Land trusts: the story behind the story
Here's Pat Burns' new blog on land trusts: Nature Noted. I like the premise:
There's an overwhelming amount of what could be called "face to the world" information about [land] trusts. But being an old TV guy, I also like to know the rest of the story. So I'm going to explore what's going on below the surface as best as I can, while sitting on the outside.
A suggestion for Patricia Pomerleau at CEOExpress: RealEstateExpress
PART 2. I hope that Patricia will build another reference website -- modeled after the marvelous ones she's already built* -- aimed at everyone in and around the real estate development business, including land conservationists.
It might be called something like "RealEstateExpress" or "DeveloperExpress".
The audience: developers, builders, architects, regulators, the public, and anyone else who participates in the development process, including environmentalists and land conservationists.
Along with other innovations like charrettes, a site like RealEstateExpress could help developers & conservationists understand each other better and work out better ways of developing -- and preserving -- land.
*CEOExpress
JournalistExpress
LawyerExpress
MDExpress
Two Cultures, the sequel: Developers & land conservationists
PART 1. In Hunt Valley last week, I went to a legislative breakfast on land preservation that brought to mind The Two Cultures, C.P. Snow's famous book. The gist of the book:
[the] breakdown of communication between the sciences and the humanities (the "two cultures" of the title) [has been] a major hindrance to solving the world's problems.
Conservation and development are like yin and yang -- you can't really do or even talk about one without considering the other. What struck me about the breakfast: of two or three hundred people talking about land preservation, there wasn't a single developer in the room, at least that I was aware of.
It seems to me that conservationists and developers don't seem to understand each other well enough. They seem to view each other as adversaries to be tolerated and kept at a distance.
Developers and conservationists need to understand and work with each other.
How can we get to that end? One way is charrettes.
If Jim Smith's Renaissance bill passes, "charrettes" will come to Baltimore County
The Sun has a good article by Lisa Goldberg today on charrettes and Baltimore County's Renaissance Redevelopment pilot program:
The idea of a charrette: Create a blank slate for a piece of property, then put developers, government officials and residents in a room together to pitch ideas, hash out their differences and come up with a plan they can agree on. By law, what the group says goes.
Since I ran this type of meeting professionally for years and taught others how to run them, I know a good deal about the ins and outs.
As with all tools & programs, there will be a few bumps in the road and the county will need to make some adjustments. But I suspect that charrettes -- and the whole Renaissance process -- are the right tools in the right place at the right time.
More from Goldberg's article (which I'll continue to write about in the next few days):
backers say they believe the plan will simplify and quicken the development process while ensuring that residents have a say in what gets built in their communities. County Executive James T. Smith Jr., who has made it his signature legislative proposal, said he believes it will help foster redevelopment of the county's more urban, aging districts.
Some people have concerns:
[some] worry that the process would favor developers over residents or that it fails to address real world obstacles to revitalization, including the extra costs of creating something new on old sites.
The Renaissance/charrette process may be the best path to getting well-designed mixed-use development:
Under the legislation, for example, land tagged for residential use could be used for offices or shops or a combination of all of the above so long as the community buys into the project. The bill requires a "consensus" - defined as at least 80 percent of community members who participate in the charrette.
Some history:
Baltimore County's legislation has been parsed, debated and rewritten since Smith introduced it in November 2003. Revitalization of the county's older areas had been a platform of his 2002 campaign for the executive's seat, and Smith translated the concept into his first major legislative proposal.
An initial concern:
[The first version of the legislation] quickly ran into opposition from community members who initially said they were concerned that the government would be giving too much away to developers.
Another concern swung in the opposite direction:
Later, some said they worried there would be too few incentives to encourage developers to take part.
Another concern that is important but resolvable:
Some community activists [wonder] whether developers will find ways to pack the charrette with sympathizers and skew the result.
One more issue:
The plan appears geared toward larger projects, leaving out the small-business man, said Donna Spicer, executive director of the Loch Raven Business Association and the Loch Raven Community Council.
This is a legitimate concern, but based on my experience, I know that it's possible make charrettes work for small projects.
Councilman Kevin Kaminetz (District 2) is supportive, but also a bit skeptical:
But the bill does not address issues that can prevent redevelopment, said Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville-Ruxton Democrat
It offers no new incentives to developers, beyond the ability to bypass the traditional process, and one of the larger problems in older areas is that the lots are small and shallow, he said. Larger projects often come with costly negotiating with several property owners to amass land, he said.
"The real issue is developers need incentives to locate in distressed areas, and the bill has nothing to do with that," Kamenetz said. Nonetheless, he plans to vote for the bill because it is another "option" developers can use, he said, "and if it works, I'll be pleasantly surprised."
Another plus for Renaissance: it' an alternative to the often controversial process of condemnation:
In Montgomery, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan used the county's condemnation powers to acquire land for a 22-acre mixed-use project. But in Baltimore County, where a proposal to use condemnation for redevelopment in some communities was shot down at the polls, the concept is a political no-no.
"Condemnation is not on the table," Smith said. "The voters have spoken loud and clear and recently."
More to come.
Water conservation: Arizona hotel picks low-hanging fruit
The Pointe South Mountain Resort hotel in Scottsdale put this card on Tom Peters' bed:
"You're Invited to Help Arizona Conserve Water. ... In an effort to further Arizona's water conservation program, we will be changing your bed linen every third day."
Peters notes:
Only 1 in 20 hotels I visit do this. Too bad ...
