Growing in Wisdom
Any number of groups logically could have organized last week’s conference on “smart growth.” Developers, housing advocates, transportation specialists, environmentalists, farmers, educators and a dozen other interests have much at stake in the search for wiser ways to accommodate Ventura County’s inevitable population growth--as does everyone who lives, works or does business here.
In fact, the all-day event was organized by the county’s Air Pollution Control District.
Why? Without new land use patterns that concentrate urban development, encourage shorter commutes and offer alternatives to wider freeways and sprawling neighborhoods, Ventura County doesn’t have a prayer of meeting federal air quality mandates.
Ventura County pollution control officer Dick Baldwin drew a big laugh when he noted that a dramatic one-year dip in a dirty-air chart coincided with the Arab oil embargo of 1975. That suggests that the current spike in gas prices offers an opportunity to encourage habitual motorists to try buses, trains and bicycling to work--options that work well elsewhere.
Other strategies were described by the transportation director of the Portland, Ore., region, where planned freeways were scrapped or relocated to encourage growth in desirable patterns, and the mayor of the Orange County city of Brea, where a highly successful downtown redevelopment was built on the idea that people would walk more if they had to.
Other speakers described how strategic investment of public and private capital can encourage desired growth patterns while earning a profit, and how spending money to repair and expand existing schools rather than building new schools in the suburbs can lead the way in reviving cities and combating sprawl.
The city of Ventura passed its Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) measure in 1995 and the rest of the county and most of its cities followed suit in 1998. Since then, Ventura County has become a key player in the national campaign for sustainable communities.
“We’re where slow growth is no longer an issue--it’s the law,” said Mayor Sandy Smith in welcoming some 250 people to the conference.
But no amount of legislation will prevent the county’s population from increasing. Between 1990 and 1999, 88% of the county’s growth was due to births rather than people moving in.
The only way to balance the needs for sufficient housing, economic prosperity, social justice and a continued high quality of life is through thoughtful solutions designed with all those factors in mind.