Quick Hits

by: commonweal

Mon Feb 22, 2010 at 10:12:27 AM EST

2. Downtown Griswold Revitalization -- Landscape architecture students from UCONN will spend part of the semester drawing up plans to revitalize Griswold's downtown after a meeting with residents next month.

3.  Farmland Preservation Conference -- On March 27th, Working Land Alliance is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a special conference entitled Plowing Ahead: Farmland Preservation in 2010 & Beyond. The event will provide an important opportunity to not only reflect on the past 10 years of farmland preservation advocacy in Connecticut, but also present an occasion to craft a vision for our cause over the next 10 years.

4.  Fort Worth Adopts Radical New Bike Transportation Plan -- The city of Fort Worth, TX unanimously approved the Bike Fort Worth plan.  The plan will increase the current bike transportation network from 100 miles to nearly 1,000 miles - 224.7 miles of off-street trails, with the majority of the network shifting to on-street:  1.4 miles of bus & bike-only lanes in downtown, 218.3 miles of sharrow routes, and a huge 480.3 miles of dedicated bike lanes.  The plan also calls for radical increases in the amount and quality of bike parking, minimum bike parking requirements in zoning, establishment of bike commuter facilities at transit hubs to tie into our bus, commuter rail, and planned modern streetcar systems, education programs for cyclists and drivers, new traffic ordinances to (among other things) require drivers to yield to bikes and to give at least 3 feet of clearance when passing, establishment of a city bike fleet for city staff use instead of cars in the urban core, establishment of bike counts, and much more.

5. I Dream of Trains -- Great op/ed by Ted Mann in the New London Day

***  REMINDER  ****

Third Annual 1000 Friends of Connecticut Smart Growth Conference on Thursday, March 18, from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. at 950 & 960 Main Street, Hartford.

A Few Things

by: commonweal

Thu May 31, 2007 at 09:19:49 AM EDT

1.  Please take the time to sign the petition at Stop Griswold Overdevelopment.  This virtual petition is to stop the development of land adjacent to Hammonassett State Park and protect the salt marshes, tidal rivers and Long Island Sound. The biological health and diversity of the state's coastal region affects us all.  This public land is threatened with irreparable harm by real estate developers from New York.  They propose to build a densely packed development of 127 residential units, mostly row houses and apartment buildings, directly adjacent to these sensitive tidal wetlands.

2.  As reported a few days ago, a consultant from Dover-Kohl was hired to tour the site of the planned River Oaks project in Simsbury.  As report in this morning's Courant,Victor Dover presented his report after his tour.  His recommendations should be heeded by all towns:

The current draft of the town's 2007 plan of conservation and development fails to provide the framework that would help a developer devise a proposal consistent with what town leaders want for the town.

He likened regulations to DNA.

"If you have good DNA, you get good growth," Dover told commission members and the crowd of about 100 residents. "With bad DNA, you get cancer."

None of the projects cited by Dover as examples of good mixed-use development at the more than two-hour meeting Wednesday included big-box stores, which Dover said don't promote the sense of community and walkability that new urbanist design strives to promote.

Dover said, residents and land-use boards should address how the project would fit into their larger vision for the town. "River Oaks has everybody exercised right now, but one way or another River Oaks will get resolved and another [project proposal] will come along," Dover said.

"Waiting until after the applicant shows up is a really bad way to do this," he said. "What you really need to ask yourself is what will you be when you grow up."

What's happening in your town?