When you think cool communities, you might think of vibrant neighborhoods with great streets and parks, coffee shops, bars and restaurants, a variety of stores and other activities. But these communities also offer the opportunity to help reduce the warming of our climate, while reducing oil consumption and transportation costs. Where we build and how we build our neighborhoods will make a real difference.
Category: Transit-Oriented Development
Prince George’s County: Letter to Chairman of the Planning Board
We request that the board not approve the DSP as proposed but request a full revision of the “Commons at Addison Road” in order that ensure the project conform with transit- and pedestrian-oriented design standards in the Approved Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment for Addison Road Metro Town Center and Vicinity (ARM).
Fairfax County: Draft Plan for Tysons Corner Redesign
Fairfax County is in the midst of an evolution, where the focus for future growth will of necessity be transit stations and commercial corridors. Places that will evolve into mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable, bikeable and transit oriented communities. This is the best way to protect suburban neighborhoods, to accommodate population growth and changing demographics (including downsizing empty nesters and retirees), to address traffic, and maximize the energy efficiency and competitiveness of the county. We hope that the experience from the Tysons Corner process will result in new and enhanced public planning processes, and multidisciplinary staff teams for re-planning the commercial corridors of the county.
Montgomery County: White Flint Sector Plan
We would like to express our support for the White Flint Sector Plan and urge the Council and County Executive to support it too. We strongly support the County focusing growth here at a Metro station rather than new areas that require major new public infrastructure investments like the Gaithersburg West Plan, which we oppose in its current form. We need to make the distinction – we should focus growth around our Metro stations and revitalize major commercial corridors like Rockville Pike. Conversely, the great amount of development proposed in the Gaithersburg West Plan fosters sprawl, long distance commuting, increased traffic, air and water pollution. Overzoning Gaithersburg West undermines the redevelopment of Rockville Pike and Metro station areas – the very areas where we should be encouraging sustainable, transit-oriented development and great urban boulevards and streets.
Montgomery County: Gaithersburg West
We urge you to oppose the Gaithersburg West Plan. We believe that the major expansion in planned employment proposed in the Plan is detrimental to county residents and poses a serious threat to smart growth in the region. We urge the county to refocus efforts to ensure a quality growth plan for the White Flint Metro station area, and fostering employment growth at existing underutilized Metro stations and along transit corridors in down and east county locations. The Life Sciences Center (LSC) portions of the Gaithersburg West Plan proposes excessive density for the location–far from a Metro station, which will exacerbate the housing-jobs imbalance, and induce sprawl and unnecessary car traffic.
The Redesign of Tysons Corner: Streets, Buildings, and Public Spaces
Learn about the necessary ingredients to successful neighborhood design.
Maryland: Testimony regarding the Takoma/Langley Crossroads Preliminary Sector Plan
We support the vision of this plan — “achieve a transit-oriented and pedestrian-friendly community that celebrates and builds on cultural diversity of the existing and future residents.” We are excited about the coming bus transit center and future Purple Line stations. We share the county’s aspiration for this plan to spark redevelopment and boost economic development on outdated automobile-oriented strip malls; building higher density, vibrant, mixed use places that are inviting for pedestrians. We agree with the plan’s emphasis on the need to improve connectivity and create a compact, walkable environment. We believe redevelopment of key commercial parcels around the planned transit stations offers great opportunity to foster an attractive walking environment, with new jobs, businesses and housing.
PBS Frontline Documentary “Poisoned Waters” Featuring Stewart Schwartz
PBS’s Pulitzer-prize winner journalist Hedrick Smith exposes in his new Frontline documentary “Poisoned Waters” the damage being done to the nation’s delicate aquatic ecosystems like Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay. During his investigation, he finds that one of the major sources of the problem is our land use decisions and how we have chosen to grow. Low-density residential and commerical development built in the Chesapeake Bay watershed provide acres of impervious surface that send stormwater, laden with pollutants from parking lots and highways, rushing into the bay.
Stewart Schwartz, CSG’s Executive Director, leads Hedrick Smith on a tour of Arlington County and shows how smart growth helps protect the Bay by reducing stormwater runoff through redevelopment of parking lots into compact, walkable, urban communities. Watch the clip of the tour below, or see the full video on PBS’s website. Chris Miller, the president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, our partner organization, also comments on the options for our region during the clip.
DC – Support for Giant Rezoning in Ward 3
I am pleased to testify in support of this pedestrian-oriented mixed use redevelopment project. This is a wonderful proposal that is far better than simply replacing an old grocery store with a new one. Thanks to Stop & Shop for making the extra effort to create a truly smart growth project.
DC – Comments on the Brookland Plan
These comments were submitted to the DC Department of Planning regarding the proposed Small Area Plan (SAP) for the Brookland Metro Station. CSG strongly supports the redevelopment, but also offered suggestions for improvement.