Walton County Quality Growth Committee

Minutes November 18, 2008

 

Attendees:

Committee members and associates: Karen Paul, Margaret Street, Ross Street, Frank Hilton, Michael Paul, Relma Sharp, John Sharp, Chuck Bagley, and Laura Templeton

Members of the public: Chuck Leathery, Warren Furlow       

Karen called the meeting to order at 6:40 pm and made opening remarks. A sign-in sheet was circulated.

Relma moved to approve the agenda. Move was seconded by Margaret.

Laura moved to approve the minutes. Move was seconded by Frank.

Old Business

1. Planning and zoning applications review by committee: Karen has met with Mike and Charna. We will be moving ahead with this request.
2. Committee by-laws: Karen has received some comments from members. Please send additional comments to her by email or see her this evening.

New Business

1. Quality Growth Committee overview: Karen provided a brief history of the QGC as well as its mission and goals.
2. Introduction of guest speakers Jim Durrett, Executive Director, and John Maximuk, Program Director, of the Livable Communities Coalition (LCC).

Presentation: Guiding Growth & Development in Georgia

Jim Durrett began the presentation by describing the four basic principals the LCC supports:

1. Higher density, walkable communities where appropriate (in towns, at major crossroads); communities that offer a blend of housing, shopping, dining, working
2. Variety of transportation investments
3. Housing choices which offer something for all incomes and ages; housing that is close to employment centers
4. Careful use of water, sewer, and roads that already exist and that are planned; conservation of green space

Jim provided a Power Point presentation illustrating regular growth v. smart growth. In Walton County, because it is largely undeveloped, we have the option of choosing smart growth before development occurs.

Chuck Bagley asked about cooperation with GDOT. Jim Durrett said that in the past the GDOT had a suburban focus and was not very open to looking at alternatives. Now, however, there is a new commissioner who is creating a strategy which will allow for more flexibility.

Jim recommended that the committee order the following publication:

Ten Principals for Smart Growth on the Suburban Fringe, by the Urban Land Institute, 2004.

Two model communities were discussed in some detail.
Covington: Successful because of cooperation between county, city, school system, and water authority; budget cycles of different departments are the same; different departments meet regularly for planning; went through leadership training. Leadership is essential to accomplishing growth goals.

Decatur: Successful because or a “triangle” coalition between political, technical, and municipal management. Decatur has highest density of any town in Georgia but it is not felt. Good continuity in management has contributed to success. Started 25-30 years ago and have kept to their vision.

Jim introduced the LCC’s new publication, Guiding Growth and Development in Georgia. He will leave a few copies with us. Copies can be downloaded from their website at www.livablecommunitiescoalition.org.

John Maximuk suggested that there are three stages in QGC development: beginner, intermediate, and expert. In the beginning stages, the QGC should do the following:

1. Be experts on where we live; know the area
2. Understand the Land Use Ordinance. Break it down and compare it to the Land Use Plan. Is it consistent? If not, then make recommendations to bring consistency.
3. Make sure that the officials in planning are voting consistently with the Land Use Ordinance and Land Use Plan.
4. Develop a positive relationship with the county commissioners. Be a partner and help to develop a planning mentality.

In the intermediate stage, the committee should focus on communicating issues to the public by doing the following:

1. Understand smart growth issues. Read the available resources. Assign various members to read material and share what they’ve learned. Assign one or two detail-oriented members to really understand the zoning ordinances.
2. Take complicated issues and make them simple. Develop a way to communicate issues simply and quickly. Explain what smart growth is and what it is not.
3. Contact homeowners associations. Educate them on the issues.
4. Revisit the Smart Growth Toolkit (matrix) and Smart Growth Scorecard (Jim presented last time he spoke to the QGC)

After successfully educating the public and communicating goals, the QGC should move to particulars:

1. Work on developing “complete streets,” different from standard GDOT street planning. Details at www.completestreets.org.
2. Hold forums that bring department heads together. Act as bridge between different departments.
3. When evaluating individual developments, look at the area holistically. Evaluate how new developments fit into the larger picture.
4. Strive for fair and predictable property reviews. Increase the standards, but make it as quick, fair, and predictable as possible.
5. Look for quality / design excellence. Not just in how a project looks, but also in how it functions. Look for symmetry and contrast.

Who needs to be at the table to develop smart growth projects? Property owners, developers, residents and shoppers, local government officials, someone to facilitate (not one of above.) Community leaders / volunteers are a must. A critical mass of educated residents must come together to make this happen.

Walton County should be most concerned with suburban areas at this point. Seek at all costs to avoid subdivisions with houses on 1-2 acres. Instead, try for greater density with more common, preserved green space. However, sewer availability is an obstacle to this.   Must get sewer consistent with plan.

Jim and John strongly recommend training for citizen planners. There is a training session coming up early in 2009. They suggest 1-2 members of the committee plan attend. Also, subscribe to the Livable Communities Coalition newsletter which is aimed at providing information and resources. They are sent to Karen a number of resources for QGC members to use.  Karen will distribute to members.

Closing remarks were made by Karen. Announcement that December 16 meeting will be a holiday gathering – details to come.  Karen adjourned the meeting at 8:15 pm.