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Governors' Institute Newsletters
News Briefs from Governors' Institute Alumni States
HUD, DOT, and EPA Join Forces for Better, More Sustainable Communities
On June 16, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the creation of an unprecedented partnership. Working together, the agencies will focus on building better, more sustainable communities — providing people with more transportation and housing options, as well as lower transportation costs and greater access to affordable housing.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson made the announcement before a Congressional committee. They testified that the agencies will be guided by six "Livability Principles" that address issues including transportation choice and affordable housing among others.
Over the past decade, a number of states have initiated similar cross-agency efforts based on a set of common principles intended to guide how communities develop. In 2002 Arizona adopted the Growing Smarter Guiding Principles, and in 2008 the State formalized its cross-agency efforts by forming a Growth Cabinet consisting of 15 state agencies. Pennsylvania instituted a set of common principles, developed by an interagency working group and known as the Keystone Principles, in 2005. New York formed a smart growth cabinet in 2007, and Virginia created a SubCabinet on Community Investment in 2008. The new Partnership at the federal level will likely create the impetus for an increasing number of states to follow suit and put more emphasis on cross-agency collaboration around transportation, housing, and environmental protection.
For more information on the Partnership, click here.
Source: DOT press release, June 16, 2009
Climate Change and the Urban Form: Governors Make the Connection
Climate change is an issue of global scale, yet it is being tackled on the state level as governors are taking the lead on addressing the climate crisis. Regional climate agreements have been formed by governors in the Eastern, Midwestern, and Western U.S., and many individual governors have issued executive orders and supported legislation related to energy efficiency. Only a handful of state governments, however, are seeking to implement policies to reduce emissions by slowing the growth in vehicles miles traveled (VMT) by residents.
In 2008, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) published "Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change", which makes the case that technological improvements in fuels and vehicles will not be sufficient to address the impacts of climate change, due to the rapid growth in VMT in the United States. (Through the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Governors' Institute provided funding to support the research underlying the book). In July 2009, ULI released a related report titled "Moving Cooler: An Analysis of Transportation Strategies for Reducing Green-house Gas Emissions". "Moving Cooler" outlines almost 50 transportation strategies that will reduce CO2 emissions, many directly re-lated to development patterns.
California and Washington are among the states exploring innovative approaches to controlling the growth in VMT by more closely linking transportation and land use planning.
California
In September 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 375, legislation that will address climate change by encouraging compact development. The legislation provides incentives to and streamlining regulations for local governments that build more compact neighborhoods with the aim of reducing VMT growth by allowing people to more easily walk, bike, and take public transportation. The need for this form of legislation was particularly stark in California, where VMT has been increasing at nearly twice the rate of the state's population growth.
SB 375 links transportation, urban development, and climate change by:
- creating regional targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction;
- requiring that regional planning agencies create a plan to meet those targets;
- trying regional transportation planning and housing efforts; and
- streamlining processes for projects that conform to the new regional plans, even if they conflict with local plans.
SB 375 will encourage more compact new development and transportation alternatives by offering local governments transportation funding, as well as regulatory and other incentives.
Washington
In March 2008, Governor Gregoire signed a bill (HB 2815) that amended the state's Growth Management Act by adding global warming countermeasures to the list of local comprehensive planning goals. The legislation calls for an 18 percent reduction in the 75 billion annual VMT by 2030, 30 percent by 2035, and 50 percent by 2050. The legislation explicitly recognizes that land use changes are necessary in order to reduce VMT. The Climate Action Team (CAT), which is charged with developing the specific implementation steps needed to achieve the VMT reduction targets in the climate plan, recommended:
- expanding and enhancing transit, rideshare, and commuter choice;
- encouraging compact and transit oriented development;
- use GHG/VMT as criteria for funding and pursue new revenue sources to support transportation choices;
- use transportation pricing to reduce per capita VMT and GHG emissions, raise revenue, and manage the system for better efficiency and reliability; and
- pursue additional non-VMT actions to reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector, including rail use, diesel engine improvements, transportation systems management, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, and a low-carbon fuel standard.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2008; California Progress Report; "Leading the Way: Implementing Practical Solutions to the Climate Change Challenge," WA Climate Action Team, 2008; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 7, 2008
Policy Guide Puts the Best Growth Policies at Governors' Fingertips
All across America, governors have recognized how important their actions are in shaping their state's communities. Although the bulk of land use authority rests at the local level, state actions have a large and direct effect on economic development, land conservation, environmental protection, transportation, education, and the provision of water, sewer and other infrastructure. As a result, governors in state after state are searching for ways to make smarter land use decisions.
"Policies that Work: A Governors' Guide to Growth and Development", a new publication by the Governors' Institute on Community Design, introduces governors, their staff and cabinet secretaries to a wide range of policies, administrative actions, and spending decisions that can produce more cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable patterns of growth. Each policy idea is accompanied by one or more examples of where it has been implemented together with suggestions as to how it could be replicated. "Policies that Work: A Governors' Guide to Growth and Development" was produced through the generous support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts. The document may be found, and downloaded in part or in whole, at www.govinstitute.org/policyguide.