Sunday, October 17, 1999
Bill would manage new development
Ky. sprawl a concern
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The buzz phrase is “smart growth,” though there is debate about what the words mean exactly. Nevertheless, the idea is spreading as fast as development in Northern Kentucky.
One Kentucky legislator is working to draft a bill that would define a smart growth plan across the state. Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, calls it “a blueprint for a new century of growth in Kentucky.”
Proponents say smart growth would:
• Preserve prime farm land.
• Prevent destruction of fragile environments.
• Decrease the cost of providing water and sewer service.
• Increase worker productivity as a result of faster commutes and less congestion.
“There is a sentiment, especially in the growing areas, Northern Kentucky and Fayette — all of these people are starting to feel that something is not right in the way we're doing things,” Mr. Wayne said.
“Cities are just not as liveable. Does it have to be this way? Do we have to have one strip mall after the other, 10-lane roads going every which way?
“All of these things are being criticized by our citizens and we're trying to be at the forefront with this legisla tion.”
Only 43 of Kentucky's 120 counties have comprehensive planning on a countywide basis, Mr. Wayne said. A combination of current low interest rates and a growing economy can increase the potential for growth problems, he said.
A statewide plan would help with consistency across the commonwealth and discourage haphazard development.
This legislation, which is being drafted as a bill, gives smart growth objectives and supplies a set of state, local and regional tasks to obtain those objectives.
Mr. Wayne said a committee is still working on the particulars, but that the legislation would encourage creation of planning commissions in each county by using incentives.
“It's still a local option,” Mr. Wayne said.
Upon submission and state approval of local comprehensive plans based on set objectives, and timely five-year updates, the state would provide incentives that could include community development block grants, money for capital and transportation projects and other state and federal programs. It would require that each comprehensive plan include plans for land use and preservation, including full service areas and limited service areas.
“These are not boundaries,” Mr. Wayne said. “We only want counties to limit their focus.”
It also would provide that family or prime farmland is assessed at existing use value rather than development value. It would establish and enforce a code of ethics for planning commission members, which would require, among other things, an annual financial disclosure by planning commissioners.
Some Northern Kentucky legislators, though, are wary of any state involvement.
Rep. Paul Marcotte, R-Union, said he applaudes the efforts to encourage local governments to plan but is concerned about state involvement.
“It would result in more regulations and restrictions on property rights,” he said. “And grants and incentives aren't free gifts from the state. They come from tax money.
“It's taking money out of our wallets. Limit state involvement in it. Let's have home rule.”
Sen. Dick Roeding, R-Fort Mitchell, said more government involvement in planning is not the answer.
“You get out into the rural areas and those people don't want planning,” he said. “I want it to be on a local level and a local basis where it belongs. I don't want to take any more property rights away from anybody.”
Environmental and planning groups disagree.
“It's a really excellent start to eventually controlling sprawl in Kentucky,” said Glen Brand, Cincinnati's public education campaign coordinator for the Sierra Club. “A statewide plan enables and helps local planning, first of all. (Legislation) would require that counties do planning. Not only that but it would assist them.
“You have to give people the tools to do the planning.”
Mr. Wayne says the most crucial aspect of the legislation is the team effort of state and local officials. It would allow local involvement in growth issues that doesn't usually happen.
For example, decisions on roads are not usually a part of a plan that involves local communities. That would change with this legislation, he said. Rather than the state mandating where a bypass would go, communities could help decide.
“That gives a real voice to the local folks that they don't have now,” Mr. Wayne said.
The legislation would also decrease the autonomy that water, fire and sewer districts now have.
“Rather than one agency doing something and everybody falling in line, everybody comes to the table to see how the rest of the community is affected.”
Although Mr. Wayne is hopeful, he remains realistic.
“Even a very good idea, if it's not understood well, is not going to go anywhere. We have a ways to go but we also have a lot of things going for us.”
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