Preserving and Enhancing Communities: A Guide for Citizens, Planners, and Policymakers

by Elisabeth M. Hamin, Priscilla Geigis, Linda Silka

Overview

This book starts from the premise that each community chooses its future every day, through the incremental decisions made by planning and zoning boards and other citizen volunteers, as well as professional staff. The challenge is to ensure that these decisions support the preservation of what is special about the community, while still fostering necessary and appropriate growth.

In this volume, twenty-nine experts from a variety of fields describe in very practical terms the "community preservation" approach to these issues. As opposed to the top-down regulatory mechanisms that are sometimes used to manage growth, the contributors favor a more flexible, locally based approach that has proven successful in Massachusetts and elsewhere. They show how residents can be empowered to become involved in local decision-making, building coalitions and expressing their views on a wide range of issues, such as zoning, water and land protection, transportation, historic preservation, economic diversity, affordable housing, and reuse of brown-fields. When done properly, development can enhance the sense of place and provide needed homes and jobs. Done improperly, it can generate sprawl and a multitude of problems.

Preserving and Enhancing Communities will be particularly useful to members of planning and other regulatory boards, as well as students of community planning. The book covers not just typical ways of doing things, but also the full spectrum of innovative and emerging practices. Each chapter includes illustrations and case studies, some from Massachusetts and many from other states. The volume concludes with a set of indicators that communities can use to track their progress in community preservation and enhancement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558495647
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	08/29/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Elisabeth M. Hamin is associate professor of regional planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Priscilla Geigis is the former director of community preservation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Linda Silka is professor of regional economic and social development at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction: Preserving and Enhancing Communities   Elisabeth M. Hamin   Linda Silka   Priscilla Geigis     1
Gathering Perspectives and Getting Involved
Getting Involved: Local Residents and the Planning Process   Elisabeth M. Hamin   Jeff Levine     9
Building Consensus: Coalitions for Policy Change   Kathryn Leahy   Andrea Cooper     17
Diversity: Multiple Cultures Forming One Community   Linda Silka   Veronica Eady     27
Thinking Like a Developer: Partners, Adversaries, or Competitors?   Robert H. Kuehn Jr.     39
Developing a Vision
Comprehensive Planning: Bringing It All Together   Steve Smith   Kurt Gaertner   Glenn Garber     55
Creative Zoning: Putting the Teeth in Your Planning   Jay Wickersham   Jack Wiggin   Glenn Garber     69
Current and Future Land Use: GIS Applied   Jane Pfister   John Hultgren   Christian Jacqz   Richard Taupier     91
Preserving Natural Resources
Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Protection   Sharon McGregor   Jack Ahern     101
Watershed Planning: Securing Our Water Future   Mark P. Smith   Brian Howes   Joan Kimball     121
Natural Land: Preserving and Funding Open Space   Robert L. Ryan   Arthur P. Bergeron, Esq.     133
Enhancing Community Strengths
Transportation: Linking Land Use and Mobility   Jeff Levine     153
Housing and Community Preservation: A Home for All   Toni Coyne Hall   Linda Silka     167
The New Economy: Thriving amidst Change   Zenia Kotval   John R. Mullin     183
Keeping the Best
Brownfields Redevelopment: Reconnecting Economy, Ecology, and Equity   Veronica Eady     195
Adaptive Reuse of Buildings: If It Is Already Built, Will They Come?   Robert Forrant     207
Historic Landscape Preservation: Saving Community Character   Annaliese Bischoff     221
Community Preservation: Residents, Municipalities, and the State Collaborating for Smarter Growth   Priscilla Geigis   Linda Silka   Elisabeth M. Hamin     231
Indicators of Community Preservation   Elisabeth M. Hamin     241
Contributors     247
Index     249