A planner, a developer and a land-use advocate walk into a … study

The National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, College Park, issued a report this week that concluded the smart growth framework that Maryland put in place  more than a decade ago has been insufficient and offered suggestions for improvement.

“Barriers to Development Inside Priority Funding Areas: Perspectives of Planners, Developers, and Advocates” was based on interviews with 47 Maryland planners, developers and land-use advocates. 

Why can’t Johnny walk to school? (Soon, he might)

State Treasurer Nancy Kopp, Governor Marting O'Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot.

In late October 2011, Maryland’s Board of Public Works – comprised of Governor Martin O’Malley, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp – approved a little-noticed package of regulatory changes for new and replacement public school construction that could help enhance smart growth in the state.

In 2002, the National Trust for Historic Preservation informed us, “Why Johnny Can’t Walk to School.”  This groundbreaking report highlighted how shortsighted school construction policies and short term cost considerations across the country undermine existing neighborhood schools

Governor O’Malley on “the war on sprawl”

Govenor O'Malley at PlanMaryland forum

Governor O’Malley discussed PlanMaryland with The Atlantic Cities blog, which describes itself as exploring ”the most innovative ideas and pressing issues facing today’s global cities and neighborhoods.” A sample from today’s interview:

PlanMaryland isn’t something we’re doing for current residents. PlanMaryland is something we’re doing for our children. If 40 years ago we had actually implemented a statewide development plan, you might have a very different state now. You’d have a very different Baltimore city right now. You’d have a Chesapeake Bay that’s not fighting for her health year after year. This is something we have to do in order for our kids to be able to enjoy a quality of life here, and be part of this living system called the Chesapeake Bay.

Read more of Eric Jaffe’s interview.

“The Upsizing of White Flint”

This article is featured in the October 2011 issue of Planning, the magazine of the American Planning Association

Jeff Peterson, a U.S. Navy nurse, phoned his wife Kristine to describe the apartment he’d found for them and their four-year-old son, Jack, in a spot just north of Washington, D.C. They had lived for several years on the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where frills were rare. So when he explained to her that the new apartment had a large, fancy su­permarket on the ground floor, she nearly cried.

Smart Growth is Not New to Maryland, Part 1

Brief History of Planning in Maryland

PlanMaryland is not the first attempt to more wisely manage growth, development, preservation and quality of life in Maryland. The evolution of planning in Maryland begins with the State Planning Commission.

The Maryland State Planning Commission was created by a special session of the General Assembly in 1933 – the first state planning commission in the country.