Volume 3. Number 12 March 1996 Editor/writer: David Beach

Inside

The first Scenic Byway comes to Northeast Ohio

o The Grand:

Our wild fiver o

The politics of sprawl: Forging regional coalitions

o A watershed organization

for the Chagrin River o

Bioregional calendar and more ... o

Good words The loss of a forest or a farm

is justified only ifit is replaced

by a village.

To replace them with a subdivision

cit a shopping center

is not an even trade.

-Andres Duany

Ifwbat you sell is privacy

and exclusivity,

then every new house

is a degradation of the amenity.

However, if what y?U sell

is community, then every new house

is an enhancement of the asset.

-Vince Graham

CHOICE

The classic Western Reserve town takes unprecedented steps to slow its growth

See pages 6-9

HOME AT ECOCITY

What we need In the introduction to our new reader on urban sprawl, Moving (0 Corn

Fields, we propose the following goal for the region: Change development

patterns in Northeast Ohio to revitalize existing urban areas ~nd preserve the

countryside, thus creating a region which is more environmentally

slistainable, economically healthier and less stratified by class and race.

Then we list five steps for our regional future:

• Bioregional consciousness. Create regional consciousness- personal

identity with the region instead of parochial cities, a willingness to act for

the long-tenn future of the entire region.

• Costs of sprawl. Promote understanding of the impacts of curr:nt

deve lopment patterns.

Who wins? Who loses?

• Keeping score.

Develop the capacity to

track in an organized

way all the decisions

which now prof!1ote

sprawling development

patterns. Publicize

who/what is responsib le.

• Inspirational alternatives. Show how alternative development patterns

can create a healthier region for most people. Create visible models.

• Creating change. Organize winning coalitions and campaigns for a

more sustainable region.

These are some of the things we wi ll need to do in order to affect the

regional forces shaping our future. What do you th ink of this list? What

would be your strategy for countering sprawl and urban abandonment? What

kind of organizations ar~ needed? How do we get the resources necessary to

do the work? And what role should EcoCity Cleveland play?

Therels a budding movement against sprawling development patterns in

Northeast Ohio. How can we best serve it? Please send us your ideas.

Be our. eyes and ears I really appreciate it when readers send in newspaper clippings and other

news tips about the issues we cover. I ~specially need help with papers

outside of Cuyahoga County, includ ing the editions of the Plain Dealer with

coverage zoned outs ide of the immediate Clevelan~ area. Help me maintain

a regional perspective! (We also appreciate it wheh readers forward

interesting items from the Internet v.ia e-mail.)

2

-David Beach

Editor

P.S. One·more thing thatls appreciated: Early

subscription renewals so we donlt have to send costly

reminders. (That's assuming that you do subscribe and

are not sneaking someone elsels copy!)

Mission EcoCity Cleveland is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, educational

organization. Tbrough the publication of the EcoCi'ty Cleveland Journal and other programs, it will stimulate

ecological thinking about the Northeast Ohio region . (Cuyahoga Bioregion), nurture an EcoCity Net\vork among

local groups working on urban and environmental issues. and promote sustainable ways

to meet basic human needs for food, shelter, productive work anq stable communities.

Board of Trustees David Beach, Director, £CoCily Cleveland Stuart Greenberg, Environmental Health Watch Phil Star, Center for Neighborhood Development, CSU Chris Trepal , The Earth Day Coalition Carl Wirt? ... Hausser + Taylor

Advisory Board Deborah Alex·Saunders, Minority Environmental A~soc. Thomas Bier, CSU Housing Policy Research Program latnes Bissell, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Diane Cameron, NaturarResources Defense Council Anne Chaka, U"ion o/Concerned Scientists Edith Chase, Ohio Coastal Resource Mgt. Project Sandie Crawford. Tri-C Center for Environmental Education

and Training Lee DeAngelis, Environmental Careers Organization . John Debo,·Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area Lois Epstein, Environmental Defense Fund Soren Hansen, InterGraphic Engineering Services Rick Hawksley, Fuller Design Group and Northeast Ohio

Land Trust Coalition Kim Hill, Sierra Club David Knapp, United Labor Agency Susan Lacy. WE-CAN! Craig Limpach, Wildlife biologist Elaine Marsh, Friends of the Crooked River Nonnan Robbins, CWRU Program for the Environme,nt Kathleen Tark, City Architecture Jerome Walcott, Commission ·on Catholic Community Action Roberta Wendel, Friends of the Black River

Organizations lisled for identification only. Articles in EcoCiryClel'f!.lllllddo not necessarily reflect the views of board

members, although ~ere's a good Chtulce they do.

• EcoClty Cleveland Journal

2841 Scarborough Road, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 Cuyahoga Bioregion

Telephone and rnx: (2 t6) 932-3007 ·E-mai l address·: ecocleveland@igc.apc.org

• Published montbly, except for a double issue in July/August. Unless

otherwise noted, all articles and photographs are by David Beach. Submissions from others are welcome~ hul please call first, We cannot be responsible for unsolicited materials.

Readers are encouraged to use the information in EcoCily C/el·elm/d. Just call fo~ pennission 10 reprint articles. After you're finished with your copy of the journal, pass· it on to friends or recycle it. If you are a regular reader, please subscribe. . Supported by operating grants from the George Gund and Nord Family foundations, SUbscriptions and individual donations.

Printed at Qrange Blossom Press in Cleveland on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper using soy-based inks.

ISSN 1084-0885 o 1996 EcoCity Cleveland .

EcoCiT)' ClEVElANd 0 March 19.96

GREENWAYS

Our scenic byway One ofNorthe~st Ohiols most inspiring examples of regional cooperation is the effort to create the Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor. The corridor links Cleveland and Akron, urban and rural, parks and industry, the past and the future. Following the old canal for 87 miles from Cleveland's lakefront to the historic canal town of Zoar, the corridor is the spine of our region.

While the canal itself no longer moves cargo and people, the corridor is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative transportation route. The Towpath Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (CVNRA) attracts thousands of bicyclists and hikers, and it is being extended north and south. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad may one day ~arry visitors between downtown Cleveland, Akron and Canton.

And now a third transportation link is being proposed for the corridor- the Ohio & Erie Canal Scenic Byway. It would designate special routes on existing roads so motorists can experience beauty of the corridor. The aim would not be to promote more driving (the 3 million visitors to the CVNRA each year are already clogging the area's rural roads), but to make it easier for people to get to the corridor and to protect the scenic character of the landscapes in the area.

"This wi ll be the asphalt ribbon ofthe corridor, II says Tim Donovan, director of Ohio Canal Corridor, one of the organizations .· spearheading the effort.

For the past two years a task force of representativ.es from Cuyahoga, Summit,

Benefits of scenic byways Scenic byways arc roads through corridors which possess significant scenic, historic, natural, cultural, archeological or rccreational qualities. The designation of scenic byways has become an increasingly effective tool because byway efforts can successfully balance economic growth with environmental concerns. This new approach provides us with the . potential to shape how our communities and

. countryside look, while also encouraging economic deVelopment. Scenic byways:

• Promote interest in the cultural resources and natural beauty of ~n area.

• Interpret the intrinsic qualities of an area resulting in an increased appreciation for and commitment to their protection.

• Attract visitors who bring additional income and economic activitY to the area.

• Provide an opportunity for gro\vth management in a corridor by encouraging appropriate development.

• Provide the motorist with a low str~ss route.

• Can often guide visitors 10 sites not on principle ·highways, thereby offering a means of drawing tourist;; to all regions of a state·.

• Contribute to regional green ways, hedtage areas and trail development efforts.

• Preserve important community-valued characterist ics.

• Create ties within and between communities due to sharing of a common vision.

- Scenic.America

Stark and Tuscawaras counties have been promoting the byway idea and have been working with the Ohio Department of Transportation to develop new criteria for a State Scenic Byway Program. Ohio lacks a strong program and has been miss ing out on federal funds allocated for scenic byways.

A recent state grant to the Summit County Engineer will permit completion of a byway management plan, which will identify the r.cads to be included in the byway, inventory significant resources along the byway, determine who will oversee enhancements to the roadways and·scenic resources, and establish gu idelines for marketing, interpretation and signage. When the plan is completed. this summer, itls hoped that the Ohio & Erie Canal Scenic Byway will be

approved as the first scenic byway in the state. 0

EcoCiT)' ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

I

i i I I

att_OOIQU,\IOIIOD ------JtiiOOf""~""m-

, I I

~~.w I ) I ~_ -L--------r 1 I I .

I \ ~ ,~

I /

The Ohio & Erie Can

I

I I I I

i I

I r~--

I I I I I

ill

/

3

WATERSHEDS

The Grand Northeast Ohio's only wild and scenic river We've b~en hard on rivers in Northeast Ohio. We've dammed them, channelized them, and polluted them. But one river has survived in amazingly good shape-the Grand.

Protected by its distance from major urban areas, the swampiness' of its upper watershed and the steepness of its magnificent gorge in Lake County, the Grand River watershed is home to the greatest biological diversity in the region. Its free-flowing, clean water permits the survival of exceptional communities of fish and other aquatic organ"isms. And its forested floodplains and wetlands shelter more than 60 rare plants.

The Grand's unusually pristine quality has earned it a "Wild and Scenic" designation from the state. '(The only other wild river in Ohio is Little Beaver Creek in Columbiana County.) The wild portion of the Grand- the rugged portion in th.e gorge with the best preserved forest corridor--extends about 23 miles from the Harpersfield covered bridge near SR 534 to the Norfolk and Western railroad bridge · just south of Painesville. The scenic portion, which winds through the flat bed of an ancient glacial lake, extends about 33 miles from SR 322 to the Harpersfield bridge.

.Last year, Ohio EPA scientists conducted an intensive study of the river, its water quality and health of its aquatic life. Overall , the river continues to get excellent grades, says Ohio EPA's Steve Tuckerman, who is now finishing up the agency's report. [n contrast to many of the other reports he' s written , he says the one on the Grand "is pleasantly boring."

"One of the finest ... "

Helping to maintain the river's water quality is the well-operated Painesville wastewater treatment plant, he added. "It's a model facility ... They have great effluent."

Tn terms of point sources of pollution, two immediate concerns facing the river are a proposed expansion of the Chardon wastewater treatment plant and the Diamond Shamrock hazardous waste lagoons near Painesville. Increased,discharge from the wastewater plant could degrade Big Creek, a

major tributary of the Grand. And there is concern that the old waste lagoons are leaking chromium and other pollutants. Probably the biggest long-term

threat to the river is suburban sprawl spreading over Lake, Geauga and western Ashtabula counties. Fortunately. a number of organizations are working to protect the river's corridor.

Lake Metroparks has protected over 3,500 acres along the Grand and its tributaries and has developed a larger open space plan. A recent federal transportation grant wiJl allow the mctroparks to protect another 1,000 acres of forested hillsides- the impressive "viewshed" from 1-90 bridges-through purchases of land and scenic easements. Meanwhile, the Geauga Park District protects about 1,095 acres of land along the Big Creek and Swine Creek tributaries and seeks to purchase additional properties along vital headwater streams.

The Grand River is also home to a good example of watershed-wide cooperation-a coalition of public agencies, private organizations, businesses and individuals

The Grand Wild and Scenic River represents one of Ihe finest examples of a natural stream to be found anywhere in Ohio. Physiographic features such as broad floodplains, vast wetlands and steep shale cliffs have largely prevented the encroachment of civilization and have given protection to the stream's well wooded corridor, The river presents two distinct faces, The upper portion of the Grand in Ashtabula County designated scenic is bordered in many areas by extensive swamp forests of elm, ash, maple, pine, pin oak and swamp white oak. The slow flow of the Grand in this ,reach , along with the adjoining wetlands, provides excellent habitat for a n'umber of wildlife species, especially beaver, which, as made a strong comeback in this county.

The lower section of the Grand River in Lake County is designated wild. The rolling topography and plateaus of Lake County end ,abruptly along the. Grand River. It is characterized by steeply-incised valley walls of Chagrin shale. A view of the Grand River in this area is truly spectacular.

--Ohio Division of Natural Areas and ·Preserves

4

known as the Grand River Partnership. The partnership has created a land trust and has raised funds to purchase easements so land along the river remains undeveloped. It also has hired a river protection planner to help educate landowners about river protection and provide incentives for cleaning up private dumps near the river. Another goal is to reach out to farmers, loggers and developers with infonnation about minimizing erosion. For more information about the Grand River Partnership, call Rob Corbett at the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District, 216-350:2730. 0

Major threats The Grand River has generally excellent water quality and aquatic communities ... but here are some environmental threats that Ohio EPA is watching:

· "Diamond Shamrock waste lagoons near Painesville may be degrading water quality in their vicinity. Negotiations ~are continuing over-who will pay (or a cleanup.

• Superfund hazardous waste sites atthe New Lyme Landfill and the Old Mill site in Rock Creek, both undergoing cleanup actions.

• Jefferson wastewater treatment plant has experienced overflows and sewage sludge contaminating Cemetery Creek tributary. A recent plant upgrade should improve conditions.

• Orwell wastewater treatment plant has had operating and maintenance problems leading to high ammonia releases. odors and low dissolved oxygen in a tributary to the Gra,nd. The situation is now improving.

• {n~reasing residential development in the basin-population has increased nearly seven percent between 1980 and 1990. A new bridge on Vrooman Road could spur development in areas south of the river.

• Invasion of exotic species, such as canary grass and phragmites, the tall reed grass which has taken over Mentor Marsh,

• And a final threat is U.S. Rep. James Traficant of Youngstown, who dreams of channelizing and damming the river to build a barge canal from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. That would be an ecological disaster for th~ region.

EcoCiTy ClEVElANd () March 1996

Grand River Basin

Public Metropark & County Park • District Locations

Areas with Population Densities _ >900 People per Sq. Mile

Areas with Population Densities >100 and <900 people per Sq. Mile

Areas with Population Densities <100 People per Sq. Mile

Grand River facts • Original nam,e: the Geauga, after the Native American word

for "raccoon."

• Length of main stem: 98.5 miles from Parkman to Fairport Harbor.

• Area of drainage basin: 712 square miles in Lake, Geauga. Ashtabula, Trumbull and Portage counties.

• State wild and· sce~c designation: 1974. • Wildlife: 80-90 bird species, 76 fish species, 49 mammal

species, 18 reptile species, 10 amphibian species. Also more than 60 rare plants in the watershed. River otters recently reintroduced to the watershed by the state.

EcoCiTy ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

Map prepared by NOACA

• Natural areas: Headlands Dunes, Mentor Marsh, Pallister Swamp, Grand River Terraces. Morgan Swamp, Grand River Wildlife Area; and other ecologically significant swamps and parklands.

• Plant responsible for luxuriant meadows along the river's edge: Emory's sedge.

• Rock forming cliffs of the Grand River gorge: Chagrin shale from the Devonian Period.

• Prehistoric settlements: Earthen embankments at Hogback Ridge Park in Madison Township and ,Indian Point Park in Leroy Township. , Sources: Cleveland Museum of Natural History, NOACA

5

SPRAWL

Hudsonls choice Northeast Ohio is not growing very much, but don't tell that to Hudson. This New England-style Village in the heart of the Western Reserve has been booming.

The population of the village and surrounding township has been growing at a rate of~.5 percent a year-mushrooming from about 5,000 in 1960 to 22,000 today. And this rapid growth-<:reated in part by the redistribution of population from d'eclining urban areas in the region-is overwhelming the distinctive small-town atmosphere which attracted residents in t~e first place. Traffic is backing up around the village green. The schools are overcrowded. City services are strained to the breaking point. Thus, another historic town is being engulfed by the monotonous suburban sprawl spreading between Cleveland and Akron.

Capping growth But now after leading the region in growth, Hudson is tryi~g to lead in growth management strategies. It is propo!!;ing to the become the ftrst city in Ohio to cap its growth rate by limiting the number of building permits issued each year. Next year, builders may be able to build only about 100 residential units in Hudson, ' about one-third of the present level.

A small tow~ overwhelmed: Hudson's'Main Street is also SR 91, a rapidly growing corridor through the suburbs east of Cleveland.

says City Manager James Smith.

The city also plans to reduce the amount of land zoned for housing

When Smith left his home town of Sandusky in 1973, Ohio had the rust-belt mentality that any development was good. When he recently returned to Ohio after managing cities in New England, he saw

the mentality had changed. "Now welre in the early

by preserving environmentally sensitive lands and reserving land for future industrial and office development. Previously, Hudson's zoning would have

"Now were in the early stages of

recognizing that there are costs to

development. Its an interesting time in the history

of Ohio. "

stages of recognizing that there are costs to development," he says. IIItls an interesting time in the history of Ohio."

Picl<ed apart by development Hudson once was insulated from sprawl. It was just far enough from Cleveland and Akron to make"

allowed the city to build out to a population of up to 38,000 in 20-30 years. Under the new plan, the population will _grow a maximum of 1.5 percent L _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ -,----' commuting difficult. But

annually and peak at 30,000 in 25 years. the Ohio Turnpike came through in the A riumber of other communities in the '60s. bringing with it a big OM Terex plant.

region have sought to manage the amount And then came easy access to SR 8. 1-271 of growth by requiring larger lots and and 1-480. reducing residential density. But Hudson As a result, developers began carving up also wants to reduce the pace of growth so the township with subdivisions. Land use it can' catch its breath. control~ were weak and building was easy.

''It will give us time to make decisions." Much of the development lacked basic

6

public services, such as central water supply, sidewalks or recreational facilities. Little thought was given about how to pay for municipal services in the future or how the schools, whose enrollment doubled in a decade, would .pay for new facilities.

Much of this growth happened incrementally and, subdivision by subdivision, was not a terrible COlJcem. But by the early 190s, the cumulative impact was alarming. At the' same t~me, sudden and large-scale commercial developments near Hudson-Wal-Mart strip centers in Macedonia and Streetsboro----:.added to the residents' perception that limits had been reached.

One of the last 'straws was the growing congestion on Main Street, especially at the intersection of routes 91 and 303. Hudson's picturesque town center was becoming so over-run with traffic that residents were avoiding it.

"That really motivated people," Smith says.

A new strategy A number of Hudson's new residents had lived in parts of the country where "growth management" was viewed as a sensible part

EeoC;!), ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

of planning. They wondered why Hudson couldn't corne together as a

. community and detennine its future. And so in 1992 the people of Hudson

embarked on a four-step process of change:

• Merger. First. they voted to merge the village and the township in 1993. This gave the community greater control over the design and location of development and added new revenue by expanding the income tax base.

• Comprehensive plan. Second. they adopted a neW comprehensive plan which mapped out land uses, set design standards to protect the character of the community, and create4 a growth management strategy to

Defending growth management Hu~son officials and their consultants anticipate. that these growth management policies won't be enacted without a fight. Property owners and developers will likely challenge the ordinance in court, claiming interference with property rights. They will want to squelch

, Hudson's initiative before other ' communitie;s get the same idea.

But Hudson officials believe they have a sound legal basis for growth management. They have carefully tied their plan not just to the preservation of small town character or environmental

quality, but to hard economics-the

control the amount, quality, location and timing of future residential development. The growth management policy limits the pace of population growth to 1.5 percent a year by limiting the number of residential permits. It' also requires concurrency- that - . adequate infrastructure be in place prior to or concurrent with new development to avoid overtaxing existing public facilities.

After leading the region in growth, Hudson is trying to lead in growth

management

community's fiscal ability to pay for expanding infrastruct~re and services, As part of their planning, they have done "fiscal impact analyses" of the costs of additional

strategies_ It is proposing to the become the first city in Ohio to cap its growth rate by limiting the number of

building permits issued each year.

infrastructure and services, given different ' rates of growth. If current growth trends continue, the city's costs will increase -350 percent in 15 years. But if growth is moderated as planned, costs will increase at a more moderate rate-250

• Time-out. Third, they started phasing in growth management' with an Interim

'-------------" percent over 25 years.

Development Control Ordinance adopted in July 1995. The ordinance acts as a "time-outt! and will be in effect for one year while the city updates its infrastructure plans, zoning. subdivision regulations, environmental quality standards and revitalization standards for its historic village core.

• Making it law. Fourth, they are designing a formal Growth Management O,rdinance. wtJ.ich will govern how city officials will set an acceptable growth rate each year. The goal 6fthe ordinance will be to provide a predicable level of growth that will allow the school district and city administration to meet service demands while protecting the character of the community. This ordinance is now before city council and, if all goes as planned, will be in effect by July.

EcoCiW ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

Already, the city is facing big investments to increase water supply and wastewater treatment capacity. It must pay at least $7 million to connect sanitary sewers to an interceptor of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District because of pollution problems in Brandywine Creek. Traffic on key roads, is increasing seven percent a year, and road maintenance a~ready is one of the biggest items in the budget. The city needs more police and a new police station. And it will cost the school district about $11 ,000 to provide facilities for each additional student.

The problem for Hudson-and for many growing communities-is that its growth has been unbalanced, It has seen far more residential development, which creates more demands for services than

Four elements of growth management There are four basic elements of development that a growth management strategy must address: location, amount, rate/timing, and quality of development. The manner in which a community addresses each of these elements plays an important role in defining how a community's appearance and development patterns occur. A strategy that recognizes the function of each of these elements and coordinates them into a cohesive reguJatory system is more likely to be able to address all of the needs of a growing community like Hudson. Th,e role that each ofthe four elements plays in a growth management strategy is described below:

• Location. Where should development take place? Should it ~e targeted (0 already developed areas where infrastructure is available or land adjacent to built-up areas? Should it be allowed on scattered sites tbroughout the jurisdiction? Traditional zoning addresses the issue oflocation and type of various uses, but more sophisticated growth management ;ystems go further, often restricting development to occur within defined boundaries.

• Amount· Traditional zoning addresses how densely any particular parcel may be developed_ Growth management systems go beyond· this; setting population ·targets for a community andlor establishing open space development zoning for pres~rvation ofroral and s,Genic areas.

• Rate/timing. Cbmmunitiesare beginning to set goals forthe pace at which growth .should occur. A growing number of communities have ~dopted systems that allow d,evelopment to occur only if adequate public facilities, such as schools and roads, are availa~le and have proper capacity. Others have restricted the number of -development pennits issued annually so that the local government has time to financially. deal · wtth infrastructwe and other impacts of growth.

• Quality. Many communities have realized that simply addressing the iocation, amount, and timing of growth may not be enough to guarantee that they wtll retain·their distinctive character. Alsol.sllchrestrictions do not ensure that development will be sensitive to environmentai and cultural resources. An increasing number_of~omniunities are enacting regulations to promo!e quality development whose environmental impact is mitigated to the maximum extent feasible. .

,......from Hudson's Comprehensive Plan, August 1995,

Phlum, Klausmeier & Gehrum Consultants

7

tax revenue to pay for them, than industrial or commercial development .. which more than pays its way. Indeed, the ratio of residential to nonresidential property tax revenues has shifted from 40/60 to SO/20 in the past two decades. Hudson's goal is to maintain a 60/40 split between residential and nonresidential, which means capping ' residential growth and reserving more land for other types of development. Therefore, residential growth management is justified to protect the future fiscal health and well-being of the city.

PI~mningin one city The above plan makes perfect sense for Hudson. It's a heartening example of citizens coming together to shape their destiny.

But there's one, tr-agic problem with this scenario: Hudson's plan largely ignores neighboring communities and the surrounding region. It's Hudson's plan for succeeding alone-for ensuring its own tax base, environmental quality and community

8

character. And, given Hudson's comparatively wealthy and well-educated citizenry (which is willing to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in long­term planning), it has a good chance of . succeeding.

U",fortunately, Hudson's success could come at the expense of other communities in the region. To finance its future development, for example, Hudson is counting on the tax revenue from an additional 200 jobs a year. Where will those jobs come from? Unless our economy starts to grow a lot faster than it is now, some of those jobs will come from somewhere else in the region, most likely from an older urban area. It's a shell game where if Hudson ~ins another community loses.

The same is true for population. As long as our region's population is stable, whenever financially well-off residents move into Hudson, they leave another community poorer. Meanwhile, the citizens

Steering development in Hudson Hudson's comprehensive plan includes the following land use concepts, which are marked on the map at left:

1. Suburban residential neighborhood.

2. Rural residential conservation area.

3. Outer village residential neighborhood.

4. Village residential neighborhood.

5, Village commercial core. 6. Western Hudson

gateway (officelhigh tech). 7. Outer village

commercial corridor. S. Industrial/office park

development area. 9. Darrowville commercial

corridor.

in the community left behind must subsidize the highways and other infrastructure which makes Hudson's growth possible.

One can hardly blame Hudson for planning for its own quality of life. It is just doing what every other community is doing . It has to operate with the present system in which every community looks out for itself and there's no context for regional planning . .

Ifwe had sensible planning at the regional level-planning that favored existing urban areas, prevented wasteful extension of infrastructure and really protected the environment and avoided excessive consumption of land-we would not have the Hudson of today heading toward 30,000 people. It would still be a small, compact village, and development would not have sprawled out of Cleveland and Akron.

The message is that w'e can't think about being sustainable in one municipality. We have to manage growth at the regional level.

o

EcoCiTy ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

Growth management goals To establish a residential

development management

and allocation system to

control the rate of residential

development to ensure that:

• Growth is orderly and

that municipal infrastructure

and public services are

available concurrently with

such development and to

prevent further deterioration

of public facility and

infrastructure service levels.

• The fiscal impact of

such development does not

exceed revenue available

from such development and

other sources to pay the cost

of infrastructure and services

which it necessitates.

• The community

character of the city as a

desirable place to live and

conduct business is not

eroded and that property

values ate protected

throughoufthe city.

• The density of

population in the city is

managed carefully to prevent

overcrowding and,

congestion.

• Existingdevelopments

are completed and land

adjacent to existing

subdivisions is developed on

a preferential basis to-reduce

infrastructure extension costs.

-from Hudson's proposed ordinanCe to establish. a Growth

Management Residential Development Allocation System,

prepared by Clanon Associates and Pflum, Klausmeier & Gehrum.

EcoCiTy ClEVElANd 0 March I 996

How Hudson's proposed system will worl( The residential growth. management system will limit the number of residential units that can be constructed in the city in any given year. It will supplement the city's existing zoning, subdivision, and architectural review processes; it will not replace them. Before a zoning certificate can be issued for residential development, the applicant will have to apply for and receive a residential development allotment from the city. These allotments will be limited each year as discussed below to moderate the rate of population growth in Hudson and lessen related impacts on municipal services and infrastructure as well as the community's character. ..

In June of each year the City Council-with the advice of the City Manager and Municipal Planning Commission- will establish the maximum number of residential development ' allotments that can be issued in the following allocation year (July I to June 30). This allocation will be based on a study conducted by the City Manager that examines, among other things, the amount of residential development during the prior 12 months, the capacity of the city's services and

infrastructure to handle new growth, projects underway to upgrade municipal facilities, ana similar measures. For 1996~97, the City Manager has recommended an annual allocation of 100 units, which is roughly equivalent to a 1.5 percent popUlation growth rate (assuming 3 people/unit).

Once the annual allocation is set, citizens and developers who wish to construct a residential unit must apply for an allotment before they can get a zoning certificate and build. Eighty percent of the annual allocation will be set aside for "priority" residential developments as defined below. These will be distributed on a prorata basis. For example, if there are 100 allotments available, but applications for 200 by owners of existing approved lots and subdivisions, then each applicant will get one~half of what they applied for subject to the proviso that all app licants will get at least one allotment. This guarantee of one allotment will ensure that individual lot owners are treated equitably and are not at a di sadvantage in competing with large developers applying for multiple allotments. The remaining 20 percent of allotments will be available to

new development projects, also on a prorata basis.

A prorata system was chosen as the method by which to distribute aIJotments because it is straightforward and efficient. It will require less time of the staff, Municipal Planning Commission, and City Council than more complicated approaches such as competition based on a range of substantive standards. It will also be more easily understood by home builders and less costly to comply with, (In the unusual circumstance that there are more applicants than available allotments so that each applicant cannot receive at least one allotment, then allotments will be granted by lottery.)

While the residential growth limit is in place, the city will develop and implement plans to build infrastructure and provide services that will accommo'date the community's vision of itself as set forth in the recently adopted comprehensive plan. During this period, it will also . rev'amp its land development codes, including the zoning ordinance, to improve the quality of development in the city and ensure that the community's unique character is maintained.

-Clarion AssociatesIPKG Consultants

9

REVISITING THE AMERICAN DREAM

Spra~1 politics Building regional coalitions for livable cities The state a/Oregon, with its requirements for metropolitan planning and urban growth boundaries, has perhaps the strongest and most visionary land use controls in the nation. Such growth management policies are one rf~ason why Oregon has retained an enviable quality of hfe even while faced with tremendous growth pressures.

For more than 20 year-s, Oregonians have defended these policies against many political and legal challenges. And one of the most determined defenders has been Henry Richmond, founder of the watchdog group, 1000 Friends o/Oregon-,

Richmondhas become a national leader a/the movementfor sensible fand use planning to stem urban sprawl (see the Calendar page for information about his upcoming visit to Cleveland). In the following speech he explains why sprawl is at the root of many oj America's most serious social and environmental'problems. And he outlines a political strategy for change.

He delivered the speech to the Greenspace AllialJce in Philadelphia in September 1994. He began b;: noting the Alliance's ambitious goals-acquiring 73, 000 acres of open space, adopting policies to protect thousands of additional acres the Philadelphia region, promoting .compact development patterns to reduce infrastructure costs, support transit and improve the environment.

And then he asked Alliance members a serious question: "Are you strong enough politically to accomplish these goals by yourselj?'l

• I submit the answer to that question lies in examining four points: (1) the trends you are up against, (2) how other interests are adversely affected by the same trends, (3) how your goals could, if carried out, benefit other politically influential interests, and (4) how you might be -able to accomplish even more if you work with other interests.

First, what are the trends you're up against? In pru1, huge shifts in the location of new development from city to suburb, From 1950 to 1990 population in suburban areas went from 23% to 51 % of total national population. In half that time suburban office space went from 25% to 57%. By 1990, two-thirds of American jobs were in -the suburbs.

Equally significant, however, was the vast expansion of the size of American metropolitan regions. Between 1970 and 1990, for example, the 'philadelphia urban area expanded 32% even though its population

10

increased just 3.6%: The ~hicago area expanded 46% with a population increase of 4%. Clev~land expanded 33% while losing population.

The physical impact of these· post-World War II development ·trends on suburban and rural America is all too familiar- huge and needless losses of open space, farm lands, and natural resources. In the Philadelphia area, from 1950 to 1992, 328,000 acres of farmland were lost in the five surrounding counties-109,000 acres, or 20% ofthe remaining total, in the last decade alone . .

Auto-only development Less obvious, however, is the impact which the conversion of these farm lands into sprawling, auto-only development patterns had on air quality, water quality, energy consumption and congestion. Why do I say, "auto-only?" Why was the car the only choice people had? Because sp~awl development patterns precluded transit, walking or bicycling. The problems i.nelude:

- Density too low to support transit ridership. People will only · walk less than half a mile to catch a bus or train .

- St;paration of uses. In many places density is adequate, but not thoughtfully located. Also by rigidly separating schools from homes from' work from shopping, getting to n,early every destination requires a car.

- Pedestrian-unfriendly design . Examples include subdivisions with dead-end streets and bus stops that force people to walk across a huge parking lot in a rainstorm.

These auto-only patterns cause suburban residences to generate 10-12 auto trips per day, trips that are gradually getting longer. In the process, in the last four decades, vehicle miles travelled (VMT) has increased nationally at a rate four times faster than population growth.

·Environmental harms This rapidly expanding auto use-compelled by development patterns--explains the less obvious connection between sprawl and the nat ion's most pervasive threats to environmental quality:

- .Air. Important gains have been made in reducing levels of lead and carbon monoxide in last 20 years. However, EPA now predicts oione and vo latile organic compounds (VOC) worsening. Even with

EcoChy ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

full state and local implementation of the 1990 ame~dments to the Clean Air Act, higher YMT will cause the VOC to be 48% short of compliance by 20 I O.

_ Congestion. Predicted by the U.S. Department of Transportation to worsen. by 452% between 1990 and 2005.

_ Energy conservation. Even with the success of doubling the fuel efficiency of the new car fleet from 1973 to .1990, at higher VMT levels

.cars and light trucks burned 19% more gasoline in 1989 than in 1973-when new cars were half as efficient.

_ Water pollution .. The Susquehanna River coming out of Pennsy lvania is the major source offresh water in the Chesapeake Bay, America's largest estuary . A major study done three years ago found that if present development trends continue, runoff and ai r-borne auto pollutants from low-density sprawl will kill the Bay even if all point sources of pollution end (i.e., pipes from industrial pollutants and muniCipal sewage), and, even if all agricultural run-off is eliminated!

Two points should be emphasized here. First, we have to start dealing with the land use source of these environmental problems and stop dealing---exclusively and unsuccessfully-with the symptoms of the problems. Second. and more important, these major environmental harm·~ are only half the social harm caused by a single regional process

of land development.

Social harms As the suburban impact of regional development patterns has undermined national environmental goals set by Congress, the urban impact of regional develop~ent patterns has undermined the goal of Equal Opportunity set by the Constitution. The same regional dynamic that is converting farmland to environm~ntal1y

dependency, crime, and hopelessness-components of the social deficit found by the Ford Foundation in its 1989 study, The Common Good.

In 1990, 19% of central city residents were poor compared to only 8.7% in the suburbs. Unemployment rates among young black males were 25-40% in major c ities. ·Little housing is built in cities compared to suburbs. In Chicago, from 1969 to 1990, only 13,229 building permits for single-family homes were issued compared to 390,652 in the surrounding suburbs. Nationally, half of central city households pay over 50% of income for what little, often inadequ~te, housing remains in the city.

Spreading ghettos The impact of regional development patterns that cause·disinvestment in cities has a magnified and conc'entrated effect on ghettos. Ghettos are defined as Census tracts with rates of poverty above 40%.

By 1990, 11.2 million Americans lived in. ghettos. Of these, 82% are minority, In the 1980s, the percentag.e of poor bl.acks livin~ in ghettos . increased from 37 to 45%.

In addition, during the 1980s alone, ghettos also increased in size by 54%. Ev~n cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore that lost black ghetto popUlation saw ghetto size increase. Research by Professor Paul Jargowsky found cities like Chicago, which saw· o~ly small increases in black ghetto poor, experienced a 61.5% increase in the areas of its ghettos, from 143 Census tracts in 1980 to 231 in 1990.

The increasingly high correlation between urban poverty, minority status, and low education performance is making the vital mission of urban public education extremely difficult. When Brown v. Board of Educ~tion came down 40 years ago, one child in lOin public schools

was a minority . Today it is 1 in 3. By 2010, it

damaging, auto-qnly suburbs in vastly expanding metro regions is also causing disinvestment and poverty in urban America and is resegregating

our society.

The same regional dynamic that is

converting farmland to environmentally

damaging, auto-only suburbs in vastly

expanding metro regions is also causing

disinvestment and

will be 1 t~ I , as it is today in most big city schools. The social-not to mention individual-impact

of inadequate education for the rapidly growing population of minority chil4ren corning from urban areas-of concentrat~d poverty will be felt for generations. As Anthony Downs has written, the poor quality of education provided to minority-group children in economically declining cities will cause an immense negative impact on the capabilities of metropolitan area work forces across the nation.

Here's how two prominent urban specialists describe the underdevelopment characteristics of much of urban America. Dr. Cynthia Hamilton, now Director of Africa~ American Studies at the University of Rhode Island, while Associate Professor of Pan African Studies at Cal State University, Los Angeles, wrote an essay shortly before the April 1992 riots in South Central Los Angeles. Her·description of South Central Los Angeles, a "home" to nearly a half million people, is fundamentally one of underdevelopment:

A sort of emptiness and starkness, one caused by what appears to be a systematic pattern of displacement and removal of all

poverty in urban America and is resegregating our

society.

Apart from the rank injustice of public institutions so severely disadvantaging millions of children, this decline in regional work force capability will affect cities' desirability as a place to do business. Moreover, this trend will also affect the ability of white suburban homeowners

the things that contribute to a liveable environment and viable community .

Ke~neth Jackson's Crabgrass Front/er, the classic history of suburbanization, sfates:

The negati·ve results of the urban cycle are the stripped automobiles, burned-out buildings, boarded-up houses, rotting sewers; and glass-littered streets that are common in so many of America's inner cities. In parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Detroit. Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Cle"veland, whole blocks of stores and houses lie vacant. As one federal official noted: "There are some parts of these cities so empty they look as though someone had dropped nerve gas."

This inner-city trend of lack of development and lack of investment results in too fe"';" jobs, low income, poor or nonexistent housing, overpriced or nonexistent retailing, poor schools, bad health, ·welfare

EeaChy ClEVElANd · 0 March 1996

(who assume they are insulated from the cities) to sell their homes when they want to retire. Why? Because half the future market will consist of minorities whose earnings are hampered by the curse of ghetto educations and employment un-readiness. If fewer and fewer ill-educated minority Americans can afford to own a home because of low income, the market for home resale will be crippled.

Impact on developers What about developers? We've talked about environmentalists and minorities: are developers the enemy ofland use reform? Or do they, too, have problems with post-World War II patterns of development and local land use procedures? The answer is the latter. Unless states modify the zoning process states gave to local governments 70 years ago, developers have no recourse against local practices that create shortages of their product and raise the price of their product. These practices include:

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• Moratoria or suburban prohibitions on affordable multi-family development.'

• Restrictions on affordable single-family densities demanded in the market.

• Fees-finished lot prices have gone from 9% to 35%-40% of the price of a home in the last 20 years.

• Delay?--:-the cost of money raises home prices. • Unpredictability- vague st~dards increase delay and litigation • Every project a Holy War-because no areas are reliably protected,

open land everywhere is perceived to be appropriate for preservation, so developers face fights everywhere.

Promoting the right development What the conservation community-and the public generally-must come to recognize is that development is the key to remedying both the environmental harms generated in poorly developed suburbs and the harms to human welfare generated in underdeveloped cities. Yes, regulation will be needed to locate development-to identify where development is needed, to identify where urban infrastructure and development will go, and to separate urban/suburban,areas from rural areas (in short, where development will go and where it won't).

But such regulation by itself is not 'the key. It just sets the stage. It can't, itself, "cure" the problem-causing defects in existing patterns of either urban or suburban development. Only new development can do that. For this reason, a new vision for metropolitan land use must emphasize not regulation, but development--encouraging development in the right location and form, and affirmatively harnessing its power and unique coinmunity value.

So, no, developers aren't the enemy. They essentially play the policy hand they've been dealt: And no, our problem is not bad developers. It's bad policy.

Nor, less obviously, is our problem powerful developers. Our problem is that we're weak-not in terms of logic, or worth iness of goals, but weak politically because we are isolated. And so are others.

In 1992, about the time of the Los Angeles riots. in South Central L.A., the National Urban League called for a "Marshall Plan" for the cities to dea.1 with urban economic decline. The proposal soared in the press. But it quickly went nowhere. It is now nearly forgotten.

Environmentalists had the same experience. They wanied a tax on gasoline. They wanted stronger requirements for fuel-efficient auto engines. Like their urban counterparts-Zip---Nothing-Zero-in the 1993 Congress.

Strength through unity What is needed is a strategy that addresses the single problem that undermines human welfare and environmental and development values at the same time, a strategy that addresses the problem confront·ing many interests, a strategy that permits groups to break out of weak positions of isolation and to create political strength through unity .. Such a strategy would:

• Halt the mindless expansion of regions and plug the economic drain now killing the cities.

• Redirect development to transit-oriented, compact forms in urban and suburban areas.

• Be expressly pro-development and predictable. Such a strategy could win minority and environmental support, win developer suppo·rt, and even win suburban support. Why? Because many inner suburbs increasingly see themselves in a state of decline for the same reasons the central cities are declining. Sprawl is pulling the . economic rug ou~ from under them, too.

Federal policy In defining our goals, an emphasis on policy is appropriate. Existing patterns of urban-suburban development are not caused primarily by the

, "invisible hand" of Adam Smith or'the unalterable process of the free

12

operation ofthe market. Rather, our existing, harmful development patterns are primarily the product of public policy. To address either the human or environmental dimension of regional hind use patterns, we must address the policy basis of sprawl.

What are the policy causes? Beyond important decisions about where to spend public money to bui ld highways and sewers, are powerful financial inducements to sprawl:

• Single-family mortgage interest deduction. • Single-fam.ily mortgage insurance (about $675 billion this year). • Single-family secondary market for mortgages. My point is not that these' are bad policies. They aren't. The problem

is there is no comparable, government-provided financial support for envi ronmentally sound, mixed use, transit-oriented development- a

, major reason why such development isn't built, and why sprawl is. The "market" is people responding qui~e rationally to the powerful,

economic benefits Congress makes available for certain types of development but not others. Numerous opinion and visual preference surveys suggest the "market" would be somewhere very different if federal and state policy created alternatives f~r equally rational economic decisions.

This means to save green space in Pennsylvania, the Greenspace Allian.ce will have to look at federal 'policy, not just state and local policy. Because your leadership has taken the initiative to work with similar efforts in New York, San Francisco, Portland and Chicago, you have a national capacity for dealing with federal policy and issues.

State and local policy But what about state and local policy-property taxes, for instance. Do they cause sprawl?

. We ~ll know property taxation involves questions of equity in public education. Today, in 29 states, lawsuits are pending which contend that

. local property tax systems violate state constitution requirements for equal and adequate public education.

But beyond this huge national issue of equity, property taxes also help determine whether development goes in cities or suburbs-and not just because families with children typ ically buy homes where schools are .good. If property taxes are much higher injnner cities than in suburbs, where would you locate a taxable asset you owned?

Barriers to action We can't fool ourselves. Moving this regional land use policy agenda will constitute one of the greatest challenges America will face in the years ahead. A lot must be overcome:

• Lack of clarity of issue. • No national administrative home, no political party, no national

leader focusing on land use. • A public demand for immediacy colliding with the fact that long­

developing problems-can be dealt with mainly by solutions that can only pan out long-term.

• Black/white, city/suburb divides • Fragmented, local jurisdictions overlaying unitary regional

problems. • State vs. local control. • Federal vs. statellocal control. • Lack of coord ination within federal agencies. Despite the political challenges, and despite the personal challenge of

forming new alliances, the effort must be made because the stakes are so high for our neighborhoods, our cities, our countryside, and our very

. soul as a society.

Facing the next generation of sprawl The stakes are high because credible people are predicting America's already bad land use problems will get worse. According to Christopher Leinberger, managing partner of a large, national real estate advisory

EeoCily ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

firm, between 1990 and 2005 some 70% to 80-% of the 29 million new jobs created nationally and 80% of the new homes bujlt nationally will happen in a new, even further out, "Fifth Generation of Sprawl" in American metro regions.

Without a new approach to land use policy in our country, 2,000 community development organizations and I,ooq land trusts and 1,000 local historic preservation groups will be swimming against a relentless, overwhelming tide of policy-supported suburban sprawl. The houses and retail stores built by community development corporations will be islands in urban areas, even more undercut by disinvestment ;md even more distanced from suburban jobs. The open space you will be fortunate to save will be surrounded by an even more vast sea of sprawL .

Prophetic predictions similar to Mr. Leinberger's were issued-and ignored-20 years ago. The Kerner Commission predicted the kind of impact that urban disinvestment would have on urban poverty, on urban family life, and on black social disintegration. And, in 1.972, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Task Force on Urban Development and Land · Use, chaired by Laurance S. Rockefeller and staffed by Bill Reilly, predicted the harmful impact on the environment and open space caused by the "vast urban regions" developed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Hence, the land use stakes are high for people and the stakes are high for the environment. Dark, foreboding clouds of a stormy land use future hover above us, as far as the eye can see.

Hope for change . But does that mean we should fo ld up our tents? Should we just throw in the towel? I don't think so. To the contrary, I believe a close examination reveals a silver lining in t~e AIDerican land use issue. That silver lining is that:

• Many interests are hurt by present development patterns . • Isolated interests are having difficulty achieving objectives by

themselves . • The objectives of many interests are related in the land use context.

• Land use policies can be .forged that advance many interests. This silver lining means. we have"a "Coalition-in-waiting" out there,

ifwe have the courage to break out of our old patterns and reach out to other people and to other peoples' concerns. The key is using inclusive processes to articulate an alternative vision for Metropolitan America-a vision that many interests can buy into. At the heart of that

vision: • Non-sprawling cities. • Cities less costly for people, for households and for taxpayers. • Regions that thrive because a level economic suburban/urban

playing field has been created and.policy affirms the social value of

development. Examples of the promise and success of such a consensus-bui lding

.strategy exist. They offer hope that simi lar efforts can be tried

elsewhere.

Oregon's urban boundaries In Oregon, for instance, Urban Gr~wth Boundaries have been the policy tool that has enabled consensus to develop between two erstwhile opponents: developers and environment~lists. State planning laws passed in 1973 and 1975 require each of our cities to adopt a UGB. These are not to slow growth, let alone stop it. They are simply to say where development wi ll go-and where it won't- and to ensure that taxpayers are not committed to install and maintain a full range of urban infrastructure on, say, 2,000 additional acres if SOD or 1,000 will be sufficient. We're not as rich as we used to be!

By favoring development in one place and making it off limits elsewhere, the UGBs-which were controversial at first----:-proved the policy device by which developers and environmentalists could each accomplish different objectives.

For housing inside the bou~dary, vacant si"ngle-family lot sizes were

EeoCily ClEVElANd 0 March 1996

scaled back to more normal, more affordable sizes. More land was zoned multi-family. The result? The capa~ity of essentially the same vacant, residentially-zoned base of land inside the UGB to receive housing units increased from 129,000 units to 305,000 units in four years. As that became clear, the home builders became supportive ofthe program.

Land outside the boundary? Over 25 million acres was rezoned to farm and forest use, an area larger than Pennsylvania. We haven't had a shopping center or a subdivision built outside a UGB for over a decade.

What we realized about halfway through this process was that we couldn't have done either if we hadn't done both. Neither environmentalists or developers would have tolerated either half by itself. Together, however, they both won.

Linking cities and inner suburbs In Minnesota, State Representative Myron Orfield is building another, nationally unique coalition-this time between city and suburb-to achieve other regional development objectives. Rep. Orfield has conducted an analysis in the Twin Cities which shows that on many key social and economic variab les, inner suburbs and "low tax capacity" suburbs have more in common with inner-city residents than they do with booming outer suburbs. Urban and suburban trends were measured regarding the fo llowing criteria: levels of public investment, income, school lunch participation (low income measure), poverty rates, rates of increase of residential value. crime incidence, and tax base and gap between needed services.

The analysis showed about 65-70% of the voters in the -region that they had a common relationship with respect to these issues. These people saw that, in terms. of economic 'and quality of life impacts, regional patterns of development were leaving them behind. By focusing on common economic issues with a basic household dimension, Rep. Orfield painted a picture of a region that elevated common questions of fairness and economic outlook, and allowed hitherto unbreachable barriers between black/white and city/SUburb to

be overcome. . With a strong coalition of churches, inner-suburb and central-city

local governments, Orfield was able to secure enactment of important affordable housing and tax-base sharing legislation for the region. Though vetoed by Governor Arne Carlson, Orfield believes growing support will result in veto-proof legisiation in a future session of the Minnesota legislature.

Organizing regional constituencies Similar bridge-building, issue-spanning efforts are underway in other parts of the nation, such as New Jersey Future's "One New Jersey" project, Save the Bay's efforts to improve water quality in Narragansett Bay by re;vitalizing central Providence, Rhode Island, and 1000 Friends of Florida's efforts on affordable housing.

We can't wait for these issues to be resolved in Washington. It's not in the cards politically. More importantly, the solution can't come from Washing~on because the issues we're talking about are fundamentally state and local in character.

And, mostjmportant, the issue can't be resolved in our state capitals, or locally, until the issue is darified, and until an influential, multi­interest constituency is forged, at the regional level, state by state, across Ameri ca. We must frame solutions that benefit the many ir:Iterests harmed by' the same regional patterns of development. 0

Henry Richmond currently chairs the National Growth Management Leadership Project, a coalition of state-level and regional organizations from 22 states interested in land use policy research and reform. The project can be reached at 716 Willamette Building, 534 SW Third Ave., Portland, OR 97204, (503-228-9462).

Henry Richmond will speak in Greater Cleveland on April 30. See p. 15 Jar details.

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ECOCITY DIGEST

Lool<ing out for the Chagrin Most cf us think we live in cities and counties. But a growing number of people in Northeast Ohio are beginning to live in watersheds. They are recognizing th~t ecosystems often link people together in' more fundamental ways than do the artificial political jurisdictions we humans impose on the I~ndscape.

The latest exallJple of emerging watershed identity in Northeast Ohio is the Chagrin River Watershed Partners Coalition. At it meeting December 6 in Gates Mills, about 75 citizens from the Chagrin's 267-square-mile drainage basin agreed to form a steering committee and a nonprofit organization to lead the new coalition.

The partnership will unite municipalities, government agencies, land trusts and citizens around a common agenda to protect the environmental health and scenic beauty of the Chagrin Valley. It will serve as a clearinghouse for

information and help coordinate planning among the many players who have a

stake protecting the watershed. "To address our problems, it's become clear that we have to plan at. the

watershed level," said Richard Cochran, one of the Partnership's volunteer

organizers. Flooding is a growing problem in the watershed. As new dev.elopment

paves over woods and fields in upstream communities like Bainbridge and

Aurora, the increased storm water runoff has dramatically increased flooding in

downstream communities like Eastlake. Erosion and sedimentation have made the formerly clear flowing river increas ingly turbid.

Some developers are even building in floodplain wetlands; w hich not only destroys a valuable natural resource, but places the homes at risk. At the

Partners meeting, Chagrin Falls Mayor Edward Towns described a recent tlol:?d

that placed homes under construction in a neighboring community under two

feet of water. The developer was confronted with videotaped evidence of the

. flooding. but he nevertheless wen~ on to complete the homes and sell them to

unsuspecting buyers. To prevent such unwise development, Towns said he

hopes othe~ communities in the watershed will follow Chagrin Falls' examp.le and adopt setback ordinances that prevent new buildings from encroaching on

the river and adjacent wetlands. "We've got to cooperate on ihese issues," Towns said .

Since no one is elected to represent the watershed, a watershed-based

citizens group can provide important leadership. The Chagrin River Partners joins a number <:>f other local watershed organizations in the region, including

the Grand River Partners, Friends ofthe Black River, and the Friends orthe

Crooked River, the group for the Cuyahoga. They are examples of citizens taking greater respons ibi lity for their home

places. Nationally. the number of local river groups has soared from 700 to 3,000 in the past five years. A similar exponential increase has been

experienced by land trusts-nonprofit groups that preserve open space and natural areas through land purchase,. conservat ion e~sements or Qt her methods.

They are efforts by citizens to create new institutions that reflect ecological

realities. 0 For more in/ormation about (he Chagrin River Watershed Partners, call the Chagrin River Land Conservancy at 247-0880 or Greg Studen at 338-17/8.

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Pressure points • Voting for open space:]n the March 19 election,

Bath Township residents approved a 0.98-mill property tax levy, which will pennit the Trust for Public Land to negotiate for the I ,500-acre Firestone estate. Voters in North Royalton overwhelmingly approved large-lot zoning to reduce development density in the southern part of that city. Both issues show how much the public valu,,;:s open space preservation and rural character.

• Sprawl backlasb: Associations of home builders in the region are talking about forming a regional coalition to counter anti-sprawl activism. Builders are feeling increasingly threatened by citizens protesting developments, as Wen as by communities imposing development fees, requiring large- lot zon ing and . imposing caps on building permits.

• Wake-up call: Urban affairs columnist Neal Peirce recently described the growing 'nurriber of voices crying out against sprawl aCross the country. But, he noted, "Our presidential campaigns have yet to produce a munnur about the scandal of sprawl as it decimates our great cities, devours our landscapes, undennines our sense of community, tnreatens our economic.security. RepUblicans routinely reject restraints or guides on growth as anti­business. President Clinton comes from a lightly urbanized state. One of his early backers was the late Sam Walton, prime town killer and sprawl spreader of the age." . 1 •

• Cars come first: When Cleveland residents complained recently that plans to reconstruct historic Franklin Boulevard included rounder comers at intersections, the project planner from the Ohio Department of Transportation said it was a safety feature so cars would have an easier time turning. Never mind that it would make the street less safe for pedestrians-by increasing crossing distances and encouraging cars to go faster.

• Transportation comments: The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency is inviting comments to its 1997-2000 Transportation lmprovemen! Program (TIP) until April 19. The TIP lists all federal-aid highway, bikeway and tranSit projects planned for implementation in the next four years in Cuyahoga,. Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties. Call 241-2414 for more information.

• Aurora floods: Aurora residents are paying a price for 'building in wetlands. Basements and yards are flooding, and the city's two wastewater treatment plants overflow. Now the oity council is trying to raise income taxes to pay for storm water management projects.

• Fun couple of the month: Diane and Timothy Grendell win our prize for the most pro-sprawl couple in the region. Di~e, a Republican state representative from Chesterland, has introduced a bill which would prevent cities from impo~ing income taxes on people who work within their borders but live somewhere else. Such a measure would destroy central cities like Cleveland. Tim is an attorney who specializes in defending sprawl-mart developers and land owners against communities that are trying to manage their growth.

. EcoCi'Y CLEVElANd 0 March 1996

BIOREGIONAL CALENDAR

Oregon's Henry Richmond on land ~se and urban sprawl Henry Richmond, founder oflOOO Friends of Oregon and a national expert on land use policy will speak at'J p.m., April 30, at John Carroll University's SI. Francis Chapel in University Heights. Richmond haS helped create and defend ofegons' pioneering growth management efforts, which include strong regional planning with state coordination and urban growth boundaries around metropolitan areas. He now ch~irs the National Growth Management Leadership Project, which promotes 1and use reforms across the country.

Sponsored by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese as part of its "Church in the City" initiati \Ie,

April 15 Mary Louise Defender-Wilson, a traditional elder from the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, will speak on native spirituality and the environment, 7:30 p.m. at John Carroll University, Science Building 268.

April 18 Famed hazardous waste activist from Love Canal, Lois Gibbs, will speak at 7 p.m. at Bethany Baptist Church, 10508 Hampden Ave. in Cleveland. She' also will speak at the Urban Center of Cleveland State University at 2 p.m. and will help lead a demonstration against incinerators at the Cleveland Clinic at 4 p.m. (Euclid Avenue side of the Clinic).

April 18 NOACNODOT open bouse on transportation plans for the region and state, 6-8 p.m. at the Lorain County Metro Parks Carlisle Visitor Center, 12882 Diagnonai Rd. in LaGrange.

April 19-20 Ohio Tr~ and Riparian Greenways Conference at the Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark, sponsored by the Ohio Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. For information, call 614-224-8707.

April.20 March for Parks sponsored by the Cuyahoga Valley Association to support programs at the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. Call 216-657-2909 for information and pledge form.s.

April 20 Earth Celebration at the Shak.er Lakes Regional Nature Center, 2600 South Park Blvd. in Shaker Heights, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring folk music, hikes, crafts with recycled materials and environmental carnival.

April 21 Photographic tour of the Tinkers Creek Region (Aurora, Bainbridge, Bedford, Hudson, Reminderville, Solon, Twins~urg) and presentation on ways natural areas on private pr:<>perty can be protected. The free public

EcoCiIy CIEYfiANd 0 March 1996

program is at 2 p.m. at the Twinsburg Public Library. For more information, call the Tinkers Creek Land Conservancy at 425-8793.

April 22 David Orr, chair of the environmental studies program at Oberlin College, will speak on "The Next Environmental Revolution: The Age of Design," at 7:30 p.m. at the Geauga Park District's Meyer Center, 9160 Robinson B.d .

April 23-27 Urban Land Institute Spring Meeting, "Strategic Alliances/Creative Partnerships," at the Cleveland Convention Center. Call 202-624-7000.

April 23 Meeting of the Greater Cleveland Coalition for a Clean E~vironment, 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King Library, 1962 Stokes Ave.

April 24 Bus tour ofland use issues facing Lorain County, sponsored by Lorain County Beautiful. Call 322-4 187 for reservations.

f',pril24 Monthly meeting of the Northeast Ohio Group of the Sierra Club, 7:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Metroparks North Chagrin Nature Center. Presentation about bats 'and bugs.

April 26 Candlelight vigil to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, 8 p.m. at Chester Commons in downtown Cleveland. .

April 27 Willoughby EcoFair, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on

. Willoughby Public Square, featuring displays about environmental organizations, recycling, yard waste management and ecology.

April 27 Guided tour of Tinkers Creek State Preserve, II a.m., parking lot o!fOld Mill Rd. Call 562-4209 for details.

Aprit 27-28 Arbor Day weekend tree planting of 4,000 trees in Cleveland as part of the bicentennial project of Clean-Land, Ohio. Call 696-TREE to get involved.

April 27-~8 Annual Plant Sale at the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and II a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call 946-4400 for more information.

April 30 Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson of the United Church ' of Christ will speak on environmental justice, 7 p.m. at the Cleveland Metroparks Garfield Park Nature Center, 11350 Broadway Ave.

May 1 Envirothon '96 competition for teams of local high school students. Call local Soil & Water 90nservation Districts for more information.

May 2-3 "Building Successful Communities," a conference in Akron on historic preservation and economic

EARTH Fest '96 Ohio's largest environmental event, EARTIlFest '96, will take place April 21 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. The event includes displays by local enmomnental groups and green-oriented businesses, entertainment, and environmental science demonstrations. The big walk or bike to EARTIlFest will depart at 9 a.m. from Gateway Plaza (Ontario Street by Jacob's Field).

Sponsored by the Earth Day Coalition. Call 281-6468 for more information.

development, sponsored by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. Call 614-297-2470 for registration information.

May 3 "Using Science in Environmental Decision Making," a seminar at Malone College in Canton sponsored by the Ohio Alliance for the Environment and the Ohio Academy of Science. Call (614) 421-7819 for details.

May 3 Spring F~mily Fun Night featuring a Maypole and Full Flower Moon walk, 7 p.m. at the Crown Point Ecology Learning Center, 3220 Ira Rd. In

Bath .. $l5 per family. Call 330-666-9200.

May 4 Forest Hill Park cleanup, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet at the tennis court parking lot on the East Cleveland side of the park with rakes and other garden tools. For more information, call 932-5161 or 932-0580.

May 11 RiverDay sponsored by the Friends 'ofthe Crooked River with a special focus .this year on waterfalls of the Cuyahoga River and tributaries. For a schedule of events, call 356-8974 or 666-4026.

Spring bird walks Sundays mornings between April 14 and May 19 are the time of annual spring bird walks in Northeast Ohio. View the dramatic spring migrations with experienced birders. Call 734-6660 for more information.

15

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