report <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/your-questions-about-measuring-sprawl-answered/">found</a> that smart growth development—seen in communities that had higher Sprawl Index scores—costs about one-third less for initial infrastructure, saves around 10 percent on ongoing service delivery, and can generate ten times more <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/smart-growth-fiscal-impact-analysis-short-paper/">tax revenue</a> per acre compared to suburban development. This is especially important for local leaders who must balance budgets while facing broader economic pressure, who cannot always rely on passing bonds, higher property taxes, or federal support.
<h3>Communities making smarter development decisions</h3>
Measuring Sprawl 2014 concluded by highlighting four communities—Santa Barbara, CA; Madison, WI; Los Angeles, CA; and Trenton, NJ—that put policies in place to improve connectivity. Along with other communities that SGA has spotlighted and supported over the years, these examples demonstrate the collective effort underway in communities across the country to implement policies that promote better practices. So will we follow their example and make smarter choices to build stronger communities for everyone and for the future, or will we stick with the status quo of sprawling communities that helped create our current crises?

Abundance

Measuring Sprawl 2014

Sprawl

12 years later: Sprawl is still not the solution

Dylan Garritano

SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports teams in three small and mid-sized communities as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety outcomes, and advance lasting community reconnections. The program centers collaboration by bringing together community-based organizations with local government partners in learning sessions and hands-on workshops for quick-build demonstration projects.
At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their journeys began and how deeply their commitment now runs. In this second round of participant profiles, we are featuring Connectors who work in city government.
Get to know Dylan Garritano, a co-lead for Akron, OH, in this year’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/three-communities-selected-to-learn-about-and-design-quick-build-demonstration-projects/">Community Connectors</a> program. Dylan is a city planner at the City of Akron Department of Planning and Urban Development.
<figure id="attachment_113848" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-113848" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-113848 size-large" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dylan-Garritano-1024x768.jpg" alt="Man wearing a helmet appearing to ride a bike down a street lined with trees. " width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dylan-Garritano-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dylan-Garritano-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dylan-Garritano-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dylan-Garritano.jpg 1188w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-113848" class="wp-caption-text">Photo courtesy of Dylan Garritano.</figcaption></figure>
The conversation below has been condensed and lightly edited.
<h3>What got you interested in transportation, planning, and reconnecting your community?</h3>
It's really been a nice time working in and actively trying to improve the place that I grew up in and will continue to live in. I went to school for political science, but then shifted into planning in grad school, and spent some time in Minneapolis. I was excited to take the things I learned in school back home, and I've been here for nine years now.
Summit Lake has been an area of my focus from the very beginning. The Civic Commons project through the Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition were big on re-emphasizing that Summit Lake is an asset. With our industrial background, lakes weren't necessarily an asset for recreation. With the pollution and some of the decisions that were made, Summit Lake really became an eyesore. Over the years, we've been trying to resurrect the natural beauty of the lake. With the investment that we've seen over the last decade, it's completely transformed. Now, the next step is really getting the neighborhood up to that level. This project is one way that we're investing in the community over there.
<h3>What are you excited to bring to the cohort? What past experience do you want to share that your team can learn from?</h3>
One of the things that I've noticed over the years is that Rust Belt cities sometimes get a bad rap. I think this is an opportunity for us to show off what's here.
Some grant programs are set up as one-size-fits-all. One of the challenges for Akron is that we don't necessarily have the population growth and the economic momentum, so I think we have to work a little bit harder. Cities like us are a little bit scrappy sometimes. We do the best that we can with what we have. Having that energy, I think other cities and other communities can learn from us a little bit.
<h3>What is something you’ve learned so far from this program that you want other people to know?</h3>
Being flexible and willing to try new things is always an important lesson. Sometimes we get bogged down a lot by the reality of things. Our engineering division drives a lot of the decision-making in terms of what can get funded and what we can maintain, and their answer to both of which is often: not a lot. I think they're sometimes a little bit more unwilling to try new things. But this tactical, temporary approach allows us to try stuff at a lower risk. I think if done right, maybe it opens some minds a little bit more, at least internally within the city of Akron, to be a little bit more flexible and try new things in the future.
<h3>What advice would you have for someone looking to start a temporary project like this in their own community?</h3>
Know your strengths and know your networks to figure out who is going to be best suited to do what. Now that we're looking at planning the implementation and an event around that, this is a time for me to take a little bit of a step back and let other voices lead the way. I'm happy to jump back in when it's something much more suited to my strengths, like transportation planning. We’re tapping into those networks and figuring out who those voices are that we want to lift, who we want to invite, and how we want to get everybody on board.
<h3>For this project, what does success look like to you?</h3>
I think we’ll be successful if we can get something to last for more than four weeks. One of the last tactical urbanism projects we did was a temporary cycle track through our university campus on one of our main thoroughfares, and there were some issues, but I think we were quick to pull it. If it would have been on the street for a little bit longer, maybe people would have adapted and become more flexible in their travel patterns. So, if this current project causes traffic armageddon, I hope that we're a little bit more willing to allow for that to happen at least temporarily, and then see what happens beyond that.
<h3>What sort of legacy do you have to leave with the work that you're doing?</h3>
I think what's really important and what I like to focus on is getting people to think a little bit differently about the way that we've done things for so long. Akron is a medium-sized city, but we're pretty spread out. I think people's default is “Where am I going to park?” Improving the options that we have, between biking, transit, and walking, is what I want long-term to be the legacy that I leave behind. At least getting the needle just to shift in that direction would be great.
<h3>What’s one go-to resource every person doing this work should have in their toolbox?</h3>
An openness to allowing the project to develop as it unfolds. I think having a preconceived idea of what you want to implement sometimes is the wrong way to get there. Obviously, you want to have a goal, and if the goal is flexible enough to allow for that, then you're going to have a really good project.

Community Connectors

Local Leaders

quick-build projects

Community Connectors spotlight: Dylan Garritano, city planner in Akron, OH

1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg

Data center development is accelerating across the country as AI drives demand, but zoning and land-use rules haven’t kept pace. We break down the tradeoffs, what communities are doing today, and how policies need to evolve to keep up.
For decades, data centers have quietly powered the information age, supporting everything from websites and cloud computing to streaming and online services. While they have long existed as critical infrastructure for the information age, their role is now rapidly expanding. Over the past three to four years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become deeply embedded in daily life, underpinning many of the platforms, services, and tools we rely on.
This surge in AI demand is accelerating the expansion of data centers, driving a corresponding increase in the infrastructure required to support it. These power-hungry facilities <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/confronting-and-addressing-rising-energy-bills-linked-to-data-centers/#:~:text=As%20the%20artificial%20intelligence%20(AI,the%20development%20of%20new%20generation">require massive amounts of energy to operate</a> and, in many cases, are already contributing to rising electricity bills for nearby households, placing additional pressure on communities at a time when housing affordability is already severely strained.
Underpinning this newest era of the information age, data centers are emerging as one of the most pressing land use challenges of the decade. They are here to stay, and we are still in the early stages of a massive expansion in their scale and distribution. Communities across the country are already grappling with this in real time.
Where should data centers go? Where have they been built thus far? How should they be classified as a land use?
Most importantly, are our nation’s zoning ordinances equipped to guide data center development in ways that most benefit the communities where they are being placed? Right now, the answer is no.
<figure id="attachment_113826" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-113826" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-scaled.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-113826" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-1024x683.png" alt="Aerial pic of Data Center in Asburn, VA" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-1024x683.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-300x200.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-768x512.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1200px_data_center_asburn_loudoun_wod_trail_drone_4-10-23_credit_hugh_kenny_pec-33-jpg-2048x1366.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-113826" class="wp-caption-text">Data Center in Ashburn, VA. Photo credit: Hugh Kenny, Piedmont Environmental Council</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Where should data centers go?</h2>
Modern (Euclidean) zoning ordinances are structured around regulating distinct land use categories—typically residential, commercial, and industrial, with various subcategories of each. Most local governments have classified data centers as a form of industrial use. On paper, this makes sense, since data centers typically are large, warehouse-like buildings, often located in industrial areas, with limited public-facing activity. But that is where the similarity largely ends.
In practice, data centers do not fit neatly within traditional industrial definitions, and this is where much of the regulatory friction begins. They operate continuously, twenty-four hours a day, often with minimal on-site staff beyond occasional maintenance. They require enormous amounts of electricity, and their cooling systems can consume significant quantities of water. And unlike traditional industrial uses, they generate very few jobs relative to their size. So while they may look like warehouses, they function more like major pieces of energy infrastructure.
This mismatch creates a fundamental land use challenge. Zoning frameworks designed around 20th-century assumptions (e.g., daytime operations, truck traffic, and employment density) are now being applied to a modern use that does not follow those rules. As a result, data center siting decisions are often reactive rather than intentional, leading to tension between local governments, developers, and community members. In many cases, data centers are being developed in locations that are not well aligned with infrastructure capacity or community priorities.
<h2>Polarization: the pros and cons of data centers</h2>
One of the biggest concerns about data centers is the massive amount of energy they require to operate. This demand is already placing significant strain on local electrical grids, particularly in places like <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/data-centers/ai-data-centers-impact-on-electric-bills-water-and-more-a1040338678/">Loudoun County in Northern Virginia, home to “Data Center Alley,”</a> where regional utility companies are quickly needing to reinvest in new generation and transmission infrastructure. Without appropriate regulatory safeguards, the significant costs of these upgrades are passed on to ratepayers in the form of higher household electricity bills, raising concerns about affordability and equity at a time when overall housing costs are already high nationwide.
The environmental impacts of data centers are just as significant. Energy demands are immense, cooling systems can require substantial water use for cooling, and backup generators contribute to air pollution and <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2026-04-14-artificial-intelligence-heat-island-warming">localized heat emissions.</a>
These impacts are not just systemic—they are felt on the ground. Data centers are typically large, windowless structures with little architectural or street-level appeal. They generate persistent noise (often described as a constant mechanical hum) from cooling systems and generators. For nearby residents, this is not abstract; it is a daily quality-of-life issue.
In response, some jurisdictions are beginning to require stronger mitigation measures, including noise testing, setbacks, and visual screening (such as tree buffers). <a href="https://reimagineappalachia.org/turning-a-byproduct-into-a-community-asset-why-data-center-waste-heat-matters/">Some are also exploring opportunities to reuse waste heat</a>, such as through district energy systems that could benefit surrounding communities.
At the same time, the growing demand for data centers has created strong incentives for states to attract their development. As of April 2026, at least <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/fiscal/subsidizing-servers-how-states-are-competing-to-attract-data-centers#:~:text=Table_title:%20Table%201:%20State%20Tax%20Incentives%20for,receive%20local%20tax%20abatements%20to%20qualify%20%7C">38 states are offering tax breaks and other benefits to bring data center investment into their jurisdictions.</a> For states, the appeal is clear: data centers can generate substantial property tax revenue, strengthen local tax bases, and signal competitiveness in the digital economy. They are also often framed as long-term infrastructure investments that can anchor broader economic growth.
This dynamic is driving increasing tension between state and local governments. States are competing to attract data centers as an economic development priority, while local governments are left to manage the land use impacts and on-the-ground regulatory complexities.
[alert type="info"]In 2025, lawmakers in West Virginia passed legislation to incentivize statewide data center development, including provisions that limit local regulatory authority, create Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions, and establish special tax valuations. [/alert]
<h2>What communities are doing right now</h2>
At this point, there is no clear set of best practices for regulating data centers. Given the speed of their recent expansion, local governments are experimenting with new approaches in real time.
Some communities have gone as far as to hit the pause button on data center development altogether; <a href="https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/the-political-backlash-to-data-centers/">temporary moratoria</a> are being used to create space and time for more thoughtful regulatory updates. In April 2026, lawmakers in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/us/maines-moratorium-data-centers.html">Maine passed legislation to ban new data center development through November 1, 2027</a> (pending approval by Governor Janet Mills). At the federal level, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-ai-electricity-sanders-aoc-65651bd28c3d911d18eeb46cd54f4c75">a proposed pause from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a> signals growing concern over the pace of expansion and awareness of the need for broader oversight and regulatory clarity.
<h3>Beyond a full-on pause, three general patterns are emerging:</h3>
<h4>1. Case-by-case approval: the most reactive approach.</h4>
Many municipalities now require conditional or special-use permits, meaning each data center proposal is reviewed individually. Anchorage (Alaska), for example, <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/anchorage-adopts-framework-for-data-8900865/">passed an ordinance in March 2026 requiring conditional use review for data centers.</a> While this allows flexibility, it can also lead to inconsistent outcomes and places significant pressure on local decision-makers to evaluate highly technical proposals without clear standards, often in loud, crowded and contentious public meetings.
<h4>2. Impact mitigation and regulation: a first step toward structure.</h4>
Communities are adopting requirements around noise, setbacks, buffering, and design. In Chandler (Arizona), for example, <a href="https://www.chandleraz.gov/news-center/chandlers-data-center-ordinance-now-effect#:~:text=Jan.,the%20data%20center%20is%20complete">a 2023 ordinance</a> requires baseline and ongoing noise studies, along with mitigation measures to ensure operational noise does not exceed pre-construction levels. It also mandates community notification, neighborhood meetings, and on-site liaisons.
Some jurisdictions are also exploring how to regulate energy and water use—for example, requiring developers to provide their own power sources rather than relying on the local energy grid. However, these solutions can introduce additional challenges, particularly when they rely on fossil fuel-based generation.
<h4>3. Zoning reform: where this is all heading.</h4>
Data centers are increasingly, and correctly, being treated as a distinct land use rather than a traditional industrial use. Some jurisdictions are creating new definitions, establishing overlay districts, or limiting where data centers can be located. Frederick County, Maryland, for example, has created a <a href="https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/9128/Critical-Digital-Infrastructure-Overlay-">Critical Digital Infrastructure Overlay zone </a>that limits data center development to a specific part of the county. Loudoun County (the aforementioned “Data Center Alley”) is developing <a href="https://www.loudoun.gov/5990/Data-Center-Standards-Locations">new use-specific zoning standards</a> for data centers that are more reflective of their scale and infrastructure demands.
<h2>What it means to be data center-ready</h2>
As things stand, data centers do not fit neatly into existing zoning categories, and their impacts are too significant to be managed through outdated frameworks. They are a new type of land use, and our zoning needs to catch up, fast.
The stakes are rising, as data centers are already reshaping local economies and energy systems in real time. Without clear regulatory guardrails, communities risk higher energy costs, growing infrastructure burdens, and increasing dependence on a single industry tax base—limiting long-term flexibility and economic resilience.
Being “data center-ready” means getting ahead of those risks. At a minimum, communities should:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Define where data centers are appropriate</li>
<li aria-level="1">Align siting decisions with infrastructure and energy capacity</li>
<li aria-level="1">Establish clear expectations for environmental performance and community impact, including protections to ensure that nearby households are not saddled with the high cost of upgrading the infrastructure needed to support these facilities</li>
</ul>
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A stronger approach may also include:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Completely eliminating by-right data center development and requiring a dedicated discretionary review process that includes land use experts, environmental specialists, economists, and industry stakeholders</li>
<li aria-level="1">Requiring developers to cover infrastructure costs</li>
<li aria-level="1">Establishing clear, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-community-benefit-agreements-are-necessary-for-data-centers/">measurable community benefits</a> tied to workforce development, sustainability, and resource use</li>
</ul>
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Ultimately, being “data center-ready” means ensuring that the benefits of development—especially tax revenue—translate into real, tangible outcomes for communities, without raising costs or lowering quality of life.
Data centers are here to stay. The question is whether communities and their planners can shape their development in a way that works for residents—and remains workable for the companies driving the nation’s rapid expansion of digital infrastructure.
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Data Centers

Infrastructure

Data centers are here, and more are coming. Our zoning is not ready.

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This year's Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) reflects the Trump administration’s changing “safety” priorities, but it’s still a worthwhile opportunity to advance proven safety solutions in your community. We’ve highlighted three project strategies that can work under the updated NOFO.
<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-safe-streets-for-all-grants-in-2026/">Our recent blog</a> highlighted changes to the 2026 <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4A">Safe Streets and Roads for All</a> (SS4A) program priorities, which focus more on truck parking and vehicle access than on genuine safety interventions, as they have in the past. These changes are not a surprise given this administration’s <a href="https://t4america.org/2026/02/23/freedom-means-actual-choices-you-wont-get-cheaper-transportation-if-theres-a-monopoly-on-mobility/">pro-car</a>, <a href="https://t4america.org/2026/03/26/the-trump-administration-tried-to-rip-out-a-bike-lane-in-dc-theyre-trying-to-do-the-same-nationwide/">anti-everything-else</a> transportation strategy. But all is not lost: Demonstration projects are still eligible for funding, and creatively using these funds can lead to actual safety improvements. Here are some ideas for how to frame your ideas to align with SS4A priorities this year:
<h3>Strategy 1: Test how cars are (or aren’t) impacted</h3>
The SS4A program description specifies “reducing level of service for vehicles,” “reducing access for emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles, and vehicles serving the disabled,” and “new dedicated bicycle lanes that reduce vehicular capacity or impair movements” as less favorable considerations for application review. This guidance is clearly based on outdated, incorrect assumptions that the level of service—an <a href="https://t4america.org/resource/community-connectors/what-they-mean/level-of-service/">overrated metric</a> of vehicle flow and delay—is king, and that capacity for cars is more important than anything else. So why not put these assumptions to the test?
Propose a temporary road design improvement (make sure to mention if the proposal is part of the Federal Highway Administration’s <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures">proven safety countermeasures</a>) and frame the pilot as a way to measure the impact of the roadway design on vehicles. Does the change impact travel time for drivers or the number of cars on the road? Can you work with emergency vehicle operators to see how they are affected? We know certain strategies, like <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/road-diets-roadway-reconfiguration">road diets</a>, improve safety for everyone <a href="https://ssti.us/2024/07/22/reducing-lanes-for-cars-doesnt-slow-911-response/">without delaying</a> emergency response time. Considering the context of this year’s SS4A priorities, it doesn’t hurt to pitch your road design idea as an opportunity to double-check. Just be a bit cautious about word choice: “road diet,” “bike lane,” and “traffic calming” may raise red flags, whereas “roadway space” and “right-sizing” are less likely to draw scrutiny.
<h3>Strategy 2: Work closely with public safety partners</h3>
Public safety infrastructure, a new priority for SS4A, is defined as: “Physical and digital hardware, software, systems, technologies, equipment, protocols, facilities, and coordination models used by public safety agencies such as 9-1-1, emergency medical services (EMS), fire services, law enforcement, and trauma system partners to either prevent, respond to, or reduce the severity of roadway crashes.”
Since this definition of public safety infrastructure specifically includes crash prevention and severity reduction, partnering with your local public safety agencies will make a strong case for your proposed interventions. Support from public safety agencies and first responders is also emphasized in the NOFO. Definitely seek letters of support from these partners, but an even better strategy is to bring them in on the project itself. Here are a few project ideas:
Improve your data collection practices. We know a lot gets missed in typical crash reports. Work with law enforcement, emergency responders, and hospitals to pilot updated crash-reporting strategies to produce a better measure of road safety in your community. Pilot a new approach to coordinate reporting across agencies to accelerate data synthesis. You could even develop near-miss reporting technology to capture close calls that often go uncollected.
Test new trainings and practices. Propose a pilot training initiative to help public safety officers understand and incorporate roadway design issues in their assessment of crashes. Pedestrian-blaming can start in the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/crash-reporting/">crash report</a>, so training officers to evaluate the full environment at a crash site could result in recommendations better than “wear bright colors.” Another approach could be implementing cross-sector post-crash evaluations, such as Strong Town’s <a href="https://www.strongtowns.org/crashstudio">Crash Analysis Studio</a> or <a href="https://www.emergencystreets.org/">Emergency Streets</a>, that bring departments together to identify ways to prevent crashes from happening again.
Assess the existing vehicle fleets and assets. Communities are constantly evolving, and so is technology. You could propose using supplemental planning funds to help public safety agencies plan for future needs. This planning could include examining more nimble (that is, smaller) vehicles to improve access for emergency response. This project could potentially lead to reassessing design standards, such as lane widths, due to the newfound flexibility of smaller—more nimble—trucks. We wouldn’t want to predict where these conversations will go or what road design recommendations they could lead to, but starting this conversation may be a good pitch for your community to use SS4A.
<h3>Strategy 3: Focus on kids</h3>
Despite the pro-car stance in this year’s priorities, there is a clear focus on children’s safety. For example, automated traffic enforcement is viewed unfavorably unless it’s in school zones or on school buses (or in work zones), and “child-friendly elements” are among the favorable considerations for application review. Whatever you’re proposing, focus on the benefits for children. If you want to propose a traffic-calming design strategy that may seem to deprioritize cars, start with pilots in school zones. In your application narrative, remind reviewers to think of the children. Here are a few creative ways to improve safety through this focus on kids:
Start with school zones. Use these designated areas to test proven safety countermeasures or to pilot automated enforcement. Improve connections between school zones and other key destinations for children, such as parks and libraries, using safe sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, and bike paths. If you don’t already have one, definitely pilot a <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/bicycle-safety/countermeasures/other-strategies-behavior-change/safe">Safe Routes to School</a> program.
Get kids moving! Organize <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/pedestrian-safety/countermeasures/other-strategies-behavior-change-3">walking school buses</a> or a <a href="https://bikebus.world/">bike bus</a> to provide active transportation options for children and their families to get to school. Host a series of <a href="https://www.trafficgardens.com/">traffic gardens</a> to help kids get comfortable on bikes and learn to ride safely. You could even use these events as opportunities to start working with kids on their ideas for safer street design—it’s never too early to become a champion for safe streets! These strategies will involve parents, too, so consider partnering with your local parent-teacher organizations to support your application. You could even propose community engagement pilots focused on parents, children, and schools for long-term capacity building.
This list is by no means comprehensive. Start with your community’s needs, frame them in terms of this administration’s SS4A priorities, and don’t be afraid to ask for more. There is a lot of good work to be done!
Smart Growth America has already helped communities secure more than $8 million in SS4A funding and is now offering limited support to help more communities succeed in what may be the final round. <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/apply-now-get-sga-support-for-your-2026-ss4a-application/">Learn more about these services</a>.

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