Zoning Education for All of Us
A Vienna resident thought some zoning education about form based zoning would be useful for all of us. We agree. His email:
As promised, here are some links to information about form-based zoning. My idea in passing this along is that in order to sell the idea, advocates of the idea need to be more conversant with the concepts. When a candidate announces that they are "in favor of modifying the building height allowances on Maple avenue" - the luddites run away screaming. If put into context of an overall plan for rational development, it becomes less scary. Part of the appeal of form-based zoning is that the best form-based codes are largely devoid of technospeak. So without further ado, here are the links...A Non-profit with the mission of advancing the use and acceptance of form-based codes...
http://www.formbasedcodes.org/
The Congress of New-Urbanism - more relevant to larger municipalities...
For general background on the importance of form in urban planning check out the two volume series "Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Policies for Implementation" produced by the Smart Growth Network and the International City Managers Association at...
For the really ambitious, Virginia Tech offers degrees in Urban Affairs and Planning at their Alexandria Center. One of the Professors, Peter Katz, is one of the originators of new-urbanism. They also have an occasional lecture series.
Comments
To see form-based codes in action, take a field trip to Kentlands, in Gaithersburg, MD. It's one of the earliest "new urbanist" communities in the country & shows how livable a community can be when designed this way. this kind of development actually predates zoning & is a way to recreate the kind of traditional towns and neighborhoods that existed before everything became car-oriented.
Posted by: anne smith | May 3, 2007 12:48 PM
Peter Katz wrote the classic book on the subject, "The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community." It's mostly photos & drawings. The "before" photos look remarkably like today's Maple
Avenue & the "after" show what could be. If only....
Posted by: anne smith | May 3, 2007 12:58 PM
Anne were you familiar with the Maple Avenue Vision Committee's work?
Posted by: Historic Vienna | May 4, 2007 03:50 PM
Familiar w/ Maple Ave Vision Committee.
Yes, I attended the open forums for the first visioning, which were about 7 or 8 years ago. Consultants were brought in & Maude bullied them & told them that they were only there to verify that the town was on the right track. It was clear that the council wasn't looking for expert advice because they already knew it all. And of course, their report was hidden away so that no one would ever know what was recommended.
Posted by: anne smith | May 4, 2007 09:24 PM
Since so few people "get it" when they hear "mixed use" or "redevelopment"...and since that is so easy to make politically fearful by the likes of Maud, perhaps we could do a walking video inventory replete with commentary explaining where we are now and where we can go? Something educational needs to be done so the average person can understand it all.
Posted by: Historic Vienna | May 4, 2007 09:33 PM
re: so few people "get it"
The best thing I've seen is Steve Price's visuals, which can be seen on the following website. They show how more development can actually make a place better.
http://www.urban-advantage.com/images.html
Posted by: anne smith | May 5, 2007 06:06 PM
Anne Smith, I wish all of the citizens and Town Council would go to web site you posted:
http://www.urban-advantage.com/
Posted by: Jerome C. | May 6, 2007 09:06 PM
Jerome,
Take your laptop to the next council meeting & show them!
Posted by: anne smith | May 7, 2007 09:53 PM
Until this TC understands that by "letting go" of this small town feel mantra we will never have it-just the words. When you look at the potential with the trees and walkability it feels more cozy, more safe. The reality is we have "big town" problems with a "small town" view and it needs to change to serve more than just a few. A great website Anne thank you for taking the time to post that.
Posted by: Susan Stich | May 8, 2007 11:12 AM
also I think another site u guys might be interested in is
www.dpz.org.
they are a smart-growth organization who have actually written their own zoning/form-based coding based on various factors. They are responsible for several downtown revitalizations(including the creation of downtown Los Angeles) and various other projects like the "New Tysons Corner" and the new Development in Springhill Lake, Greenbelt, MD. Of course for some odd reason ppl fight smart growth all the time...I really dont understand why everyone wants 1,000,000 parking spaces everywhere. Dont local jurisdictions realize the more parking spaces u have the MORE likely ppl who dont live in ur community are using ur stores taking and clogging ur roads?
Posted by: M Lloyd | June 2, 2007 02:35 PM