Smart Growth Leadership Institute | Communities we work with

Communities we work with

To read a short summary about the community and about our technical assistance (and to download a pdf copy of the report) choose the community from the list below or scroll down to read about all the communities:

Anchorage, Alaska
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Chattahoochee Hill Country, South Fulton, Georgia
Coconino, Arizona
Davis, California
Greenville, South Carolina
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lithonia, DeKalb County, Georgia
Mount Joy Borough, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee
Orange County, Florida
Richmond, California
Rancho Cordova, California
Grand Traverse County, Traverse City & Peninsula Township , Michigan
Newton County, Georgia
Camden County, North Carolina
New Castle County, Delaware

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a combined city-county government that covers Alaska s largest and most important metropolitan area. In 2001, the Municipality of Anchorage adopted the Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan, which serves as a blueprint for development in the Anchorage Bowl for the next 20 years. By highlighting the need for more focused and compact development, Anchorage 2020 represented a radical departure from the traditional planning model in Anchorage. As a follow up, the Municipality is revising both its zoning code (Title 21) and its Long-Range Transportation Plan. Many of the municipality s existing standards do not offer Anchorage the tools to promote various types of infill development with higher land use densities and intensities. Also, the City s plans, codes, and development standards have evolved over time, resulting in a mix of standards with varying purposes and uses.

SGLI' reviewed the current Smart Growth policies contained in the Anchorage 2020 Plan; reviewed the draft land use code being developed by Clarion Associates; and reviewed the draft updated 1991 Long Range Transportation Plan.

Download the Anchorage Report (pdf 2.3Mb)

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The City of Baton Rouge indicated that while policies supportive of smart growth principles are found in their comprehensive planning document, the Horizon Plan, these principles are not supported by the Unified Development Code that was adopted in 1996.

The City is anxious to have a development code that supports the smart growth principles found in the Horizon Plan, and so requested that the technical assistance team review the current policies contained in the Horizon Plan and then to review the Unified Development Code for consistency.

Using the 14-step process for the policy and code audits and the Smart Growth policy and code templates, the SGLI, technical assistance team reviewed the Baton Rouge Horizon Plan and Unified Development Code.

Download the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Report(pdf 944 kb)

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Chattahoochee Hill Country, South Fulton, Georgia

Chattahoochee Hill Country, a 65,000 acre triangle of sparsely developed land in South Fulton County, Georgia, is the largest tract of undeveloped land within the Atlanta MSA. Its largely undeveloped nature is an anomaly but growth is now clearly coming and cannot be avoided. Building permits in South Fulton grew nearly three-fold from 1,130 in 2002 (of which 72% were for single family homes) to 2,941 by 2004 (with 90% for single family homes). The increased pressure reflects the dynamics of the Atlanta MSA that has grown from just 7 counties in 1980 to 28 counties in just 20 years. The metropolitan population is expected to reach 6 million by the Year 2030.

The lowest agricultural zoning category in South Fulton (AG-1) allows a density of 1 dwelling unit (d.u.) per acre. The category allows, by right, one-acre single-family development (the same type of development prevalent in North Fulton County).

The CHC Alliance (CHC) is a coalition of concerned citizens formed in 2001 to protect the unique land heritage and open spaces of the Chattahoochee Hill Country. In the last five years, the CHC has moved rapidly on several projects, among them: the CHC Land Use Plan and Community Guidelines; the CHC overlay district and ordinances for South Fulton County; and, a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Program.

SGLI audited the Land Use Plan and the Overlay District Ordinances; analyzed the TDR Program; prepared a Smart Growth Project Scorecard; and, prepared a Strategic Assessment (including a Market Analysis).

Download the Chattahoochee Hill Country, Georgia Report(pdf 1.1 mb)

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Coconino, Arizona

Coconino County is a large county in Northern Arizona that includes the Flagstaff area, the Grand Canyon, parts of Sedona, and much federal and tribal land. The county has recently adopted a new Comprehensive Plan but is seeking to identify the best approaches for implementation. One focus of the county s implementation efforts is to encourage cluster or conservation subdivisions as an alternative to large-lot subdivisions. The goal of this project is to provide a set of recommendations that will permit the county to revise its codes, its processes, and its incentive system to encourage a different form of development in rural areas.

SGLI reviewed the county s Comprehensive Plan and current codes; prepared a Policy and Code Audit; and developed recommendations as part of a Strategic Assessment.

Download the Coconino Report (pdf 476 kb)

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Davis, California

Davis, California, is a moderately sized city in Yolo County, California, facing significant growth pressure. The campus of the University of California, Davis, is located immediately adjacent to the city. Although the downtown is strong, and alternative transportation systems are well established, much of the community is built according to a traditional suburban model.

The city is currently experiencing a series of growth-related changes that have increased interest in smart growth principles. Developers are interested in constructing new projects downtown, which traditionally was a one-story environment. Older neighborhood shopping centers are suffering market declines. A few new greenfield projects are being proposed, but smart growth and mixed-use principles are being promoted for these projects.

In early 2005, the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and the City of Davis, California, agreed to work collaboratively on a review and analysis of two struggling neighborhood shopping centers in Davis, in particular using SGLI, s Scorecard tool to examine the viability of a mixed-use approach on these two parcels. SGLI, also agreed to make a set of recommendations to the City of Davis regarding a mixed-use ordinance that could be used for neighborhood shopping centers.

Download the Davis Report (pdf 2.3 mb)

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Greenville, South Carolina

Greenville is a city of approximately 56,000 residents in northwestern South Carolina. Once a prosperous mill town, the City s economy went into a steep decline when its primary industry went offshore. Since 1970, it has steadily lost population. At the same time, the unincorporated areas and other cities in Greenville County gained population as people moved out into lower density suburban areas. At its nadir, the City s downtown was boarded up for the most part, but an aggressive redevelopment campaign has successfully transformed the area into an attractive and lively mixed-use district that purportedly has a daytime population of 225,000. The City has also deservedly received accolades for its efforts to redevelop older residential neighborhoods close to the core.

The Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted in 1999, focuses on preserving neighborhoods, so the City Council has adopted a policy of Neighborhoods First, but there is no consensus as to what this means. Interpretations range from no change to quality infill. The Council does agree however that it wants to increase the city s population and encourage quality development.

Commercial areas outside of the central business district are mainly strip development. Most are showing definite signs of age. Quality of design and construction vary widely. Residential areas are not being developed to the density allowed by zoning.

Until the recent annexation of a large tract of land on its eastern border, the city was nearly built out. A few commercial areas requested annexation in recent years because the City allows the Sunday sale of wine and beer, while the County does not. But in general annexation has not been a route of expansion. Consequently, the City has had no real planning department, but has relied on Greenville County s staff for Comprehensive Plan updates and zone changes. The City s Economic Development Department serves as its planning agency overseeing redevelopment efforts, while a three-person zoning staff enforces the Land Use and Development Ordinance, or LUDO as it is commonly called.

The LUDO is currently being updated. A draft has been written by Clarion Associates, and the City requested SGLI, s audit of the document prior to its public review and final adoption.

SGLI's report reviewed the Comprehensive Plan and neighborhood plans; reviewed the draft LUDO; and, reviewed the draft Engineering Design Manual.

Download the Greenville Report (pdf 796 kb)

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Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence has experienced rapid growth in the past 25 years, doubling its population to approximately 90,000 residents. The city is transitioning from a college town into a small city with a diverse economy. Once a city reaches a population of roughly 100,000 people, a natural evolution occurs where new neighborhood centers typically emerge that provide new clusters of employment and retail outside the traditional downtown core. Lawrence is no exception to this trend. These emerging neighborhood centers primarily serve sub-regional markets, and do not directly compete with the entertainment, retail and attractions located in downtown.

For many proposed new developments, Lawrence s current policies and codes cause the applicants to undergo a cumbersome special project review. It is the desire if the City to streamline this process with design standards or guidelines.

The city has requested assistance to develop urban design standards to address two separate development scenarios faced in Lawrence. 1) Fringe area development where large-scale retail development is occurring. The city is especially interested to explore policies and standards that can direct commercial development towards traditional modes of more integrated, walkable neighborhood development. 2) Commercial redevelopment and infill development within or adjacent to established neighborhoods. These urban design standards will help create a redevelopment template for existing commercial highway strip development, including building size, scale and massing and the relationship of these commercial strips to developed adjacent neighborhoods.

Two commercial corridors in Lawrence were analyzed and a newly created design template was used to develop recommendations for administration and implementation of guidelines within the existing development review process.

Download the Lawrence, Kansas Report (pdf 240 kb) or
Download the Lawrence, Kansas presentation (pdf 2.9 mb)

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Lawrence, Massachusetts

The City of Lawrence, Massachusetts, in conjunction with its partners Lawrence CommunityWorks, a community development corporation, and Groundwork Lawrence, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving open spaces and the public environment, intends to implement its Reviviendo Gateway Initiative (RGI), a vision for a diverse, compact, mixed-use urban village for the central business district, the historic mill district, and the adjacent North Common neighborhood. Each of these areas suffers from sites in need of environmental remediation, vacant and underutilized parcels, and public infrastructure in need of reinvestment. The initiative pairs a major economic development project known as the Gateway led by the City and private landowners, consisting of a 20-year, $70 million environmental remediation and a $30 million public infrastructure and transportation project and Reviviendo, a resident-driven community planning process with the goal of transforming the City. The goal is to create and implement a comprehensive planning and development strategy for this entire district, one that will serve as a model for neighborhood development throughout the City and which could be applied in other poor urban communities.

Technical assistance from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute team will be used to help create a process and mechanism that will enable RGI to translate its initial successes into an operational plan to begin to achieve its 15-year vision for the district.

Report pending

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Lithonia, DeKalb County, Georgia

The revitalization of the historic 19th century City of Lithonia located in the Atlanta metropolitan region is an integral part of a broader initiative to obtain National Heritage Area status for the Arabia Mountain/Lithonia area. The initiative undertaken by the Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance, the City of Lithonia, and The Conservation Fund involves protection of 8,000 acres of contiguous open space and economic revitalization of the historic city while preserving its historic character.

With a Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) planning grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission, the City has recently completed a Master Plan. But the new Master Plan needs to enhance the design guidelines with standards and review protocols for guiding future infill and redevelopment efforts. The City and the Alliance would like to develop design standards and review protocols to complement the Master Plan.

The SGLI, report reviewed the recently completed Master Plan and associated documents, zoning ordinances, other documents; consultated with community representatives and personnel about preliminary questions and ideas, including alternative frameworks for design guidelines based on current best practices and smart growth guidelines; and, developed recommendations for design standards and review protocol.

Download the Lithonia Report (pdf 2 mb)

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Mount Joy Borough, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

The Borough of Mount Joy indicated that although policies supportive of smart growth principles are contained in their comprehensive planning and zoning documents, implementing these policies, particularly in infill situations, has been inhibited by the development standards in the Borough s land subdivision ordinance dating from the 1960s. Lancaster County, as co-applicant, was anxious to have model regulations for land subdivision that would support smart growth and could be applied in other communities in the County.

SGLI reviewed the current subdivision regulations and made recommendations on how they might be amended to facilitate development of both greenfield and infill properties with traditional neighborhood design elements that would allow new development to blend seamlessly into the existing community fabric.

Download the Mount Joy Borough Report (pdf 488 kb)

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Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee

Nashville-Davidson County was one of the first pilot communities where the SGLI, team applied the code audit and engaged in a site visit. Nashville-Davidson County is a combined city-county (metropolitan) government that includes urban, suburban, and rural areas.

The Metro Planning Department asked the SGLI, Technical Assistance team to provide an assessment of the county s subdivision regulations. Nashville s geography includes a wide range of environmental features and terrains. Likewise, through the sub-area planning process citizens have expressed interest in the full range of development typologies, from very urban to very rural. However, the character of Nashville s unique settings is being gradually eroded by development trends of the last several decades, influenced, in no small measure, by one-size-fits-all subdivision requirements. Most of Nashville s subdivision development standards reflect the conventional wisdom of the 1960s and 1970s, facilitating sprawling development patterns while inhibiting cost-effective development of urban and rural-character projects.

The Planning Department intends to reform its subdivision regulations around a continuum of contextual transect zones, so that -- whether rural, suburban or urban -- a subdivision can be cost-effectively designed and developed from a kit of parts that fit the community context in which it will be built. However, codes have not been changed. The Planning Department and SGLI, agreed that the SGLI, team would review Metro s subdivision regulations using the code audit tool and make recommendations about how those regulations may be improved. It was the only pilot community where subdivision regulations were the primary focus of SGLI, s work.

Download the Nashville/Davidson Report (pdf 296 kb)

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Orange County, Florida

Orange County indicates that despite a number of Smart Growth initiatives, the existing Comprehensive Policy Plan, zoning code, and development standards reinforce traditional low density suburban development patterns. These land use patterns do little to promote infill, mixed use, and higher intensity/density developments. In addition, the County s plans, codes, and development standards are at times in conflict with each other. The County is therefore anxious to revise existing policies, zoning codes, and development standards to be reflective of Smart Growth principles and practices.

SGLI audited the County s Comprehensive Policy Plan for consistency with housing diversity and infill development goals; audited a series of specific sections of the zoning ordinance; identifed inconsistencies between policies and codes that prevent smart growth development; and, recommended how policies and codes might be amended to facilitate development of infill, mixed use or higher intensity developments

Download the Orange County Report (pdf 624 kb)

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Richmond, California

MacDonald Avenue, a prime commercial corridor in Richmond, California is facing development pressure resulting from rapid population growth in the Bay Area. With most of the City built out, this auto-oriented corridor surrounded by generally low-density housing, some retail, and institutional uses is currently the focus of several City initiatives and revitalization plans including the Civic Center Specific Plan, BART Access Plan, Project 10-A Redevelopment Plan, and the General Plan. New development standards have been proposed to redevelop MacDonald Avenue into a pedestrian friendly corridor that accommodates a diversity of uses and fully capitalizes the location and assets such as existing infrastructure, access to BART station, and linkages to the Civic Center.

SGLI's report reviewed the existing plans/policies against an established template of Smart Growth principles and developed a set of recommendations and design guidelines for MacDonald Avenue.

Download the Richmond Report(pdf 852 kb)

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