 VOLUME XIX, ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY 2006
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April 22-26, 2006
San Antonio captures the spirit of Texas. Now the eighth largest city in the United States, the city has retained its sense of history and tradition, while building exciting new development. The city has always been a crossroads and a meeting place. Sounds, flavors, and traditions of Native Americans, Old Mexico, Germans, the Wild West, African Americans, and the Deep South merge with contemporary planning.
Delight in the discovery of San Antonio's charms and experience a city proud of its architectural heritage and its robust future.
Conference Details
For session and workshops, click here.
THE YEAR 2006 BEGINS WITH A BANG! As most of you know, the Washington Farm Bureau filed their “so called property rights” initiative on January 24, 2006. The WAPA Board of Directors is preparing a plan of action to deal with this initiative. Stay tuned for more news, which will be forthcoming shortly.
Down in Olympia, we are dealing with a short, 60-day Legislative Session. Our Legislative Committee, in concert with our lobbyist Mike Shaw, is working hard to monitor proposed bills and advocate for good planning-related legislation. If you would like to be involved in the Legislative Committee, please contact either of the Committee Co-Chairs - Esther Larsen and Ivan Miller.
We are working on the final details for a top notch professional education workshop, which will focus on “Effective Communications on Key Planning Issues,” to be held on March 14. This workshop has been developed by the National APA organization for state chapters, and Washington State is fortunate to have been selected as one of ten chapters nationally to receive this training opportunity. I am sometimes skeptical about skills workshops, but I attended a similar workshop in October, 2005 and found it to be excellent! Keep your eyes peeled for a formal workshop announcement to be sent out soon, as well as posted on the WAPA website.
The Washington Chapter received a grant last year from National APA to create educational materials about the benefits of planning in our state. I am happy to report that the grant monies were used to prepare a very informative and well designed brochure, which was developed by a committee headed up by Jill Sterrett. This document has just been printed and copies will soon be mailed to all of you. In addition, the brochure will be posted on the WAPA website so that it may be downloaded and produced by any interested party.
That’s it for now. Here’s to an exciting 2006!
FEBRUARY UPDATE
Sometimes you can discern what legislation will dominate the next year by what dies this year. This session, the legislature tried but could not get its arms around GMA appeals and pre-existing uses in critical areas. Expect both issues to be worked during the 2007 session. (This assumes that the Farm Bureau fails to get enough signatures for their property rights initiative or that it fails at the polls).
Here are several other issues that failed to get traction during the 2006 legislative session:
Annexation: A number of bills were introduced that addressed annexations. Some of these bills were introduced after Clark County disbanded their boundary review board (allegedly to avoid any increase of the City of Vancouver’s proposed annexation). Such bills include HB 3244, HB 3245 and HB 3260. The remainder of the bills either tried to make annexations of “islands” easier (HB 3123; HB 3262 and HB 3263), or create additional means for annexation (SB 6521). While none of these bills passed, they are indicative of legislative will to address the issue.
Eminent Domain: Of the eleven eminent domain bills tracked by the WA-APA legislative committee this year only two made it out of the committee, and the remaining two, HB 3017 and SB 6701, are, at this writing, stalled and likely to fail. Also, the property rights initiative mentioned above fails to address the issue. Consequently, you can expect to see bills on this issue next session.
Public Infrastructure Funding: There is a tree on the capital campus known as the “Sine Die” tree because it tends to shed its flowers as the legislative session ends. It is a tradition – much like the tradition that tax increment financing bills will go down in defeat. This session, HB 2673 and SB 6700 are destined for a similar fate. Perhaps next year will be different. Perhaps.
As I write this, the 2006 session is at its midpoint, but since this will appear during in the March issue, allow me to make some predictions. Of the various land use bills pushed by the Governor’s interim work group, only the assessory agricultural uses bill (HB 2917 or SB 6575) and the comprehensive plans timelines bill (HB 2814 or SB 6427) will survive, mostly because each bill does very little. The bills concerning best available science and, as mentioned earlier, eminent domain will fail.
WAPA TAKING ACTION TO OPPOSE THE “SO-CALLED PROPERTY RIGHTS” INITIATIVE
During the Chapter general membership meeting at the Bellevue conference last fall, the assembly approved the following motion:
"Authorize the board to take actions necessary to prepare to respond to a Measure 37-like proposal, and to make every effort to gather input from the full membership in the course of carrying out those actions."
In case you have not heard, the initiative was filed by the Washington Farm Bureau on January 24, 2006. It was described as a preliminary filing with the final initiative to be filed after their meeting in February. The current draft is supposed to “protect individuals from government” by requiring governments to consider the cost of regulation on private property and find an alternative to regulation or compensate for the “loss of value.”
WAPA representatives have been in contact with the “Property Fairness Coalition,” a group of environmental, labor and public interest organizations formed to contest the initiative and educate the public about its adverse impacts. The Chapter was invited to join the Coalition and the Chapter Board recently held a tele-meeting to consider the options of joining, going it alone or seeking another group. The consensus of the Board members on the call was that this Coalition seemed to be our best option but that we need to feel comfortable that it represents as broad a range of interests as possible, that its actions and positions reflect and respect that range of views and not be driven by any one viewpoint, and that the campaign will be well organized with experienced leadership.
Whether or not the Chapter joins the Coalition, we will retain the ability to act independently on behalf of the WAPA membership in responding to the initiative and we will retain the ability to leave the Coalition at any time.
The Board authorized the Chapter President, Steve Butler, AICP, to commit the Chapter to joining the Coalition when he is satisfied that the Boards concerns have been addressed. We will keep you posted on the status of this action as well as other information about the initiative and Chapter efforts via Planning Northwest, the WAPA list serve, and our website, www.washington-apa.org.
SUSTAINABILITY
The concept of ‘sustainability’ is all the rage around the Pacific Northwest these days. Whether it’s the latest conference or green building demonstration project, the Pacific Northwest has joined a growing global community seeking new ways to face our global environmental, economic, and social challenges.
Most prominent on our regional sustainability agenda are the innovative ‘green’ projects, like LEED-certified buildings, low-impact development, and ‘smart growth’ projects. And why not? These types of projects are sexy to us planners, architects, or engineers, providing tangible examples for how we can do things better. But can we do more to create a sustainable future? Can we find ways to better address the root causes of our ‘unsustainable’ ways?
The answer to both questions is yes, and we need to only look to our friends down under for some examples. Across Australia, local governments are moving beyond the ‘technical’ side of sustainability—the green buildings and eco-roofs—to a deeper, fundamental change in the way they do business, whether it’s developing a new comprehensive plan, prioritizing funding for capital projects, or engaging their citizens to participate in decision making.
How is this being done? Some cities have developed ‘triple bottom line’ tools to incorporate sustainability considerations into decision-making, from what projects to fund to evaluating various growth scenarios. Others have developed education strategies for engaging people in sustainability through community visioning and critical thinking, greater participation, and more active community partnerships. Still others have engaged city staff, planning commissions, and elected officials in training and dialogue about what sustainability means to their communities.
The Pacific Northwest prides itself as a leader in innovation and creative thinking, and our Australian neighbors provide some guidance as to how we can broaden and deepen our own commitment to sustainability.
Sustainability in Australia: What Local Governments are Doing
Blue Mountains Council: Developed a sustainability assessment process to screen and rank capital projects for social, economic, and environmental criteria.
City of Marrickville: As part of its Learning for Sustainability strategy, new staff receives training on the importance of sustainability and how it is incorporated into Council decisions.
City of Gosford: As part of its governance strategy, the City developed evaluation software to score and weight projects according to the City’s strategic sustainability direction. In 2004, the city produced its first “sustainability report” to track their progress toward a more sustainable future.
City of Manly: Part of their overall sustainability strategy, the City conducted an extensive community visioning process to chart a community-driven path toward a sustainable future.
GMA INFORMATIONAL BROCHURE As member of the Chapter Board for several years, I have been grateful to the planners who have asked how they can get involved in Chapter activities. Here is a chance for you to help the Chapter and to enhance the roles of good planning in our state. By now you should have received a copy of a new informational brochure developed by the Washington Chapter APA, as an e-mail attachment. We would like your help in using this brochure to inform the public about the role of planning in our state. We want to help the general public understand how GMA protects farmlands, encourages quality development, and saves taxpayer dollars. Given the mounting criticism of GMA and the threat to good planning posed by proposed initiatives, we feel it is a critical time to get our message out to the public.
Over the past four years we have developed a program, called Livable Washington, that is intended to advance Washington’s Growth Management Act (GMA) and to assure that planners have a voice in that process. Our first product, Livable Washington: APA’s Action Agenda for Growth Management, defined 19 actions to refine GMA and celebrated the overall success of the GMA’s first 10 years. As an outgrowth of that effort, APA Chapter leaders worked with state government representatives to form the GMA Working Group – a coalition of nine wide-ranging interest groups who met to develop legislative amendments to refine GMA. This group reviewed a large number of issues, and was ultimately successful in getting four amendments passed by the 2004 legislature and signed into law. In 2004, APA also revisited the issues raised in Livable Washington to update and refine our focus. The Livable Washington Action Agenda Update was adopted by the Chapter Board, and continues to provide policy direction for APA’s Legislative Committee as well as direction to our Strategic Plan. Our efforts received the Karen B. Smith Chapter Achievement Award for Outstanding Outreach to Community in March, 2005, from National APA.
Here’s how you can help. If you work for a local government, we are asking you to print copies of this flyer (print at 11x17, in color or in black-and-white) and distribute it to your appointed and elected officials and to local citizens. You may be able to distribute the flyer through inserts in a local newsletter, utility bill, or special mailing – or simply put copies on your front counter for pick up. We encourage you to use the flyer as a means to start a conversation about GMA with your officials and citizens, since that kind of direct contact is the most powerful way to get our message out.
If you are not working for a local government, you can still help to get the message out through op/ed articles in your local newspaper, provide copies of the flyer to your neighbors or interest groups, and talk about GMA with people you meet.
Please feel free to contact me directly, if you need further information. We thank you for participating in our effort to foster good planning in Washington and to encourage an informed and interested public to participate.
PUGET SOUND SECTION
WINTER '06 BROWN BAG SERIES OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
Come to the FREE session you need to do your job better! APA-subsidized lunches, only $2.00! RSVP with Steve Ladd, ladds@ci.bonney-lake.wa.us, (253) 447-4350.
Topic Time Place Great speakers! Seattle’s High Point Development: Talk and Tour This award-winning, Built Green, mixed-income, medium-density community covers 34 city blocks! Check out its natural drainage systems and porous pavement. Experience the quality of its new urbanist design. Learn about its community process.
Noon to 1:15, Wed., Jan. 25 High Point Library, 3411 SW Raymond, West Seattle Tom Phillips, High Point Redevelopment Manager, Seattle Housing Authority What legitimizes planning as a profession? What is the social contract that defines the responsibilities of the professional planner? How do planners define “public interest?” Who are the planners’ clients? Who adjudicates advocacy planning? Answers to be provided via case studies and you the audience.
Noon to 1:15, Wed., Feb. 1 Renton City Hall, 1055 S Grady, 7th Floor Ron Turner, AIA, AICP Land Assembly in Support of Economic Development To up their tax revenues, cities are intervening to intensify land use in key locations. How to assemble the parcels? Finance the purchase? Negotiate with sellers and developers? What are the legal limits of condemnation, acquisition, and disposal? What are the limits of public risk-taking? These speakers know.
Noon to 1:15, Wed., Feb. 8 Kent City Hall Council Chambers, 220 4th Ave S Jay Reich, Preston Gates & Ellis How to Get Plans Adopted Despite Intense Conflict If your community is polarized, if the issues are heated, you need an inspired citizen involvement process. Featuring facilitation specialists and a case study of the Downtown Winslow Urban Design Plan.
Noon to 1:15, Wed., Feb. 15 PSRC, 1011 Western Ave, 5th Floor, Seattle Jim Reid, The Falconer Group The Future in 3D: Innovative Tools for Visualizing Land Use and Urban Design This exposition of computer-based tools is a repeat of the hugely popular session at the recent APA conference. If you missed it then, see it now. Featuring GIS-based applications incorporating photography, digitized design work, animation, etc.
Noon to 1:15, Wed., Feb. 22 Renton City Hall, 1055 S Grady, 7th Floor Michael Stephan, CH2M Hill AFFORDABLE HOUSING
A HALF-DAY APA BROWN BAG SERIES
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Place: Mercer Island City Council Chambers, City Hall, 9611 SE 36th St
Program: Come to one or all sub-topics. $2.00 lunches are available for the noon sub-topic. All sessions are lecture plus Q&A.
Time Sub-Topics Speakers 12:00 - 1:00 The Dialogue How do you talk to your community about affordable housing? How to you address NIMBYs? Art Sullivan, ARCH 1:00 - 2:00 The Planning/Regulatory Environment What can planners do to make housing more affordable and diverse? What code-based incentives can be offered, e.g. density bonuses? Is there any good news Allan Johnson, King County Dept. of Housing 2:00 - 3:00 The Developer's Perspective What do non-profit and for-profit housing developers look for from planners? What can be done to lower the cost of a home or apartment?
Mike Luis, Housing Partnership 3:00 - 4:00 Subsidies What financial subsidies are available to make housing more affordable? How can local governments support financial resources and tax exemptions? What are the non-profits and state/federal agencies doing? Steve Walker, WA State Housing Finance Commission SOUTHWEST SECTION Clark County has approved three alternative comprehensive plan maps that will be studied by an environmental impact statement and a capital facilities analysis. The county is expected to hold a work session in the near future to discuss the possibility of lifting the Urban Holding overlay zone on lands in the previous comprehensive plan. The city of Vancouver is holding several public forums to discuss a major annexation that could make it the second largest city in the state of Washington. The city originally petitioned the Boundary Review Board for Clark County to do an annexation of 823 acres. However, it is now being discussed that the annexation be expanded to 26 square miles that include 65,000 people. According to The Columbian newspaper, this action has resulted in a bill being introduced by Senator Don Benton to the legislature requiring a vote on such annexations. Clark County is still being considered for the location of a major gambling casino, with a 250-room hotel, specialty shops and an entertainment and convention facility. Also planned are dining in a variety of restaurants, an RV park and parking for 8,500 vehicles on a 152-acre campus on the west side of I-5. The Environmental Impact Statement we be released for public review in the near future. Richard H. Carson, Director 
LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL CANDIDATES The Chapter Nominating Committee is looking for potential candidates to run for the position of President-elect for the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association. The position is a four-year commitment to the Chapter beginning in July 2006 as the successful candidate will serve on the Board for four years - one as President-elect; two as Chapter President; and a fourth year as Past President. This is a great opportunity for those who want to get directly involved in chapter activities and play a significant role in the direction the Chapter heads over the next several years. If you are interested, please contact me and I can give you more specifics as to the role and the responsibilities. Bob Sokol, Nominating Committee Chair
GROWING GREEN, ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY San Diego
Chicago
Aquifers and wetlands. Farmland and wildlife habitat. The environmental responsibilities of local governments encompass much of the natural landscape. This workshop will help planners create plans that sustain the quality of the environment, while conforming to state and federal regulations. Writing an environmental action plan is an important component of planning for sustainable development, whether the goal is protecting public health (water supply and quality, air quality, solid waste recycling, and toxic waste); preserving natural areas such as wildlife habitats, wetlands, and coastal zones; or mitigating natural disasters. Local governments can use familiar planning tools and techniques to incorporate sustainable environmental quality into local and regional comprehensive planning. This workshop will discuss those tools and techniques, clarify complex scientific considerations that planners must understand, review positive trends in environmental quality, and point out what is most essential to ensure continued progress. The workshop will present approaches that balance communities' need for sustainable transportation, energy, and development with the need to preserve open space and natural resources. Questions to be addressed:
Speakers
Course Outline
Continuing Education Credits
The University of Washington is running a summer course on urban design in the United Kingdom, open both to students and practicing planners. The class studies how British cities have changed over the centuries, focusing on adaptation and the regeneration of city centers. The curriculum is designed to familiarize students with city planning and urban design concepts, rich with field exercises, lectures by local faculty and independent exploration. Hosted by the University of Liverpool and the University of Edinburgh, the class puts students at the core of two of Britain’s most vibrant cities. Participants will develop a personal and intimate understanding of the cities they visit, learning their histories through workshops with local planners and university faculty and venturing out on numerous field tours to explore places like London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, Liverpool’s Mathew Street (home of the Beatles), and Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Class members will learn the concepts of urban design and urban morphology, integrating their extensive field time and academic experiences into individual research projects. By combining lectures, field study and independent research, this class immerses participants in European and British culture, mixing social and academic elements to provide a rich and more complete understanding of social, economic and historic influences on urban development and the use of space. The class is offered for graduate and undergraduate credit and is designed to interest students of a variety of subjects, including urban and regional planning, architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, economics, history, and public administration. The class may also qualify for continuing professional education requirements. The class is designed to help students and professionals better understand how cities change over time. The curriculum examines the various urban processes, establishes a common vocabulary to describe the urban context, and studies examples of adaptation, demonstrating how different communities settled at different times for different purposes have adapted to fit their current context. Students will prepare a presentation detailing results of their experiences on the final day of class, making the presentation before other students and a jury of local university faculty. Students will be responsible for their own travel arrangements to the UK and between the host cities. Accommodation will be provided in student housing at the University of Liverpool and the University of Edinburgh, allowing students to remain together and permitting convenient access to the city centers and their active nightlife. For information, contact Dottie Sjaastad at sjaastad@u.washington.edu or Bill Grimes at bgrimes@studiocascade.com.
WORKSHOPS SPONSORED BY AICP Cram a whole semester into two days. You'll find current information and effective techniques in new workshops sponsored by AICP. Join us for four February 2006 workshops in San Diego and four June 2006 workshops in Chicago. AICP-sponsored workshops will help you meet the challenges of growth and change. Whether you want to gain a solid foundation for financing economic development, evaluate the planning implications of the Supreme Court's 2005 decisions, create plans that sustain the quality of the environment, or learn what you can and can't do with tax policies, you'll find the resources, tools, and information you need in these workshops. APA and AICP Members: Sign up for two consecutive workshops and save 50 percent or more on the second workshop. Workshops in San Diego Land-Use Law After the Four Supreme Court Decisions of 2005
Tax Policies and Techniques That Support Planning*
Paying for Economic Development*
Growing Green, Achieving Sustainability
Workshops in Chicago Land-Use Law After the Four Supreme Court Decisions of 2005
Paying for Economic Development*
Growing Green, Achieving Sustainability
Tax Policies and Techniques That Support Planning*
How to Register San Diego registration deadline: February 9, 2006 Chicago registration deadline: June 8, 2006 Click here for more information and fees There will be no on-site registration. Click here to register for a workshop Continuing Education Credits AICP-certified planners earn 14 CPD hours for each workshop. Click here for details.
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER Have a project you want to highlight for planners across the state? An issue you think more planners need information on? Planning Northwest is always looking to highlight projects and research of our members. If you are interested in having an article published feel free to contact the editor. Upcoming issues will focus on tribal planning, emergency management/planning, annexations, state legislative agenda, and transportation. In January a detailed month by month topic list will be on the chapter listserv and in the newsletter. The deadline for the newsletter is the first of every month. Please submit all newsletter articles to Angela Brooks, AICP at angela.brooks@seattle.gov and angeladiane@gmail.com. Please include Planning Northwest in your subject line. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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