Growing Greener is an illustrated workbook that presents a new look at designing subdivisions while preserving green space and creating open space networks. Randall Arendt explains how to design residential developments that maximize land conservation without reducing overall building density, thus avoiding the political and legal problems often associated with "down-zoning."
The author offers a three-pronged strategy for shaping growth around a community's special natural and cultural features, demonstrating ways of establishing or modifying the municipal comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance, and subdivision ordinance to include a strong conservation focus. Open space protection becomes the central organizing principle for new residential development, and the open space that is protected is laid out to form an interconnected system of protected lands running across a community.
The book offers:
detailed information on how to conduct a community resource inventory
a four-step approach to designing conservation subdivisions
extensive model language for comprehensive plans, subdivision ordinances, and zoning ordinances
illustrated design principles for hamlets, villages, and traditional small town neighborhoods
In addition, Growing Greener includes eleven case studies of actual conservation developments in nine states, and two exercises suitable for group participation. Case studies include: Ringfield, Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania; The Fields of St. Croix, City of Lake Elmo, Minnesota; Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, Illinois; The Meadows at Dolly Gordon Brook, York, Maine; Farmcolony, Standsville, Virginia; The Ranch at Roaring Fork, Carbondale, Colorado; and others.
Growing Greener builds upon and expands the basic ideas presented in Arendt's earlier work Conservation Design for Subdivisions, broadening the scope to include more detailed sections on the comprehensive planning process and information on how zoning ordinances can be updated to incorporate the concept of conservation design. It is the first practical publication to explain in detail how resource-conserving development techniques can be put into practice by municipal officials, residential developers, and site designers, and it offers a simple and straightforward approach to balancing opportunities for developers and conservationists.
Review Quotes
"These recommendations are both timely and useful for creating a future of greener existing communities as well as that of greener future community growth." International Institute of Site Planning, IN SITU
"Through such an introspective review, a community will be better equipped to refine its land use provisions to direct growth along a socially, economically, and environmentally desirable path…. Growing Greener is an excellent reference for local planners." Journal of the American Planning Association
Contents
Foreword: The Growing Greener Program Preface: Designing Land Development from a Bird's Perspective (among Others) Introduction: How This Book Can Help You
Chapter 1. Context Chapter 2. How Your Community Can Choose Its Own Future Chapter 3. Comprehensive Plan Update Chapter 4. Conservation Zoning Techniques Chapter 5. Conservation Subdivisions: Application Documents, Design Process, and Conservation Land Design Standards Chapter 6. Benefits of Conservation Planning and Design Chapter 7. Examples of Subdivisions with Substantial Conservation Areas -Design Exercise 1: Community-Wide Map of Potential Conservation Lands -Design Exercise 2: Laying Out a Conservation Subdivision
Appendix 1: Frequently Asked Questions about Conservation Subdivision Design Appendix 2: Model Comprehensive Plan Language Appendix 3: Model Ordinance Language for Conservation Subdivisions Suggested Further Reading Index
