Smart Growth in Montgomery County It is often said that growth and development can cut two ways. Growth can improve the quality of life by adding services, creating opportunity, and enhancing access to amenities. It also has the potential to drive disinvestment, reduce competitiveness, and degrade the environment. Businesses, community leaders, developers, and local governments need to work to ensure that new growth improves the economy and environment of existing communities. In building places, communities must build places people want to live in for what they are, rather than for what they are not. This is Smart Growth. Mixed land use and the preservation of open space are often seen as integral parts of any Smart Growth equation.
While some believe that citizen participation can be time-consuming, frustrating and expensive, encouraging community and stakeholder collaboration can lead to creative, speedy resolution of development issues and greater community understanding of the importance of good planning and investment. Smart Growth plans and policies developed without strong citizen involvement will at best not have staying power; at worst, they will be used to create unhealthy, undesirable communities. When people feel left out of important decisions, they will be less likely to become engaged when tough decisions need to be made. Involving the community early and often in the planning process vastly improves public support for Smart Growth and often leads to innovative strategies that fit the unique needs of each community. Most folks think we’ve grown too fast. What do you think?
Please join in on this conversation. I’ve been talking to county residents about our rapid growth for some time. I’m interested in having these important conversations because it’s time to work together. It’s time for our entire community to move forward and as an At-Large County Councilmember I will be excited to participate in this critical dialogue and decision-making! COMMENTS We should make the developers pay the full cost of the additional infrastructure necessitated by their developments. This county can't afford to keep subsidizing all the projects built by the developers, nor the campaign contributions (looking suspicously like kick-backs) that they give to the politicians who do their bidding. POST A COMMENT Previous Post:
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Growth can create great places to live, work and play -- if it responds to a community’s own sense of how and where it wants to grow. Communities have different needs and will emphasize some Smart Growth principles over others: those with robust economic growth may need to improve housing choices; others that have suffered from disinvestment may emphasize infill development; newer communities with separated uses may be looking for the sense of place provided by mixed-use town centers; and still others with poor air quality may seek relief by offering transportation choices. The common thread among all, however, is that the needs of every community and the programs to address them are best defined by the people who live and work there. 
