Rational Planning

From Wikipedia...

The rational planning model is the process of realizing a problem, establishing and evaluating planning criteria, create alternatives, implementing alternatives, and monitoring progress of the alternatives. It is used in designing neighborhoods, cities, and regions. The rational planning model is central in the development of modern urban planning.

Three concepts of rational planning

The rational planning model concepts were created by John Friedmann. Friedmann describes the three concepts of rationality that have informed planning as:

Market rationality

Market rationality is described as being grounded in metaphysics of possessive individualism and which predicates the individual as existing prior to society. Society then becomes the mechanism that enables individuals to pursue their private interests. This prior-to status gives market rationally a quasi-natural character, and ranks it as being beyond human intention, thereby making its assumptions unavoidably compelling. From this perspective, reason is the means toward the maximization of private satisfactions.

Beans rationality

Social rationality is the opposite assumption, that the social group grants the individual their identity through membership in the group. Reason becomes the tool of the collective interest and functions as the avenue toward communal satisfactions.

A third concept

The third concept is a hybrid of the preceding two and seeks some middle ground between them. Friedmann identifies it with the realization on the part of capital that some state sponsored restraint was necessary to curtail the excesses of market rationality and provide for the public good. Friedmann calls this type of rationality social or modern planning. It is explicitly concerned with social outcomes.

Methodology

The three types of rationality that Friedman describes as structuring modern rational planning model are united on their reliance upon the methodology of empirical scientific investigation.

The distinctions that Friedmann makes allows the rational planning model to be used as a tool of social speech that creates it own processes according to the uses to which it is put. The rational planning model acts as a mediator between market and social rationality, and exists between different criteria of what is fundamentally rational.

The rational planning model has its origins in the scientific and philosophic revolutions of the 16th and 17th centuries, and in the social revolutions of the Enlightenment which gave public form to urban planning fundamentals and rational worldviews. The profession of modern urban planning is not based on the rational planning model; it identifies what planners have come to identify as rational and have come to an understanding of how the rational planning model affects an urban planner’s decisions. The modern style of urban planning is essentially the rational planning model in its ideological framework.

The rational planning model has also been called the classical rational problem solving process, the rational comprehensive method, the “policy analysis strand of conservative forms of societal guidance planning”, and “the ruling or normal paradigm that governs the practice of modern planning.” Although it has a myriad of names, it has a singular approach to problem solving. This approach is the systematic evaluation of alternative means toward a preferred goal. Once a goal has been selected, the prevailing assumption is that there are only certain correct ways of achieving it.

Six points of rational planning

There are six points to the rational planning model:

Verifying

Verifying, defining & detailing the problem (problem definition, goal definition, information gathering). This step includes recognizing the problem, defining an initial solution, and starting primary analysis. Examples of this are creative devising, creative ideas, inspirations, breakthroughs, and brainstorms.

Establishing evaluative criteria

Evaluative criteria are measurements to determine success and failure of alternatives. This step contains secondary and final analysis along with secondary solutions to the problem. Examples of this are site suitability and site sensitivity analysis.

Identifying alternatives to achieve goals

This step encloses two to three final solutions to the problem and preliminary implementation to the site. Examples of this are Planned Units of Development and downtown revitalizations.

Evaluating alternative policies

This step comprises a final solution and secondary implementation to the site. At this point the process has developed into different strategies of how to apply the solutions to the site.

Implementing the preferred alternative

This step includes final implementation to the site and preliminary monitoring of the outcome and results of the site. This step is the building/renovations part of the process.

Monitoring and evaluating outcomes and results

This step contains the secondary and final monitoring of the outcomes and results of the site. This step takes place over a long period of time.

Current status

While the rational planning model was innovative at its conception, the concepts are controversial and questionable processes today. The rational planning model has fallen out of mass use as of the last decade.

Sources

http://ewp.uoregon.edu/pdfs/wp2.pdf

We Are Watching

Did you ever get the feeling this is what Planning and Zoning are all about ? Remember planning is not zoning and zoning is not planning. Is our community any better off by the government taking the community's resident's property rights away from them for the false premise that it is for the communities good ?

•Remember in the 1926 Supreme Court case Village of Euclid v Ambler Realty Co. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of comprehensive zoning, only because, a planner and attorney Alfred Bettman submitted a "friend of the court" breif on behalf of the Village of Euclid, arguing that zoning is a form of nuisance control and therefore a reasonable police power measure. The court agreed. The court did not agree with the arguments made by the Village of Euclid that zoning should be used to protect the general welfare of the community.

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Six things you might not know about planning

I found this in a blog called Intermodality. Though this is about a concern in Houston,, TX, it is very useful for us in viewing Planning and Zoning in Lee County and how these two issues effect us.

Six things you might not know about planning

2008 started with a new development in an old Houston debate. Former mayor Bob Lanier and several real estate developers have organized a PAC to fight increased building regulations, speaking to city council and bringing in anti-planning speakers. It might seem as if old battle lines have been re-drawn, and we’re in for another zoning fight. But things are not nearly that simple. Here are some ways in which the usual assumptions are wrong:

There are more than two sides to this debate. In fact, I count four. Bob Lanier is pro-growth and anti-planning. The people fighting the Ashby highrise are anti-growth and pro-planning; they want new regulations to prevent new development in their neighborhoods. But many of the people talking about planning are actually pro-growth and pro-planning; they see Houston is growing and they want that growth to happen intelligently. And if you look hard enough you’ll find people who are anti-growth and anti-planning; they probably think that the problem is illegal immigration or maybe public subsidies for sports stadiums. It’s the anti-growth/ pro-planning people who are setting the agenda right now; a backlash against unplanned growth in established neighborhoods is leading many to want to stop growth altogether. That worries the pro-growth, anti-planning developers. But it also worries the pro-growth, pro-planning crowd. The thing to watch is who allies with whom.

Houston already has building regulations. Houston’s development regulations regulate how far buildings have to be from the street, how much parking has to be provided, how much green space there needs to be around buildings, and much more. The net effect is to limit density, increase the cost of urban development, and encourage suburban-style development. And while the city doesn’t implement use-based zoning, deed restrictions in most Houston neighborhoods do. Deed restrictions are actually more draconian than government zoning since they are so hard to change.

The Houston region has some of the strictest zoning in the country. Planned communities are called that for a reason. Every large suburban development in Houston has an extensive set of restrictions that govern the shape, appearance, and use of buildings. These are as strict as anything a government agency ever dreamed of. And suburban cities like Sugar Land has extensive government-imposed zoning as well.

Planning doesn’t imply zoning. Government agencies spend a lot of money on building things: roads, sewers, drainage, water lines, parks, transit, fire stations, libraries. These things are the infrastructure of growth, so where and how they are built helps determine where growth will happen. Harris County, the City of Houston, and the Texas Department of Transportation are routinely predicting and encouraging development by building new roads and new highways. They’re also trying to keep up with growth. But the agencies that build these things often don’t talk to each other. Simply coordinating the efforts of multiple agencies to avoid costly duplication and to cost-effectively support growth could go a long way.

Zoning doesn’t imply planning. In the perfect world of a textbooks, planners divide a city into zones based on some broad vision. In reality, zoning has to be tailored to existing conditions, and then it’s repeatedly changed based on the desires of neighborhoods and developers. The result is a mess, dictated not by a coherent plan but by whoever has the most political clout. These random and oddly specific rules often have strange results: there’s a new condo development in New York where owners can’t stay more than 120 days a year and no more than 39 days in a row since it’s zoned as a hotel.

Developers dislike uncertainty more than they dislike rules. Buying land and developing a building is a risky business: you’re making a bet that you can building on time and on budget and that the market is on your side. Regulations that are unclear, or regulations that require the developer to get political approvals, add to that risk. Neighborhoods often push for such regulations. But the irony is that neighborhoods benefit for unambiguous rules, too, since they mean it’s not necessary to mobilize and fight each new development proposal.

There is an intriguing possibility here. Conventional zoning is clearly imperfect, and so is Houston’s current regulatory system. Could we come up with something that’s better than either? Or will we simply re-fight old fights based on incorrect assumptions?

The Planning Tax

Here is a research/position paper by Randel O'Toole from the Cato Institute on "The Planning Tax", (The Case against Regional Growth-Management Planning) about whether Regional Planning was one of the exacerbating causes of our resent nation housing problems.

Form-Based Code

I found this article over at STREETSCAPES Online, a "James Hardie" site. I know that I have in the past posted about Form-Based Codes, but again, I believe that words say more about what we could have instead of what we are getting from our zoning. Please notte that inthe illustrations it states that Sarasota County adopted the Form-Based Code in August 2007.

Institute Teaches Planning and Development Professionals about Form-Based Codes

According to the Institute's definition, Form-Based Codes provide "a method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-Based Codes create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form primarily, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county regulations."

"Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The regulations and standards in form-based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only distinctions in land-use types. This is in contrast to conventional zoning's focus on the segregation of land-use types, permissible property uses, an the control of development intensity through simple numerical parameters (e.g., FAR, dwellings per acre, height limits, setbacks, parking ratios). Not to be confused with design guidelines or general statements of policy, form-based codes are regulatory, not advisory."

The coding process usually begins as part of the master planning process. It is often developed in what is referred to as a charrette, a weeklong brainstorming session involving residents and planners to determine what is desired for the neighborhood. A draft of the Form-Based Code will typically be created by the end of that intensive process, according to Peter Katz, President of The Form-Based Codes Institute (FBCI). "Once you know the plan, it's very easy to codify it," he says. In fact, Katz believes that writing the code during the planning workshop helps to achieve a better outcome. "Time can be the enemy of a great plan," he says, "I’ve seen great plans become watered down by codes that get drafted months and years later."

Exhibits from the Form-Based Code adopted by Sarasota County, Florida in August, 2007.
Source: Sarasota County, Florida

In Living Color
Form-Based Codes, in contrast to conventional codes, are closely linked to illustrative plans and colorful renderings that are easy for citizens to understand. The codes themselves are organized in a clear and highly visual format. (More conventional zoning documents consist of stacks of bone-dry regulations, mostly in text form.) Because such regulations are more user-friendly, the Form-Based approach makes it easier for ordinary citizens to see what the end result of a neighborhood transformation will look like—ideally resulting in greater community support for the project.

By literally sketching out a big picture view of the city, planners can also create a more harmonious block-by-block, neighborhood-by-neighborhood transformation from city center to the outskirts (some planners call this a transect), by designating the choice of building type, frontage type and streetscapes along the way. The codes also include carefully worked-out standards for sidewalk widths, street lighting, tree placement and more to help create more inviting public spaces for residents.

Assistance for Planners
For city planners pondering a break from decades of conventional use-based codes, a move to Form-Based Codes can be daunting. To that end, The Form-Based Codes Institute conducts educational programs around the United States, consisting of three successive courses: An Introductory Course, a Design Intensive Workshop and a capstone course on Completing, Adopting and Administering the Code. Katz, who teaches at several of the courses, says most of the attendees are planners who work for city and county governments, but that the classes also attract consultant planners, architects, developers and attorneys.

(FBCI will present its introductory course November 15-17, 2007 In Atlanta. Click here for details.)

Feedback on the courses has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Carol Wyant, Executive Director of the FBCI. Wyant says attendees appreciate learning the different ways to do Form-Based Codes and how to adapt them in different parts of the country. One student proclaimed: "We will be implementing FBCs in a section of our city and hope to do a great job of it. This served to clarify many issues." Said another: "The field exercise was great—it really set this conference apart from others."

Old School vs. New School
In his travels around the country, Katz has discovered that many cities that use 'conventional zoning' are fighting over issues, such as density, use and materials selection that "ultimately have little impact on the way a place looks and feels." He believes that other factors, such as how a building fronts a street or what percentage of the front of the lot is occupied by a building, are far more important to making a great place. By taking a closer look at Form-Based Codes, planners will find the implementation tools to help fight sprawl and spark new life in moribund neighborhoods. "There's a widespread sense that form-based coding is a viable regulatory approach that in some situations can achieve real breakthrough results," Katz says.

As one course attendee commented: "FBCs are a valuable tool that is now coming into widespread use. The more practitioners know, the more it will be used."

Eight Advantages to Form-Based Codes

1. Because they are prescriptive (they state what you want), rather than proscriptive (what you don't want), form-based codes (FBCs) can achieve a more predictable physical result. The elements controlled by FBCs are those that are most important to the shaping of a high quality built environment.

2. FBCs encourage public participation because they allow citizens to see what will happen where-leading to a higher comfort level about greater density, for instance.

3. Because they can regulate development at the scale of an individual building or lot, FBCs encourage independent development by multiple property owners. This obviates the need for large land assemblies and the megaprojects that are frequently proposed for such parcels.

4. The built results of FBCs often reflect a diversity of architecture, materials, uses, and ownership that can only come from the actions of many independent players operating within a communally agreed-upon vision and legal framework.

5. FBCs work well in established communities because they effectively define and codify a neighborhood's existing "DNA." Vernacular building types can be easily replicated, promoting infill that is compatible with surrounding structures.

6. Non-professionals find FBCs easier to use than conventional zoning documents because they are much shorter, more concise, and organized for visual access and readability. This feature makes it easier for nonplanners to determine whether compliance has been achieved.

7. FBCs obviate the need for design guidelines, which are difficult to apply consistently, offer too much room for subjective interpretation, and can be difficult to enforce. They also require less oversight by discretionary review bodies, fostering a less politicized planning process that could deliver huge savings in time and money and reduce the risk of takings challenges.

8. FBCs may prove to be more enforceable than design guidelines. The stated purpose of FBCs
is the shaping of a high quality public realm, a presumed public good that promotes healthy civic interaction. For that reason compliance with the codes can be enforced, not on the basis of aesthetics but because a failure to comply would diminish the good that is sought. While enforceability of development regulations has not been a problem in new growth areas controlled by private covenants, such matters can be problematic in already-urbanized areas due to legal conflicts with first amendment rights.

~ Peter Katz, President, Form-Based Codes Institute

For more information, visit www.formbasedcodes.org

Zoning Ideas from Elsewhere

From the Philadelphia Inquire, here are some examples of how other cities are rewriting and reviewing their zoning codes. The Philadelphia Inquire also had an excellent article about Philadelphia's changes in their antiquated and political charged zoning codes.
Philadelphia Inquire - Posted on Sun, Oct. 7, 2007

Zoning and Planning Ideas From Elsewhere

Miami – From sprawlage to village In Miami, a three-year project will replace the city's old, sprawl-generating code with a new model, called "Miami 21." The buzzword for the new code is "form-based." It aims to create compact, traditional neighborhoods with building forms that provide a coherent public realm. Famed New Urbanist architect Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, a Main Line native, argues that form-based zoning can retrofit Miami with the atmosphere of an urban village. http://www.miami21.org

Denver - Props for process Already renowned for its redeveloped LoDo (lower downtown) warehouse district, Denver launched a three-step regional planning campaign that is a model for citizen engagement. It started with Plan 2000, shaped by 11 citizen task forces. Next came "Blueprint Denver," a land-use and transportation plan. These set up step three, the zoning-code revision that is happening now. Throughout, Denver planners used listening sessions, open houses and a Web site to keep the public on board. http://www.denvergov. org/ZoningSimplification/HomePage/tabid/396395/Default.aspx

Boston - A custom-made city

Rather than allow politicians

to tweak neighborhood zoning at will, Boston invites neighborhoods to customize their own zoning district to match neighborhood goals. Intense civic involvement means this takes four years per neighborhood, with regular meetings of a citizen advisory committee guided

by planners from the Boston Redevelopment Authority. They've been at it since 1989, with immense public support. http://cityofboston.gov/bra/zoning/zoning.asp.

If these large metropolitan areas realize that they have zoning problems, why can the BOCC not be reviewing our zone mess? Where is our LEADERSHIP ?

Seven Reasons Why Government Planning Cannot Work

I found this post in the Antiplanner by Randal O'Toole and I believe it explains a lot about why planning as we know it cannot achieve it's stated goals.

“Planning is not radical doctrine,” some planners wrote soon after the fall of the centrally planned Soviet empire. “It is rational decision making.”

In fact, comprehensive, long-range planning cannot be rational decision making for the following reasons. I have discussed some of these reasons in detail in previous posts, and I will discuss the rest in future posts. But I thought it would be worthwhile listing them here.

1. The Data Problem: The amount of data needed to write a truly comprehensive plan is more than any planning agency can afford to collect. Even if collected, it is more than anyone, even with the help of computers, can comprehend.
2. The Future Problem: Writing a long-range plan requires information about the future that is unknowable, such as future technologies, costs, and personal preferences.
3. The Modeling Problem: All planning requires models, but before a model becomes complicated enough to be useful for comprehensive planning, it becomes too complicated for anyone to understand.
4. The Pace of Change Problem: By the time planners collect all available data and go through the public process of writing a comprehensive plan, conditions have changed so much that the plan is obsolete.
5. The Incentive Problem: Government planners who deal with other people’s resources, whether their land or their tax dollars, have no incentive to find the right answers because the costs of their mistakes will be imposed mostly on others.
6. The Political Problem: Ultimately, the final decision in any government plan will be made through the political process, a process which is hardly rational.
7. The Special Interest Problem: Any time you give a government agency the power to write plans for other people’s money and resources, you create incentives for special-interest groups to lobby in favor of plans that primarily benefit them. Such interest groups will not provide a balanced view; in particular, taxpayers will be underrepresented.

Any one of these reasons would be sufficient to make government planning unworkable. None of them can be solved by any technological or institutional improvement. Those who worry about externalities and other problems that planners purport to address need to find alternative solutions to their problems.

Zoning Road Blocks

Have you ever rely thought about how we got into the zoning mess we are in because of zoning laws. First let's check Wikipedia about Zoning. The planning sketch above illustrates why we have the traffic problems that plague our communities. If you look at the upper half of the drawing (sprawl), you will see that each development project must separately connect to the road. This means that for each trip to a different project, each car must go out onto that same road. It creates a system of non connectivity, which leads to total GRIDLOCK and CONGESTION. If you look at the bottom development (traditional town), your eye can see multiple ways to travel to you destination without every going on that one main road. And yet our planners who wrote these codes, seem unable to understand this simple concept, or do not have the political courage to find the vehicle to address this issue with the BOCC. And members of the BOCC complain about the traffic problems and the costs associated with the traffic. Then again, the BOCC seems able to think that the way to solve the problem is through moratoriums, zoning denials and the wonderful community groups that are having great input into a broken system.

There is truly, a lack of real VISION on the part of the BOCC. The real question becomes, "Are we happy with the status quo that so effects our daily life's?"

Why not put together a community road show in the form of a charrette to give the residences of the county options. Such as our current system (Euclidean), Performance, Incentive or Form Based zoning. This does not mean, creating more community groups under the cover of their having more input into their local community area. How does that work if the model that they are using is broken? Let us give the citizens of Lee County a chance to give input into a real VISION of what the county should become and not use the eighty (80) year old template! I believe as a society we have learned a lot in that time period. Just think, we have gone to the moon, and yet we are using zoning codes modeled from 1926. To give an example, look at a car from 1926 and than a new 2007 automobile. They look different. What about our zoning laws. The only thing that has changed, is that the staffs have learned how to make them more one sided (to create an advantage for the staff in reviewing projects and costly to the citizens, " The fox watching the chicken coop!"), restrictive (and not always for the communities best interest) and inflexible and slow to societies changes and requirements.

It is time for the BOCC to create a BOLD VISION and break with the past! The system is broken, let's fix it.

Smart Code

If the you were not excited with our proposal for the county to change to a "Form Based Code", how about a Smart Code as written by DPZ. Both of these alternatives are much better than our existing bureaucratic mess.

Here is the explanation from the first page of the "Smart Code" web site.

Welcome to Smart Code Central

The Smart Code is a model design and development code released by Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company (DPZ) in 2003, after two decades of research and implementation.

The Smart Code is the only unified transect-based code available for all scales of planning, from the region to the community to the block and building. As a form-based code, it keeps towns compact and rural lands open, while reforming the destructive sprawl-producing patterns of separated-use zoning. The Smart Code is designed for calibration to your town or neighborhood.

Smart Code Central collects all the important components of Smart Code planning in one place. We provide up-to-date files of the latest versions of the model Smart Code, we offer supplementary Modules and Plug-Ins, and we link to all the calibrators, attorneys, and town planners who do significant work with the Smart Code.

Smart Code Central is for everyone who wants to conserve, create, and complete good places — all along the Transect.

A One Page Vision for our County's Planning & Zoning

Let's try to create a one page Vision statement for our Counties Planning and Zoning.

1. Create a Shared Vision for the Future . . . and Stick to It

2. Provide Diverse Housing Types and Opportunities

3. Encourage mixed-use development: Integrating different land uses and varied building types allows people to work and play near where they live.

4. Use Multiple Connections to Enhance Mobility and Circulation

5. Build vibrant public spaces: Public places should be welcoming and well-defined linked green ways (pedestrian/bike)

6. Conserve landscapes: Open space and wildlife habitat should be accommodated and preserved.

7. Design on a human scale: Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities should be promoted.

8. Design Matters

9. Protect environmental resources

10. Staff accountability matters.

11. Make It Easy to Do the Right Thing

We will in the next week define each area of this Vision Statement. Even without the definitions, I can guarantee you that the results will be better than the existing 4" thick, three ring binder, open to any interpretation zoning code. It is a document of negative actions by defining what you are not allowed to do. Are any of us happy with the results of the current code?

Reexamining Our Zoning Direction

If you watch Lee TV and view the Zoning hearings you will start to notice that there is a consistent pattern of non consistence from staff's findings and recommendations to the BOCC. I believe it is called "political pandering". Staff should only be reviewing projects to make sure a project fits into one of the zoning cubbie holes that have been created in the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Use Maps by staff. Instead their findings tend to reflect what the higher ups in Community Development believe the BOCC growth leanings are at the moment. As I have stated in the past and have been told by staff, "...they are just reading the Tea Leaves" or maybe putting their finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. THIS IS NOT THE WAY WE SHOULD BE ZONING OUR PROPERTY. It is another form of TAXING the residents of the county. Remember who pays the bills for all the wasted time, energy and consultant fees...the rsidents each time the use, rent or purchase anything that has gone through the zoning process. In the end, you must ask, "Are you happy with the results from these zoning shenanigans??? If the answer is no, maybe the BOCC should sunset the process and a new form of zoning approved. I believe FORM BASED ZONING may be a better direction for the county.

If you go the the Form Based Codes Institute you will find a wealth of information and links to give you a through understanding of the process and why it is better than the arbitrary and arcane system we now have in place.

Definition of a Form-Based Code
Draft Date: June 27, 2006

A method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based codes create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form primarily, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county regulations.

Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The regulations and standards in form-based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only distinctions in land-use types. This is in contrast to conventional zoning's focus on the segregation of land-use types, permissible property uses, and the control of development intensity through simple numerical parameters (e.g., FAR, dwellings per acre, height limits, setbacks, parking ratios). Not to be confused with design guidelines or general statements of policy, form-based codes are regulatory, not advisory.

Form-based codes are drafted to achieve a community vision based on time-tested forms of urbanism. Ultimately, a form-based code is a tool; the quality of development outcomes is dependent on the quality and objectives of the community plan that a code implements.

Form-based codes commonly include the following elements:

•	Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated area designating the locations where different building form standards apply, based on clear community intentions regarding the physical character of the area being coded.
•	Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling the configuration, features, and functions of buildings that define and shape the public realm.
•	Public Space/Street Standards. Specifications for the elements within the public realm (e.g., sidewalks, travel lanes, street trees, street furniture, etc.).
•	Administration. A clearly defined application and project review process.
•	Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use of technical terms.

Form-based codes also sometimes include:

•	Architectural Standards. Regulations controlling external architectural materials and quality.
•	Annotation. Text and illustrations explaining the intentions of specific code provisions.

Square Lakes! Oh, So Natural!

I have always marveled at developers who seem not to care about the product or environment they are creating. I know that both the county and the SFWMD (South Florida Water Management District) regulate how much water a developer must retain on their site, but square or rectangular lakes? We can not really blame the engineers for their pure efficiencies in using every square inch of the property. Notice the perfect straight and curved lines of the lakes edges in the aerial above. For a hint of how "Mother Nature" would create a lake, look below the development on the left hand side. Not a straight edge to be found! So who is at fault for these wonderfully unnatural lakes? Developers! My beef is with the developer that does not go the extra mile. I guarantee, that in each case where you find perfectly drawn lakes, you will also find, minimum landscaping around the lakes edge. But yet, with all the code review and code road blocks this is what the residents of Lee County get when a project is approved. Second rate development and costly review which helps lead to increased housing costs.

68,500! Is This A Tax 2

Did you know that the Department of Community Development estimates that Lee County by 2025 will need 68,500 new affordable housing units. How does the County respond?

Here is an interesting idea for affordable housing and it does not require any fees. Very simply Granny Flats. Here is an interesting article about the Pros and Cons of Inclusionary Zoning from the winter issue 2007 of "On Common Ground" which speaks to the very issue the BOCC is discussing tomorrow.

My proposal is as follows...
1. No Fees
2. Give staff 2 months to come up with an overlay plan of where the county wants to encourage affordable housing. And what the maximum density that will be allowed in each area. The BOCC votes to approve the criteria.
3. (Here is the real incentive), if the developer meets the written criteria and correct location, they do not have to rezone the property. They go right to the Development Order process. Upon staff approval or denial of the D.O., it goes immediately to the BOCC for approval. (Since the BOCC does not approve the rezoning, the D.O. approval goes to the board for final approval.) A permit is issued directly after approval.
4. The process should be designed so that from application submittal to BOCC voting, it should take no more than (3) three months. (Remember time is money.) Instead of taking the years and a large number of consultants and time to rezone a piece of property as the current system forces everyone into and the false politicizing that staff uses for "red herring" road blocks.

I have always found that if you let the developers do what they do best (plan and build) and keep government staff at bay we will achieve the counties goal. 68,500 units of affordable housing!

Why Do We Get Poorly Planned Communities ?

The New York Times Sunday Book Review reviews Witold Rybczynski's latest book the Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-first Century, and Why We Live in Houses Anyway. Witold Rybczynski is an architect and professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has written 14 books about the history, culture and planning of our homes. His latest offering "Last Harvest" sheds light on how the public finally receives a watered down, designed by committee, not very livable housing development. To me, having gone through our zoning process a number of times, it is our government's duplicity that is at the heart of this process. I will be writing more about these hidden taxes (created in the name of protecting the public) and the playing of politics with the applicants project which does not further the cause of allowing the residents of Lee County to receive cutting edged well planned communities in later posts. When we look at the poor state of planning in our community, I believe the comic strip character Pogo said it best..."We have met the enemy and he is us!"

If you are interested in the "Last Harvest" please go to Amazon Books.

The Death Of The American Mall (But Not Suburban Shopping)

The Daily Green.com has linked to The Columbus Dispatch for a very on point article that is very close to our hearts since we now have "Coconut Point" and "Gulf Coast Town Center" along with the grand daddy Edison Mall. The Death Of The American Mall (But Not Suburban Shopping)

My thought's on a quick tour of both new centers, have been, "Boy, I sure do not want to have to walk these centers during the summer months." And then to add to the heat, they are broken up into the multi-use area and the "Big Box" area. All that this means is you can work up a sweat in the multi use "sort of" pedestrian area and then walk to your car to turn your "AIR" to high to cool down so you can drive to each big box store and walk across their large parking area! Talk about a pedestrian environment! You get to walk through the parking lots to walk along the "sort of" pedestrian street area. All of this walking is done in our wonderfully HOT sun!! Large shade trees, arcades and covered walkways not included !! If the owner's do not want to pay for air conditioning (global warming ?) that is ok. If you look at the history of building and planning, there are old ways of building BFAC (before air conditioning) that naturally cool people and nature has given us that wonderful living thing call deciduous trees. Amazingly, they have a built in system that knows when to let the sun in (ie. drop their leaves) and when to shade us, and it works for FREE.