PLAN TO LOOK AT REGIONAL ‘SMART’ GROWTH (DDN; 2/16/2014) by THOMAS GNAU DDN STAFF WRITER Dayton — Dealing with expanding development even as the region’s population remains stagnant is spurring a plan for land use in the Dayton region. Three public meetings to get public reaction will be held by the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, starting Wednesday at the Troy Recreation Center. Launched in 2007, the plan (dubbed “Going Places”) won’t be binding on any local government. But it’s meant to be a guide, and it’s meant to offer tools for smarter land use, said Brian Martin, MVRPC executive director. The problem of growing development — some call it “sprawl” — versus stagnant population is all too visible. One outcome which Martin says connects “cause and effect” are weaker urban cores. On Thursday, the Dayton Daily News reported that Dayton government identified 473 blighted houses for possible demolition, while Trotwood identified 160 houses. Harrison Twp. slated 35 properties for possible demolition and Jefferson Twp. six. The MVRPC’s solicits and spends federal dollars for regional road projects. But transportation and land use go hand-in-hand, said Martin Kim, MVRPC regional planning director. While there’s “regional coordination” in road work, there’s no similar coordination when it comes to land use. “Transportation and land use — it’s a chicken-and-egg thing,” Kim said. In the 12-year period since the 2000 Census, Ohio had the third-smallest share of population growth among all 50 states. The state gained just 1.6 percent, or 180,682 people. Ohio’s growth is so weak that the state may eventually see population loss for the first time, Mark Salling, research associate with the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, told the Dayton Daily News in late 2012. The city of Dayton lost about 2,500 residents per square mile from 2000-2010, a loss of nearly 15 percent of its residents, putting its 2010 population at nearly 142,000. “There has to be a land-use discussion at the regional level, at minimum,” Kim said. So, about 46 local city councils, commissions and township board of trustees have passed resolutions endorsing the Going Places plan or parts of it. Among the recommendations MVRPC is forwarding: Building a shared geographic information system (GIS) for the region, essentially a web-based map and database on population, land zoning and more. MVRPC would maintain the data, which would be provided by cities and organizations, but only if they wish to share it, Kim said. Anyone, including citizens, would be able to access the GIS system, if it were created, Martin and Kim said. The MVRPC would also help cities place data in an existing development database, the online JobsOhio Site and Building Tool. An earlier notion to build a duplicate database was abandoned after the Dayton Development Coalition and others pointed out that JobsOhio, the state’s private development arm, already has a development database, Kim said. Cities are sometimes more “optimistic” when it comes to planning for development than they should be, Kim said. Some feel that perhaps there’s a “mismatch” between stagnant population and development, he said. Sam Staley, former chair of the Bellbrook Planning Board and today director of DeVoe L. Moore Center at Florida State University, argues that sprawl isn’t a problem “as long as it isn’t subsidized” by government. The question becomes what kind of “mechanisms” governments might use to control sprawl, said Staley, who is author of Smarter Growth: Market-based Strategies for Land-use Planning in the 21st Century. “If the region’s population isn’t growing, then these restrictions are not likely to have a big impact on housing and land use patterns,” he said in an email. “However, it could increase housing prices by forcing what little demand there is into existing housing which is considered inferior (which is why people move to new housing)” While population isn’t growing, new roads and developments continue to be built. The concern is, the population we have can’t necessarily support that growth. In the last 30 years, developed land in the region has grown some 30 percent, Kim said. “It can be hard to keep up with infrastructure maintenance,” he said. “We probably have more roads to maintain than 30 years ago, but the tax base hasn’t increased.” IF YOU GO Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission open houses on its “Going Places” initiative All are from 4-6 p.m. Feb. 19: Troy Recreation Center, ground-floor gym, 11 N. Market St. Feb. 20: Greene County Jobs and Family Services, 541 Ledbetter Road, Xenia. Feb. 25: Center for Regional Cooperation, 1100 W. Third St., Dayton. Stagnant population, continued development Total population in the region 815,547 in 1970 805,816 in 2000 1 percent increase from 1970 to 2000 Total population in urban area 606,549 in 1970 723,955 in 2000 19 percent increase from 1970 to 2000 Urban area size 185 square miles in 1970 328 square miles in 2000 76 percent increase from 1970 to 2000 Population density in urban area 3,263 population per square mile in 1970 2,209 population per square mile in 2000 32 percent decrease from 1970 to 2000 Source: Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 12:26:55 +0000
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