The Fuss About Zoning (Part 1)
The first in a series of articles about zoning, sprawl and smart growth.
A recent Cornell study of 25 metropolitan areas found that large-lot zoning causes communities to sprawl up to 40% faster than average. The Regional Planning Partnership (RPP) printed a brief article on this study in our monthly membership newsletter, and it has generated more calls than any article that we have ever published. Since the callers' reactions were as diverse as our membership, they have prompted the following clarification about when large-lot zoning exacerbates sprawl, and when it can help to stop it.
Sprawl Defined: One way to define sprawl is to measure how much undeveloped land is consumed for growth. When fields or wooded land are converted to low-density subdivisions, office parks and shopping centers, sprawl is created. The more land used per person, the more sprawl. The Cornell study (R. Pendall, Department of City and Regional Planning, 1999) is based on this definition.
The Cornell team found that between 1982 and 1992, 100 newly urbanized acres were developed for each 380 additional people moving into the area. In counties with substantial large-lot zoning, 142 acres were needed to accommodate those same 380 people. Large-lot zoning forces the same population to consume 42% more land, spilling development into the next farm, or into the next town or county.
Downzoning Defined: Except in the Pinelands, zoning land for more than 1 unit per 3 acres has not been common practice in New Jersey, but more towns are moving in this direction. Changing zoning to decrease density is called downzoning, since it reduces the amount of development allowed on a site. Many towns downzone with the expressed hope that it will reduce congestion and be better for the environment. As the Cornell study points out, however, downzoning only does one thing: it reduces the amount of development on that site.
By itself, downzoning does not reduce the pressure for growth in a region; it does not redirect the growth to urban areas; it does not reduce auto-dependency (in fact, it usually increases it); and it will not reduce pollution of streams (impervious surface, the source of these pollutants, may be increased by downzoning). In other words, downzoning inappropriately applied, or applied in the wrong locations, does not reduce sprawl.
Open Space/Farmland Protection: The Cornell study documents what happens when developers turn a municipality's large-lot zoning into sub-divisions: it creates sprawl. Large-lot zoning should not, however, be confused with zoning and other regulations designed to protect open space, farmland and environmentally sensitive lands.
When thinking about protecting large tracts, at a minimum, zoning should be set at levels appropriate to the policies in New Jersey's State Plan. Case law is beginning to support municipal actions that are consistent with the State Plan.
RPP supports very low density zoning as appropriate for the State Plan's Fringe, Rural, and Environmentally Sensitive Planning Areas - 10, 20, or more acres per lot. In order to prevent the land being cut into very large lawns with single family homes, the zoning must be supported by density transfer programs, clustering and other strategies that will protect habitat and water quality, save farmland, and preserve what's left of our rural landscape. Where there are designated or proposed centers, it is also appropriate to protect the surrounding open areas or existing neighborhoods from development or redevelopment at higher densities.
Affordable Housing: Of course, such actions to protect land from development must be taken in conjunction with meeting the Constitutional obligation to provide a fair share of the region's need for affordable housing. In places serious about protecting land, this can best be done by proactive municipal actions, rather than by "inclusionary zoning," which allows a developer to subsidize the housing by allowing him/her to build four market rate units for every one affordable unit.
Outcomes are Everything: So many of our expectations, practices, regulations and institutions give us sprawl as an outcome, it will be very difficult to change things enough to get something better. But it is clear that downzoning is not the easy answer. And since downzoning a few areas will not win the battle against sprawl, why not go for the better outcome - comprehensive goal-oriented zoning for center-based development and environmental protection. Goal-oriented zoning means mixing uses in centers, and includes aggressive downzoning in some areas, minor adjustments in others, and major up-zoning in still others - all to achieve the watershed, transportation, economic and equity goals of the region. These are the outcomes we all want. This is how to defeat sprawl.
Watch for Part 2 of this article for more details. Dianne Brake is the President of The Regional Planning Partnership (RPP), a member-based non-profit promoting growth management and regional cooperation. Based in Plainsboro, RPP has a 40-member Board representing a broad range of interests.
The Fuss About Zoning (Part 2)
This article builds on Part 1 which reported on a recent Cornell study of 25 growing metropolitan areas, in which it was found that large-lot zoning causes communities to sprawl up to 40% faster than average.
Since the beginning of time, people have built their communities to suit the transportation of the day. In the 1600s and 1700s , boats and ships were efficient, which explains the waterfront location of so many of New Jersey's historic cities and towns. Over the last few decades, however, New Jerseyans have been building to suit the automobile. But recently, residents have begun to question the efficiency of relying on the automobile for virtually all of our travel.
Zoning for Sprawl: When historic modes of travel became less efficient, new modes evolved, and development patterns evolved with them. But we aren't evolving any more. Now, zoning has locked us into the development pattern we put in place decades ago to respond to the car. Originally intended to create the American dream, low density, single-use zoning designed for the automobile is creating the nightmare of sprawl.
Besides the auto-dependence that is now recognized as costing our health and our mobility, there are many other reasons to oppose the low density, single-use zoning that causes sprawl: loss of farmland and open space, disinvestment in cities, increased cost of housing and infrastructure, and increased pollution. In addition, there is growing evidence that sprawl cannot meet the quality of life requirements of an aging population and a more diverse labor force.
Sprawl Documented: The maps below show land consumption in our region between 1976 and 1996. Developed land is shown in black and undeveloped land in white. The maps were created from data analyzed by The Regional Planning Partnership (RPP). RPP found that the population grew by 21% in that period, while the amount of developed land grew by 61%. We increased developed land at three times the rate we grew in population! As you can see, growth over the last twenty years was mainly in undeveloped land, blurring the edges of the established centers of growth - Trenton, New Brunswick, and Princeton.
The last map in the series shows what would happen if we were to continue to build at the same rate to the year 2020 as we did in the past. The fragments of white space left on the 2020 map would be preserved or protected land. Otherwise this map shows full build-out. If we were to consume land at the same rate as we did in the past, the State's 2020 population and employment projections would not fit in this region. We would have used up all the available land before then.
Why Are We Growing? Growth pressure is created from at least three sources: 1) national trends and policies, such as the economy and immigration; 2) the State's assets, such as its location, infrastructure and educated labor force (the Census Bureau puts northern New Jersey as the fifth largest job market in the country); and 3) local assets (e.g., train stations, good schools). We would find it difficult, if not impossible, to change these pressures, even if we wanted to. So we will grow, whether we want to or not.
And when we do grow, we will grow according to the zoning that is in place. The low-density, single use zoning created for the automobile, will allow sprawl to continue, spilling over from our region into the more rural parts of New Jersey and into Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
Local officials can make changes to current zoning. The Regional Planning Partnership has created a new framework called Goal-Oriented Zoning. Goal-Oriented Zoning means mixing uses in centers, and includes aggressive downzoning in some areas, minor adjustments in others, and major up-zoning in still others - all to achieve the watershed, transportation, economic and equity goals of the region. These are the outcomes we all want. This is how to defeat sprawl.
Watch for Part 3 of this article for more details. Dianne Brake is
the President of The Regional Planning Partnership (RPP), a member-based
non-profit promoting growth management and regional cooperation. Based
in Plainsboro, RPP has a 40-member Board representing a broad range of
interests.
The Fuss About Zoning (Part 3)
This article builds on a previous report on a recent Cornell study of 25 growing metropolitan areas, in which it was found that large-lot zoning causes communities to sprawl up to 40% faster than average.
Goal-Oriented Zoning: To demonstrate the effects of zoning on growth, RPP has developed a computer model that calculates the impact of various zoning scenarios. The model calculates the build-out impact on traffic, pollutants and public costs. We call this model GOZ®, for goal-oriented zoning.
GOZ® demonstrates the impacts of two different types of zoning: zoning that is already in place, and a new kind of zoning we call Goal-Oriented Zoning. This new zoning is based on the State Plan's system of Planning Areas and Centers. Using this framework, we built a zoning scenario for our region, called VISION 2050, to test on the GOZ® model.
VISION 2050 zones the region for redevelopment of compact, mixed-use centers. These centers are zoned to allow housing to be built where the jobs are, in locations that could be developed as transit corridors, to increase travel options. Areas not in centers are zoned to achieve the policy objectives of each of the State Plan's Planning Areas, including very low densities for Fringe, Rural and Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
The GOZ® model demonstrates that the Goal-Oriented Zoning in our VISION 2050 scenario reduces the growth in traffic (housing is plentiful and alternatives to the automobile are viable), reduces the amount of pollutants put into the air and water (driving and impervious cover are reduced) and reduces public capital costs, compared to existing zoning.
VISION 2050 is a scenario. Appropriate zoning in the real world should always be decided within the context of both a regional and a local plan: a regional plan because regional systems - watersheds, transportation, and the economy - are bigger than any single municipality; and a local plan, because local government should look at their overall growth pattern within the context of the regional systems. Better still if the planning process, both regional and local, was designed to involve the community in choosing goals, reviewing facts, making choices, and testing whether or not the choices made are likely to create the outcomes desired. Sounds logical, but it is not how the process works today.
Dianne Brake is the President of The Regional Planning Partnership (RPP), a member-based non-profit promoting growth management and regional cooperation. Based in Plainsboro, RPP has a 40-member Board representing a broad range of interests.