The Elements of Smart Growth

As of April 10, the City of Austin's Smart Growth Initiative includes:

• All three May 2 bond propositions;
• The creation of the Smart Growth zones shown on the map (Drinking Water Protection Zone, Desired Development Zone, and Urban Desired Development Zone), with the eventual addition of zones for Downtown and for transit corridors;
• A rewritten Land Development Code (LDC), streamlining the current one into a plain-English document that promotes infill, supports neighborhood planning, and sets guidelines for the Smart Growth zones;
• Within the LDC, the existing Traditional Neighborhood District ordinance and the in-progress citywide infill ordinance;
• The preservation of open space, including the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, the city's urban trails plan, and the Proposition 2 land acquisitions over Barton Creek;
• The neighborhood planning project - currently nearing the end of its pilot - along with additional resources and services for neighborhoods;
• The already adopted Sustainable Communities Initiative and Sustainable Building Guidelines;
• An expanded version of the current mediation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) projects undertaken by the current Council, including more charrettes and the training of all city development staff in ADR;
• The coordination, synthesis, and review of all current city planning documents, both general and department-specific, and a review of city planning structure and management efficiency (following on the 1996 Affordability 2000 audit of the city infrastructure departments).

It was only on April 10 that Toby Futrell and her team devised this list. "We realized that we haven't done a very good job of explaining how big this initiative is," she says. Look for more city publicity of the whole Smart Growth magillah, including public hearings (as yet unscheduled) where you can speak your mind. - M.C.M.