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agreement on the designation of em urban service boundary that
<br />will include decades of urban growth, with some rural
<br />community centers outside the main city.
<br /> Santa Fe has experienced serious gentrificafion in its core
<br />neighborhoods, with sprawl in the outlying areas as lower-
<br />income families search for affordable housing. (A New Mexico
<br />columnist has called it "drive till you qualify"--for a mortgage.
<br />Of course, driving itself creates significant costs that aren't
<br />reflected in the mortgage.) In proposing a new urban growth
<br />boundary, the city suggests staggering development among
<br />%t.aging areas" within the urban area --astern?ting to achieve
<br />mixed-use, mixed-income development within Santa Fe despite
<br />the decades-long trend .toward subdivision and strip commercial
<br />development in the suburbs.
<br /> But achieving these goals will require zoning changes so that
<br />existing sing[e-use commercial and retail areas are gradually
<br />diversified. Like areas in California where zoning is being
<br />changed to encourage transit-oriented development within the
<br />urban area, Santa Fe will use zoning tools to assure that the
<br />creation of the urban growth boundary is effective. It will
<br />probably have to rezone some existing suburban shopping
<br />centers into transit-oriented mixed-use plazas, surrounded by a
<br />variety of uses and people of different incomes.
<br />
<br />Zoning as a Policy Tool "
<br />Most zoning officials would agree: Ex/sting single-use zoning,
<br />together with the lack of zoning flexibility in areas that have
<br />already been developed, creates one of several incentives for
<br />urban development to occur at the edge of the city. Even in
<br />places where UGBs and USAs are not being considered, there is
<br />growing awareness that old single-use zoning will need to
<br />change both to encourage more Livable, affordable development
<br />patterns and to make development more efficient and .
<br />affordable.
<br /> Single-use zoning has other effects as well. As David Rusk
<br />makes dear in his classic Cities Without Suburbs, single-use
<br />zoning can lead to separation of people and neighborhoods by
<br />race and income, and to increased social and economic
<br />disparities that may contribute to higher crime, school decay,
<br />and other economic and social problems in older areas. It may
<br />help create ri'attic, as people commute from residential
<br />neighborhogds to employment centers.
<br /> The public impetus for urban growth boundaries arises ac
<br />least in part fi.om the effects of single-use zoning. Does the
<br />public regret the wasted investment in our abandoned existing
<br />cities while sprawling across raw land in the suburbs? Has the
<br />public supported urban growth boundaries in some areas
<br />because they will lead to new policies, including zoning, that
<br />
<br />Zoni.[N~.: '~ ~ monthly ne-,~ener publhbed by ~e ~=~ P~nJng ~tion.
<br />Su~pdom ~ a~l~lc for $55 (US.) ~d $75 (~rci~), F~k & ~, ~dve Dir~o~
<br />~ ~ ~n, Divot of~.
<br />
<br />~. IL ~3. ~e ~ P~nin~ ~fion ~ h~ ~ ~t 1776 M~
<br />
<br />Prlnt~ on r~d~ p~r, [ndudlng 5~70% re~ded
<br />~d 10% ~nsumer ~t~
<br />
<br />will revitalize communities, strengthen neighborhoo&, improve
<br />existing residential and commercial property values, and provide
<br />more mixed-usc and transit options?
<br /> Thc ]ate-1990s UGB boomlct, combified with Vice
<br />President Gore's recent sprawl initiative and recent polling,
<br />indicates that the public is. concerned about fringe development
<br />and the revitalization of exAsfing areas. When UGBs or USAs
<br />are adopted, it puts' immediate and intense pressure on the
<br />existing zoning. Planning and zoning officials must convert to
<br />new zoning tools that will help accomplish the public's broad
<br />interest in capitalizing on existing assets, while improving the
<br />quality of life.
<br />
<br /> : Pegorts
<br />
<br />Who Owns America?
<br />Social Conflict Over Property Rights
<br />Harvey M. Jacobs, ea~ Univers'i~y of Wuconsin Press, 2537 Daniels
<br />St., Madison, WI53718. 19.08. 268pp. $19.95 paper, $50 cloth.
<br />
<br />The Takings Issue:
<br />Consfifutlonal Limits on Land Use Control
<br />
<br />and Environmental Regulation
<br />Robert Meltz, Dwight H. Merrlam, and RichardM. Frank. Island
<br />Press, 2850 F~ut Lane, P.O. Box 7, Covelo, CA 95428. 1999. 596
<br />pp. $50.
<br /> The literature e:~ploring the issue of property rights in the
<br />U.S. is expanding, as these two new books on the topic
<br />demonstrate. Of the two,'the anthology assembled by Jacobs, a
<br />professor in the urban planning program at'the University of
<br />Wisconsin-Madison, is somewhat broader in scope by adding to
<br />its range the popular view of land and the roles played by
<br />cultural and ethnic values in shaping those perceptions. Meltz,
<br />Merriam, and Frank, however, are leading legal analysts, all with
<br />considerable practical experience in researching and litigating
<br />this area of the law. Between the two volumes, readers could
<br />easily gain a profound, objective grounding in the single most
<br />crucial legal issue facing the planning profession.
<br />
<br />Clfles Back from fha Edge:
<br />New Life for Downtown
<br />Roberta Brandes Grass and Norman Mintz. Preservation Press and
<br />John Wiley &Sons, 605 ThirdAve., New York, NY lOI58. 1998.
<br />372 pp. $32. R5.
<br /> The authors make an impassioned appeal for the restoration
<br />of downtowns by describing not only the what, but the how, of
<br />downtown revival--the ability some planners and developers
<br />have cultivated to recognize what makes an urban space tick and
<br />what creates real excitement. Once they establish the context for
<br />thcir discussion, dismissing the common strategy of looking for
<br />a single big project that wilt turn things around, they turn to the
<br />b~sics involving the roles of transportation, retail competition,
<br />and downtown essentials such as public buildings and investing
<br />in people, Altogether, it is an easy, enjoyiblc, and edifying read.
<br />
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