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In the late 1990's the City Council adopted a Smart Growth Initiative to modernize Austin's long-range plan for growth, managing and directing growth that minimized damage to the environment and helped build a more livable city. The tenets of the City's Smart Growth initiative were consistent with the general poilicies of Austin Tomorrow, discouraging growth in the west to protect Austin's water supply and growing the city's boundaries in the east, taking into account geographical and utility constraints.
Introduction and Overview
"Smart Growth" is a term that describes the efforts of communities across the United States to manage and direct growth in a way that minimizes damage to the environment and builds livable towns and cities. Our current pattern of growth--sometimes known as "sprawl"--has a number of negative cultural, economic, environmental, and social consequences. In central cities and older suburbs these include deteriorating infrastructure, poor schools, and a shortage of affordable, quality housing. In newer suburban areas problems may include increased traffic congestion and declining air quality, the absence of a sense of place, and the loss of open space. Smart Growth argues that these problems are two sides of the same coin, with the neglect of our central cities fueling the growth and related problems of the suburbs.
Smart Growth addresses problems caused by sprawl by emphasizing the concept of developing "livable" cities and towns. Livability suggests, among other things, that the quality of our built environment and how well we preserve the natural environment directly affect our quality of life. Smart Growth calls for the investment of time, attention, and resources in central cities and older suburbs to restore community and vitality. Smart Growth advocates patterns for newly developing areas that promote a both a balanced mix of land uses and a transportation system that accomodates pedestrians, bicycles, transit and automobiles.
Why is Smart Growth Important to Austin?Austin and the surrounding Central Texas region is experiencing rapid growth in population, employment, and land area affected by development. The City of Austin has grown from a population of 465,000 in 1990 to over 650,000 people by 2000. By 2010 Austin's population is projected to reach 800,000 (an increase of almost 19,000 people annually!). Regional projections are even more dramatic; Hays, Travis and Williamson Counties' combined 2000 population of 1.16 million is projected to increase to over 1.4 million by 2010. This increase in population will inevitably change Austin and central Texas; however, we can guide and shape this future growth to both minimize the negative environmental, economic, and social impacts and to preserve the best aspects of life in our region.
Goals of the Smart Growth Initiative There are three major goals of the Smart Growth Initiative:Determine How and Where We Grow
The foundation of the Smart Growth Initiative is the identification of the Desired Development Zone (DDZ) and the Drinking Water Protection Zone (DWPZ)m as shown on the Smart Growth Map. As the name suggests, the Desired Development Zone defines where we want to grow. How we want to grow is defined by the emerging models of Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND), Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).
Improve Our Quality of Life
Smart Growth programs focus on improving our quality of life by preserving and enhancing neighborhoods, protecting environmental quality, improving accessibility and mobility, and strengthening our economy.
Enhance Our Tax Base
Smart Growth seeks to build and enhance our tax base through strategic investments, efficient use of public funds, and regional partnerships.
The goals of the Smart Growth Initiative and the Smart Growth Map still provide a long-range framework today--determining how and where to grow, improving quality of life, and enhancing the tax base. The underlying purpose of the 1997 ordinance adopted by the City Council, which defined the DDZ and DWPZ, was to link planning to environmental protection.
To encourage growth within the DDZ, the City Council approved development fee reductions, as well as differentiated utility reimbursements, that are still in place. Together, the fee structure and reimbursement policy provided incentives for developing in the DDZ and create a financial disincentive for developing in the DWPZ. The City Council also approved a package of Smart Growth code ammendments that allowed administrative approval of certain cut and fill variances within the DDZ, more uniform treatment of impervious cover throughout the city, exclusion of boundary streets from impervious cover calculations, construction on slopes within the urban watershed and enccouraged redevelopment of existing impervious cover. Together, these amendments made it easier to develop and redevelop property in the DDZ and in the core of the city.
Follow the links to the left to learn more about the history of Smart Growth, including the various work programs, fiscal incentives, and land development code amendments (infill amendments and Traditional Neighborhood/Transit-Oriented Development) that help preserve and enhance the livability of Austin.
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