Sprawl and Transportation Committee

Principles of Good Development

Composed by the Sprawl and Transportation Committee, of Sierra Club Indian Peaks Group

May 2003

Community

Urban development should embrace diversity, encourage interaction and involvement, provide economic opportunity, and promote transit and neighborhood choices that enhance the health, safety, and the well-being of its citizens.

Goals for Promoting Community

Aesthetic Appeal in Development
Provide diversity in housing affordability
Reflect the distinctive identity of the community
Promote health and safety
Provide opportunity and support for local business development
Encourage community interaction and a responsive citizenry
Promote environmental and social justice
Support responsible consumerism
Celebrate urban public space
Respect the natural environment

Problems

Tools

Land Use

The use of land for human development should lead to complete, integrated and ultimately sustainable communities that relate economically and ecologically to the natural environment while nourishing the citizenry.

Land Use Planning Goals

Preserve open space, agricultural land, and critical habitat by establishing Urban Growth Boundaries that protect and celebrate natural resources and define the human settlement.
Incorporate mixed use and traditional neighborhood development principals that promote community and walk-ability. Realize balanced, self-sufficient communities that minimize travel requirements by creating an internal balance of housing, jobs, services and open-space.

Plan regionally for revenue sharing and the awareness that communities are not only interdependent, but that sprawled development in a neighboring community will eventually have negative economic and social impacts throughout the region. Encourage density and compact design next to major transit centers. Use Green-building principles incorporating energy saving design, resource conservation, and recycled/remanufactured and sustainably produced building materials.

Utilize natural capital.

Make development permit decisions predictable, and the process easy.

Build to a Pedestrian scale: all amenities should be within walking distance of housing and transit stops. Encourage infill and compact development within existing communities
Provide for mixed-use development with a range of housing choices and jobs equally interspersed to encourage diversity and co-mingling of people with various needs and incomes.

Problems

Tools

Transportation

Transportation modes should be convenient and encourage a positive sense of community while minimizing resource consumption and adverse environmental impacts.

Urban Transportation System Goals

Provide for healthful and convenient access to all activities (home / work / shopping / recreation / open-space). Protect the environment, airspace and waterways. Develop and provide infrastructure for alternative modes. Associate true costs with transportation modes. Minimize single-occupant vehicle (SOV) dependence. Minimize consumption of land (discourage sprawl). Reduce petroleum consumption and promote alternative fuels & fuel efficiency. Reduce emissions. Eliminate auto subsidies.

Problems of our current system

Tools for Improving our System