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INFORMATION #1 06-16-1997 rCI ~\.( ( )! Ell< River INFORMAnON MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Steve Ach, City Planner ~tt- DATE: June 16, 1997 SUBJECT: Planning Comissioners' Review of National Planning Conference Planning Commission members Judy Thompson and Louise Kuester attended the National Planning Conference in San Diego this past April. Both Commissioners prepared a written summary of their experience at the National Conference and presented it to the other Commission members. I have included these summaries for the City Council's information and also want to forward the Planning Commission's appreciation for being able to attend these national conferences. \ \elkriver \sys \shrdoc \council\natconf. doc 13065 Orono Parkway. P.O. Box 490. Elk River, MN 55330. TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420. Fax: (612) 441-7425 A.P.A IN SAN DIEGO, 1997 I appreciated the opportunity of attending the American Planning Association's Annual Convention in San Diego to hear what professional and citizen planners around the country are excited about. After listening to the many presenters it was obvious that despite differences in the size and location of our communities we are facing many of the same issues and challenges. Following is a short summary of the sessions I attended as well as information that might be useful to us as citizen planners. The schedule also provided less structured opportunities to provoke thinking and networking - the opening session with Michael Moore (of "Roger and Me" fame), the opening reception at Horton Plaza (a large, downtown, multi-level, upscale shopping mall), an Awards luncheon (eten Magic Johnson was recognized!), and a reception by the San Diego Planning Commission (we met a planning commissioner from Nevada who grew up in Becker). The combination of featured speakers, formal sessions and informal networking provided me with a great deal of valuable information. KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Michael Moore, of "Roger and Me Fame", urged his listeners to think through decisions that are made and not to automatically accept that decisions reflect the best option for all people. He entertained his audience by giving many examples that have "hurt us as a people" and said that we make laws to protect against this happening. SAFE COMMUNITIES: Representatives from 3 larger communities presented their work with Crime Prevention through Environmental Design(CPTED). The projects they described focused on use of the following design elements: access control (creates neighborhoods), natural surveillance (i.e. each citizen observes hislher own surroundings, territorial reinforcement (have people feel ownership of the front of their house). In their comments they emphasized the importance of making design decisions based on what we know about crime and criminals: ***opportunities for crime are of function of daily activities and routine ***criminals are drawn to places they know well ***criminals prefer opportunities that minimize effort and risk while maximizing reward. The presenters also stated that the "maintenance of property suggests the relative risk." Each community solicited law enforcement support and has a CPTED review of plans. W ALKABLE COMMUNITIES: The Bicycle Federation of America presented their sales pitch for changing our planning focus from thinking primarily about cars to focusing on pedestrians. They quoted Albert Einstein "The problems we have created cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them." The presenters suggested using the same criteria for establishing walkable communities that are used in business, development, and by consumers in general: security, convenience, efficiency, comfort and welcome. ROAD DESIGN AND RURAL CHARACTER: Representatives of different aspects of development comprised this panel that encouraged listeners to rethink their parameters about streets. They suggested that some specifications are in place because of historical precedent and some case law(liability) and may benefit from rethinking for current situations. In other words we need to look back on the reason we use the standards we have. Are they still valid? They also suggested having "a waiver provision"(for allowing "sub-standard" roads) and compiling a plant list for roadside planting("to enhance rural character.") ARTS IN THE COMMUNITY: Two communities with challenges (Philadelphia, Penn. and Benton Harbor, MI) found "angels" to help them redevelop parts of their community using the arts as the economic basis for development. They indicated their measures of success would be: * * *improved educational attainment of citizens * * * increased capital income ***increased tax base Thus far, the communities seemed to have been successful in attracting capital(their "angels"). MOBILE WORKSHOP: FUTURE URBANIZING AREA CASE STUDY: A representative from the San Diego Planning Department (staff of over 100 ?) and the Chair of the city Planning Commission described the planning process as they showed the parcel of their last developable section ofland, 12,000 acres. When developed this parcel has the potential to add 50,000 people to the city's population. Surprisingly, the challenges they are working with are similar to ours. However, some of their figures are very different: ***smallest lot allowed in the city: 3000 sq ft. ***cost oflarger lots in the newly developing area(1-2 acres):$400,000 to 1 million *** "school impact fee" per lot in the most desirable district: $18,000 *** "general impact fee" per lot: $14,000 * * * last comprehensive plan for San Diego: 1979 *** active neighborhood groups selecting a planning representative: 32 *** S.D Planning Commission regular meetings: 1 day per week ECONOMIC AND AESTHETIC IMPACTS OF SIGNS: A college business teacher and the owner of a large sign business told the results of their attempt to study the impact of signs on customers. They considered the number of signs per site and the types of signs used by two chain stores, one a food store and the other a home decoration furnishings store. They concluded that signs have a definite dollar impact. There were too many variables for me to find their results conclusive. I may also have been influenced by their finding that older customers "prefer" signs with larger letters and brighter lights. BEYOND SPRAWL: Presenters encouraged listeners to reconsider some of the basic thinking regarding residential land development. They stated that people make decisions about where they live based on perceptions concerning quality oflife. Since land development and economic development are linked planners should be aware that: * * * in residential development, capital expenses are 10% of total costs, operating costs are 90% of the cost of sprawl. *** open space is neutral-it doesn't cost and it doesn't pay *** non-residential developments puts into 2 $ pots(government and school) but only draws out of one. Growth in a community drives spending to infra-structure in certain areas, i.e. roads and road maintenance, instead of fire protection, etc. In other words, "sprawl" may not necessarily mean better quality of life. SWEET ISTEA: Three varied communities (Portland, ORE; Chicago, ILL; and Mercer Island, W A) explained how they used I. S. T.E.A. funding for local projects. Portland improved some of their pedestrian areas (those defined as high need/high use - i.e redevelopment areas.) Chicago improved their mass transit by revising one major elevated route, building a four story "L"station complete with day care, rebuilding a road( complete with walking trails), and re-designing a boulevard complete with new signage, information booths, etc. My favorite was the little guy, Mercer Island, who redid their 3 major arterials to make them "pedestrian friendly", and "to introduce art into transportation". This included adding pocket parking, bike lanes, crossing islands, landscaping, 14' sidewalks, benches, special lighting, sculpture, and fancy signs denoting things of historical significance. MOBILE WORKSHOP: SUBURBAN MOBILE HOME PARKS: An extremely competent staff person from Escondito described the ongoing redevelopment project of their 19 trailer parks. The situation is complicated by local rent control ordinances and helped by the high % of seniors in the parks. Essentially the city is providing their "low income" housing with manufactured housing. Some of the parks are becoming a collection of privately owned lots, others are becoming coops.. PROTECTING WILDLIFE HABITAT AS CITIES GROW: An attorney and a biologist made a presentation based on their manual on protecting wildlife habitat. We should get this manual. Listed are a few of their many thoughts on the topic: * * * consider both landscape and site scale *** consider control of pests * * * prioritize species for preservation * * * be aware of contiguous wildlife corridors *** location of best habitat is more significant than density * * * use state and federal agency support * * * be attentive to ecological processes as well as parcels *** find solutions at multiple levels: site--Iocal--regional. CITY/COUNTY DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS: Stafffrom the City of Olympia and from Thurston County(W A), explained how they worked together to follow through on their Legislative Growth Management Act of 1991. The Act aimed to: *** provide for urban area development * * * prevent sprawl * * * develop infra-structure systematically * * * give long-term protection to significant agricultural, forestry and mineral assets * * * preserve open space The focus was to plan for developing unincorporated areas. The conditions that supported joint planning in their area: *** history of inter-local cooperation * * * strong regional council of government * * * political stability * * * state mandate to cooperate *** high levels oftrust(described as most important). ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ORDINANCE: Planning staff from Columbus, Ohio reviewed their 14 year process of developing this ordinance which they use to evaluate the total cost of development. They worked with all city departments to develop guidelines for reasonable service, the cost of that service, and to estimate what that cost would be for new development. In other words, they built in a system to address ongoing maintenance cost of development, not just capital improvements. A.P.A. National Planning Conference San Diego, California JUDY THOMPSON I would like to express my appreciation to the City of Elk River for providing me with the opportunity to attend the 1997 National San Diego, I to share my A.P.A. Planning Conference in San Diego. While in attended the following sessions and would like experience with you. 1) City Orientation Tour 2) Safe Place Design 3) Walkable Communities 4) Road Design and Rural Character 5) A Coordinated Approach to Code Enforcement 6) From Traffic Calming to Circulation Planning 7) Accessible Sidewalks 8) Zoning the Big Box 9) Protecting wildlife Habitat as Cities Grow CITY ORIENTATION TOUR I really enjoyed this tour. It was a chance to see how San Diego addressed its planning issues in a mobile tour setting. The following are items covered on my tour: PARKS: San Diego offers a wide range of cultural and recreational services to benefit both residents and visitors. with mild temperatures year around, the city's many beaches, parks, tennis courts and golf courses are in constant use. However, the main point of interest for me was their "linear parks". They used the long thin areas along city streets and highways, and along the light rail transit tracks, as parks. They believe you don' t have to have an expansive area to create a park. Simply providing amenities like landscaping, park benches and water fountains can change a potential eye sore area into a linear park. PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT: San Diego believes we need to try to avoid being totally automobile oriented. One example of their attempt to accommodate pedestrian movement, was noted in their long walkway along the water front. The developers all along the water front area each contributed to the cost of the walkway. No public funds were involved. LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT: San Diego offers a high speed inter-city "trolley" . The original trolley was buil t on the railroad right of way and was very inexpensive to implement. CITY STREETS: San Diego has taken a step backward in time in their street planning. They have decided that the old "grid system" of streets is a better traffic calming tool than a system of major and minor street systems. It distributes the traffic evenly and has a general calming effect. BIG BOX STORES: San Diego has one really interesting type of "big box" chain store, which has proven to be very popular. They have a grocery chain called RALPH'S which is a big box store, but doesn't require a large flashy sign (or a huge flag pole) to attract customers. In fact it's sign is a small oval sign set off to the side of the building. It's main attraction is the fact that its parking is either above the building or under the building, with wide moving sidewalks to transport customers to and from the parking area. wi thout the large barren parking lot, the building can be attractively landscaped and doesn' t create qui te the eye sore that the usual big box store seems to create. REDEVELOPMENT: San Diego utilizes TIF financing wherever possible, but for their older communities they've found that landscaping and adding public benches is an inexpensive way to revitalize an area and create the sense of community caring and concern that may serve to deter vandalism and loitering. ECONOMIC HOUSING: San Diego has moved away from creating buildings that house only indigent public. They issue vouchers to qualifying people, to be used toward payment of their rent. Thus creating mixed income housing rather than pockets of indigent people. Pockets of indigent people can lead to loitering, which can lead to security and vandalism problems. URBAN SECURITY: Many communities in suburban San Diego have become "gated communities". A gated community is a group of homes who entirely enclose their homes and yards within a tall fence with a controlled access gate. Usually these gates are operated by a rotating guard service. VIEWSCAPES: One important planning issue Diego area planning commissions, is "viewscapes" . In ci ties like La Jolla, allowed to be taller than a set height, citizens do not suffer a loss of view. faced by the San the concept of buildings are not so the surrounding SAFE PLACE DESIGN The main theme of this session was the use of a CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) plan. CPTED is a program dedicated to finding design solutions for crime problems. wi th CPTED, the emphasis is on the pedestrian. The first step in a CPTED plan is to evaluate what we know about crime and criminals. CRIMINALS * Try to minimize effort and risk, while maximizing reward. * Tend to commit crimes in places they know well. CRIME * Opportunities are a function of their daily activities and routines (there are more home robberies around a neighborhood store) . * You need to tell the observer that this place belongs to someone, and that no one else belongs here. Gated communities are a good example of this concept. Fenced yards do the same thing. * Teach the people who live or work in the area to report suspicious circumstances. The next step is to consider that information when reviewing site plans and redevelopment plans. San Diego has a CPTED team that consists of one law enforcement official and one trained planner. They use a "check list" of the following items to review every site plan: * Is there natural surveillance? * Is there natural access control? * Is there territorial reinforcement? * will there be maintenance of the area? WALKABLE COMMUNITIES The key to a "walkable" community is to work toward traffic calming situations, and to keep pedestrian traffic away from auto traffic. Short blocks and streets set up in a grid system tend to balance out traffic because there is no major traffic pathway, thus calming traffic. There should be a place for every type of traffic use: * Cars * Bicycles * pedestrians * Nature hikes A good system development review will assess all the following: * Security * Convenience * Efficiency * Comfort * A sense of "welcome" A city should be planned so the elderly or disabled don't need a car to get around. Streets and other public spaces should be planned for broader missions than simply moving cars. ROAD DESIGN AND RURAL CHARACTER The main idea presented at this session was that a straight wide street is an incentive to speed. The speaker felt that, whenever appropriate, providing rural roads, which are generally narrow and winding with grassy shoulders and no formal design, the result is traffic calming. A COORDINATED APPROACH TO CODE ENFORCEMENT The main point of this session was that there has to be an end date for compliance wi th ci ty demands, or the public won' t take you seriously. Ci ties are trying to change from being complaint driven, to being proactive. FROM TRAFFIC CALMING TO CIRCULATION PLANNING There are two stages to traffic calming and circulation. STAGE I (easy remedies) * Signs * Striping * POlicy enforcement STAGE II (harder remedies) * Street closure * Speed bumps * Turn prohibition * Controlled access * Barriers * One way streets * Traffic circles Traffic circles are created by putting a circle median in the center of an intersection. The traffic must slow down to drive around the median when crossing the intersection. ACCESSIBLE SIDEWALKS This session addressed the particular problems faced by various types of disabled pedestrians. What may seem to be a solution for a blind pedestrian, could be an obstacle for a pedestrian in a wheelchair, and vice versa. PROBLEMS FOR WHEELCHAIRS * Slopes in sidewalks * Curb ramps * Width of sidewalks * Inaccessible cross buttons at lights * Cracked or poorly maintained sidewalks PROBLEMS FOR BLIND PEDESTRIANS * Items in walk pathS * Protrusions above where walking stick could locate before pedestrian runs into it * Need texture and sound to guide their path * Gradually sloped curbs (such as ramps for wheelchairs) are confusing to nonsighted people * Crossings that don't stay green long enough to cross and that have no sound signal that it is nearing a red light * Cracked or poorly maintained sidewalks ZONING THE BIG BOX This session addressed the issues related with the "Big Box" store, such as the impact on the downtown area, consistency with city plans and policies, the change in the community character, and the loss of prime agricultural land. PROS OF BIG BOX * Increased tax revenues * New jobs for the community * Better prices and more shopping choices * Fewer trips to other communities to purchase needed goods CONS OF BIG BOX * Aesthetic concerns of big boxes * Jobs produced are relatively low paying * Costs infrastructure * Impacts to existing businesses There are four ways to maximize the quality of development in a community 1. Define and strengthen the master plan. 2. Create strict guidelines for slow and balanced growth, environmental protection, and prevention of leapfrog development. 3. Strive to enhance your community's uniqueness. 4. Market only to those select firms that "fit" the plan. PROTECTING WILDLIFE HABITAT AS CITIES GROW This session addressed the issue of the shrinking habitat that tends to accompany other problems faced by a growing communi ty. This speaker suggested that you plan now to set aside large intact areas of vegetation, and try to protect rare landscape elements. To maintain the natural status of habi tat areas, you need to assure a buffer between human dominated activities and wildlife movement. Identify wildlife corridors early in development. A decision to put in a road is a decision to compromise a habitat area. The speaker felt that the clustering techniques being used now is a step toward saving larger tracts of habi tat. He also fel t that whenever possible, native plants should be used in landscaping. In urban areas where habitat has been destroyed, you can still "enhance" the habitat. OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE CONFERENCE I believe the national conference is a very important learning experience provided to all planning commissioners. I hope that each commissioner will get a chance to attend at least one national conference in th~ir term. As citizens, it gives us insight into the issues being addressed by our city each year, and allows us to hear how other cities are resolving the same issues.