Free Republic

This paper discusses the origins of the “Visioning Process”. This is not only a common land-use planning tool used in specific areas of our country, but it has become institutionalized by many local governments and non-governmental organization (NGO) activists across the United States, as well as around the world. It is specifically designed to build consensus from a diverse group of stakeholders. A brief explanation of the Visioning Process:  Elected officials and their staff see Visioning as an opportunity to get a better fix on what their citizens want from government.  Civic minded volunteers are recruited to this...

Churches give their blessing to 'New Urbanism,' a move toward small, walkable communities ___ Eric Jacobsen speaks passionately about things like sidewalks and storefronts. But he's not an architect or developer. He's a Presbyterian pastor. As Jacobsen sees it, city planning has an important influence on religious experience. He is an advocate for New Urbanism, the architecture movement that calls for interdependence among residents, with neighborhoods where shops and homes coexist, streets that are pedestrian-friendly and parks that are gathering places for residents. New Urbanism has become a mantra for people interested in restoring urban centers and reconfiguring suburban sprawl....

Christopher B. Leinberger is a man on a mission - a real estate developer who is building to reclaim the past. When not spearheading an ambitious redevelopment of downtown Albuquerque, N.M., he crisscrosses the country, trying to sell builders, planners and the public on converting the nation's sprawling, car-addicted suburbs into more compact, walkable communities - like the neighborhood he grew up in outside Philadelphia. At stake, contends the silver-haired, Santa Fe, N.M.-based developer, is nothing less than our personal health, and that of the planet. "The way we're building our suburbs presents such difficult problems," Leinberger said yesterday, as...

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (AP) - Summit County is considering a growth cap that developers warn could drive up prices and encourage sprawl in surrounding areas. The county commissioners may vote in November on a new comprehensive land-use plan that would restrict development to levels set by existing zoning rules. Elected officials said the public supports the policy. They said Summit County, home to several ski areas, is similar to other resort communities struggling to funnel growth to the core of the city and away from the fringes to prevent sprawl. But sprawl is what will result from growth caps, homebuilders said....

Andrea McGimsey sat at a maroon desk in a Sterling strip mall one recent evening and called a list of strangers to talk about sprawl. "Did you know our county is the second-fastest-growing in the nation?" she asked a retired sales executive named Daniel Fritz. And could she count on him to vote for incumbent county board Chairman Scott K. York on Nov. 4 because of his record on controlling development?

FLORENCE - Casino opponents went straight to the Oregon Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking justices to order Gov. Ted Kulongoski to terminate the state's agreement with a Coos Bay tribe to build a casino near Florence. Attorneys representing People Against a Casino Town filed a lawsuit with the state's highest court late Monday, bypassing the circuit and appellate courts that would normally hear such arguments first. Effectively, the "petition for writ of mandamus" asks the court to void the state's gaming compact with the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians on the grounds that the governor...