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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Health and Protection
The Cost Of Green Infrastructure: Worth The Investment?, Martha Sheils
The Cost Of Green Infrastructure: Worth The Investment?, Martha Sheils
Green Infrastructure
Is GI worth the investment?
• LID techniques often lead to cost savings when we look at WHOLE PROJECT COSTS
• Natural Infrastructure investments for flood control, drinking water protection and wildlife habitat can yield SIGNIFICANT AVOIDED COSTS and additional co-benefits to communitites
Issue Brief: Auditing Your Town's Development Code For Barriers To Sustainable Water Management, New England Environmental Finance Center
Issue Brief: Auditing Your Town's Development Code For Barriers To Sustainable Water Management, New England Environmental Finance Center
Sustainable Communities Capacity Building
This issue brief is intended for town officials who want to understand how development regulations in their community affect local water resources. Municipal development codes – the set of regulations that control the built environment – can have a great influence on the availability of clean and healthy water for drinking, recreation, and commercial uses. This in turn affects the community’s social, environmental, and economic vitality.
Comprehensive plans, zoning codes, and building standards are just a few examples of regulations that intentionally or unintentionally regulate the way water is transported, collected and absorbed. Regulations that produce dispersed development or large …
Drinking Water Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center
Drinking Water Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center
Sustainable Communities Capacity Building
This document is intended to help local and regional planning agencies, and their constituent water utilities, integrate drinking water infrastructure planning and investments into plans for sustainable development. Resources listed here provide guidance on making land use decisions that protect water resources, setting adequate and sustainable drinking water rates, controlling water loss, funding water infrastructure projects, and managing water utilities.
The directory was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through this program, EFCN is providing capacity …
South Burlington, Vt: Mixed-Use Comes To O’Dell Parkway, Ryan Neale, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer
South Burlington, Vt: Mixed-Use Comes To O’Dell Parkway, Ryan Neale, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer
Planning
The proposed redevelopment of an underutilized property along major travel routes in South Burlington presents possibilities for infill development. The City of South Burlington, the developer, neighbors, and a variety of public and nonprofit financial partners work together to create a mixed-use residential/commercial development to meet a variety of housing and community needs. The case study describes the obstacles overcome to make redevelopment possible through zoning and regulatory changes, negotiation with local residents over traffic and other concerns, support from state and local housing advocates, and political leadership; as well as the development’s application of smart growth principles.
Brunswick Me: De-Militarizing The Bnas, Anne Holland, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer
Brunswick Me: De-Militarizing The Bnas, Anne Holland, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer
Planning
Closure of the Brunswick Naval Air Station in 2011 will have profound economic impacts on the entire mid-coast Maine region of Maine, with an estimated loss of 6,500 jobs and $330 million annual income. Throughout the Base Realignment and Closure process, Brunswick, the region, and the State of Maine followed federal rules and developed the federally-funded Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority (BLRA) to plan for reuse of the 3300 acre base. In its planning process, the BLRA adhered to a number of well thought-out Guiding Principles, including the use of extensive public participation and the consideration of “smart growth” principles and …
Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 1, New England Environmental Finance Center
Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 1, New England Environmental Finance Center
Climate Change
When the Sustainable Portland Task Force Report was released in November 2007, under the leadership of Mayor Jim Cohen, Portland Councilor Kevin Donoghue had the idea that students at the Muskie School of Public Service might be able to help implement recommendations from the report. It may have helped that Kevin was himself a graduate of the Community Planning and Development Master’s program at the Muskie School, but it was a good idea nevertheless. He approached Professor Sam Merrill in the CPD program, who spoke with the new Mayor Ed Suslovic about a possible partnership between the City and the …
Selected Lid Projects In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center
Selected Lid Projects In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center
Planning
Examples of low impact development (LID) projects in each state in New England.
Policy Tools For Smart Growth In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center
Policy Tools For Smart Growth In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center
Smart Growth
Across New England communities have been experiencing a rapid outward surge of development away from our community and downtown centers. Effects of sprawl include a loss of wildlife habitat, farm and timber lands; increased costs of community services and higher taxes; auto-dependency, longer commutes, and increased congestion; increases in air and water pollution; a sedentary lifestyle and increased obesity; and losses to one’s sense of place and social ties.
State-level responses to sprawl have surfaced throughout New England in recent years. This report describes 11 examples of these responses, representing all six New England states and a diversity of recent …
The Growing Together Guide: A Companion Resource To The New England Environmental Finance Center/Melissa Paly Film, New England Environmental Finance Center
The Growing Together Guide: A Companion Resource To The New England Environmental Finance Center/Melissa Paly Film, New England Environmental Finance Center
Smart Growth
What local leader or public official wants to be faced with an SOS the “same old story” of public discord and confrontation over growth and development in one’s community? That situation has become a problem for efforts to promote smart growth. Investments are needed in the walkable, compact, traditional‐streetscape and mixed use neighborhoods and developments that are more sustainable and healthy than sprawl, for both people and the landscape. Yet attempts at such change all too often end up mired in costly public controversy and stalemate.
Mansfield Ct: Planning A New Village Center, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer
Mansfield Ct: Planning A New Village Center, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer
Planning
The case follows the development of a plan for a new village center in Storrs, the central village of Mansfield, Connecticut. A process that was transparent and inclusive of the community members yielded a plan that gained the approval of the Town, the landowner (the University of Connecticut), and the citizenry. The process relied on the mending of fences, the leadership of key participants, and an innovative strategy that included development of a nonprofit corporation and creative use of grant money. While zoning changes are still in the works, the first stage of building goes forward.
Augusta Me: The New Bridge Begets A New Planned Neighborhood, Molly Pulsifer, Richard Barringer
Augusta Me: The New Bridge Begets A New Planned Neighborhood, Molly Pulsifer, Richard Barringer
Planning
Construction of a new Third Bridge over the Kennebec River in Augusta offered the prospect of a new and handsome gateway to the city. Further, the resulting change in traffic patterns offered the City the chance to plan for a pattern of development quite different from what the city had experienced for the past half-century. The case study describes the planning and construction of the new bridge and corridors that re-routed traffic out of Augusta’s downtown and older neighborhoods, and created the opportunity for planned development adjacent to the corridor created by the new bridge. It goes on to describe …
Amherst Ma: A New Village Plan For Atkins Corner, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer
Amherst Ma: A New Village Plan For Atkins Corner, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer
Planning
The case study describes a successful smart growth initiative in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, at an intersection known as Atkins Corner. The initiative grew from two motivating factors: the necessity of realigning Route 116, a major north-to-south artery through the town, to decrease traffic accidents at the intersection and improve pedestrian safety; and a desire on the part of Hampshire College and the Town to create a village center at the intersection. Through a consensus-building process involving key town officials, Hampshire College, neighbors, and the design firm of Dodson Associates, agreement on the project was reached with local stakeholders …
Promoting Low Impact Development In Your Community, New England Environmental Finance Center
Promoting Low Impact Development In Your Community, New England Environmental Finance Center
Planning
Low Impact Development (LID) is an approach to stormwater management and site development that is gaining popularity throughout the country. Its attractiveness lies in its potential to lessen off-site stormwater impacts, reduce costs to municipalities and developers, and promote development that is “softer on the land” compared with typical traditional development. The approach, which is applicable to residential, commercial and industrial projects, and in urban, suburban and rural settings, often is linked with efforts by governments and citizens to foster more sustainable communities.
Land For Maine's Future Program: Increasing The Return On A Sound Public Investment, Richard Barringer, Hugh Coxe, Jack Kartez, Catherine Reilly, Jonathan Rubin
Land For Maine's Future Program: Increasing The Return On A Sound Public Investment, Richard Barringer, Hugh Coxe, Jack Kartez, Catherine Reilly, Jonathan Rubin
Economics and Finance
Maine is nowhere a more special place than in the quality of its landscape and the traditions of its land use. Among the mo st privately-owned of all the states, Maine’s natural diversity and beauty combine with its traditions of resource stewardship, open access, and appreciation of nature to distinguish it in the public mind and national imagination. In recent decades, however, these traditions have come under assault from the forces of economic and social change; and the people of Maine have responded. In 1986, Governor Joseph Brennan’s Special Commission on Outdoor Recreation recognized the growing threats to Maine’s natur …
Guiding Growth: A Survey Of Tax Incentives, New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service
Guiding Growth: A Survey Of Tax Incentives, New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service
Legislation
Current development patterns and increased tax pressures in local municipalities combine to harm both Maine’s natural resources and its quality of life. Previous initiatives such as the implementation of zoning laws did not fully result in the desired outcomes. Zoning laws were often too flexible and often did not resist market and political pressures to change zoning regulations to allow development with possible economic growth. A sound taxation system or fee structure may be the solution to slow down development in natural areas and direct it towards areas appropriate for growth.
To protect Maine’s natural resources more successfully from future …
Roundtable Series On Innovative Approaches To Land Conservation And Smart Growth, New England Environmental Finance Center
Roundtable Series On Innovative Approaches To Land Conservation And Smart Growth, New England Environmental Finance Center
Smart Growth
A series of six roundtable discussions was conducted by the New England Environmental Finance Center (NE/EFC) from January through May 2002, one in each New England state. The objectives of the series were to consolidate expertise in financing and coordinating projects that combine conservation and development on the landscape, and to identify key areas of unmet need that could be addressed by the NE/EFC. Each discussion entailed several case study presentations and facilitated discussion about what works, what doesn’t work, and what might work in financing and coordinating efforts that combine conservation and development. Key areas of opportunity that emerged …
Smart Growth And Land Acquisition Priorities, New England Environmental Finance Center
Smart Growth And Land Acquisition Priorities, New England Environmental Finance Center
Land Conservation
It is well-known and generally accepted that all undeveloped land in New England cannot forever be protected from development; nor would this be a desirable goal, as continued economic development and population growth are near certainties. For these and other reasons, private land trusts and government agencies generally use explicit criteria to prioritize their land acquisition activities and prospects.
Much land protection in New England and elsewhere, however, has occurred without substantial attention to such land use needs as fostering the best locations for where people will live, businesses will locate, and infrastructure will be built to avoid degrading resources. …
Preliminary Assessment Of Client Interest In And Needs Of The New England Environmental Finance Center, New England Environmental Finance Center, University Of Southern Maine
Preliminary Assessment Of Client Interest In And Needs Of The New England Environmental Finance Center, New England Environmental Finance Center, University Of Southern Maine
Planning
The New England Environmental Finance Center (NE/EFC) has been conceived as a knowledge-based clearinghouse, training, and change-agent program aimed at helping EPA's constituencies find financially successful approaches to environmental improvements. The NE/EFC will develop approaches to needs of particular priority in New England and potentially useful throughout the nation; share such approaches through the EFC national network; and help make tools from that network accessible throughout New England. In 1999 we began exploring with potential users how this ninth of the nation's EFCs might best address the region's needs. The assessment continued through the Muskie School's EFC proposal to EPA …