What has a multi-disciplinary team, stakeholder
input, feedback loops, and a clear implementation plan -- but
is not a charrette? A different model for helping communities
get development that meets their vision: the technical assistance
workshop.
The smart growth program in the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) applies this charrette-like
model in the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program.
Through SGIA, EPA supports local, regional, and state leaders
that are trying to implement smart growth policies. EPA uses
a competitive process to select recipients with political will
for making smart growth happen and clear steps to implementation.
The assistance model is based on many
elements of the NCI Dynamic Planning process and the NCI charrette.
Through the SGIA program, EPA project managers work with assistance
recipients to identify key stakeholders, coordinate a multi-disciplinary
team of consultants, provide a three- to four-day on-site workshop,
and generate a feasible plan with realistic options to implement
the vision. This process has been key to the engagement of key
stakeholders and to the number of assistance recipients adopting
options produced during the workshops.
Over its first two years, the SGIA process
has generated more successful implementation of smart growth
policies than previous EPA programs with localities. The EPA
project managers and SGIA recipients attribute this success to
the Dynamic Planning process that ensures a dedicated project
manager, clear project vision, diverse stakeholder input, and
on-site solutions that are feasible within the local community.
Background
EPA’s smart growth program kicked off the SGIA program in 2005.
Two technical assistance programs evolved – one sponsored solely
by EPA, and one for coastal communities run in partnership with
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The
smart growth program selected SGIA recipients through a competition
designed to find local, regional, state, or tribal governments
seeking assistance on smart growth. Recipients showed the greatest
likelihood of successfully implementing smart growth. (For more
information about the program, see http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia.htm.)
The program has three primary goals:
- Assist local, regional, state, and tribal leaders who want
to implement smart growth policies but need assistance to tackle
barriers to development;
- Create catalysts for change by supporting projects that can
become regional examples of smart growth implementation; and
- Apply best practices across the nation learned from SGIA
workshops.
The SGIA model is based on a number of
sources. The applicant screening process was generated by the
Smart Growth Leadership Institute (SGLI) to select pilot communities
for its Smart Growth Implementation Toolkit (coming out in 2008,
see http://www.sgli.org/tools.htm).
The selection criteria help review teams to identify applicants
who have the political support to make smart growth happen, define
a clear project for assistance, and outline concrete steps to
implement appropriate changes. Through a series of pilot projects,
SGLI found that the likelihood of success increases dramatically
with recipients that meet these criteria.
The other major source for the SGIA model
is the NCI charrette. The Dynamic Planning process is integral
to each assistance project, both on and off site. The three-
to four-day workshop, although spending less time on site than
a full charrette, is preceded by months of consultant research,
stakeholder analysis, and partner development. The workshop generally
includes time to develop a local vision for the project, policy
or design alternatives based on the local market, feedback loops
to check in with workshop participants, and a final presentation
that is grounded in both the market and political contexts.
Applying
the Dynamic Planning Process
SGIA projects integrate the Dynamic Planning process in many
ways, but each project organizes around three areas: stakeholder
involvement, feedback loops, and a feasible plan. The SGIA project
in Houston, Texas, illustrates how these principles are applied.
This project was jointly sponsored by EPA, NOAA, and a number
of local organizations. (For this project’s final report, see http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/noaa_epa_techasst.htm#2.)
The local partners requested assistance
in outlining a vision for the selected light-rail station, Ensemble/HCC,
in partnership with local landowners and business leaders. The
vision needed to be grounded in solid market analysis and realistic
policies. By focusing on broadening stakeholder participation;
ensuring a set of feedback loops to engage landowners, citizens,
and local leaders; and basing policy options on a feasible market
and political foundation, the SGIA project expanded the opportunity
for transit-oriented development in Houston.
Stakeholder Involvement: Any
project talking about development in Houston, a fiercely independent
city of entrepreneurs, needs to be sanctioned by the private
sector. The local team, organized by Texas A & M University Sea
Grant and the nonprofit Gulf Coast Institute, invited the business
community, non-governmental organizations, and city agencies
to participate in developing the scope of work for the project.
These groups worked together over six months on conference calls,
data gathering, and small group meetings to ensure that all appropriate
stakeholders would be involved in the project.
By the time the on-site workshop took
place, the planning group had grown to include about ten major
entities, including the local business community (Main Street
Coalition), the neighborhood redevelopment authority (Midtown
Management District), the transit authority (METRO), a local
church, the Houston District Council of the Urban Land Institute,
and the city planning department. The EPA project manager worked
with the local partners to make sure that stakeholders not represented
on the planning group, such as the public works department and
local residents, would be engaged during the on-site workshop.
This diverse group of stakeholders helped
to ensure that a wide variety of views shaped the vision and
policy options developed during the workshop. The group also
helped the consultant team make sure that new ideas would be
vetted as soon as they came up – a vital piece of the feedback
loops.
Feedback Loops: The
on-site workshop had a series of short feedback loops. These
cycles helped the team reflect participant opinions as they developed
products. Each day, the team had formal and informal opportunities
to refine the initial vision for TOD at the Ensemble/HCC station
and develop policies that would be economically and politically
feasible in Houston. The feedback loops helped the local partners
discuss three major topics: market demand, TOD building types,
and policies for implementing the vision.
Over the three days, the team presented
its assessment of the market demand and feasible TOD policies
at meetings with public leaders, local business leaders, station-area
landowners, regional developers, city government staff, and the
public. This cycle allowed the team to test out the market demand
research and explore the “levers” that might trigger TOD at the
Ensemble/HCC station.
The feedback loops provided the team the opportunity to:
- present initial market findings and refine them;
- explore how Houston’s parking codes made mid-rise urban buildings
too costly to build; and
- gauge public and private acceptance of TOD parking strategies.
- explore opportunities for developers, METRO, and the city
to work together to improve the sidewalks and streetscapes
to support more pedestrians; and
- discuss politically feasible guidelines or ordinances that
support TOD.
Feasible Plan: Diverse
stakeholder input and quick feedback helped to illustrate the
TOD vision for the Ensemble/HCC station and identify feasible
policies for Houston to pursue in support of TOD. The policies
took into account Houston’s political context, its strong development
sector, growing interest in addressing codes for TOD, and market
realities.
A few of the policy options generated through the workshop include:
- Create a TOD district;
- Partner to assemble land around transit stations;
- Provide or provide for affordable housing at the Ensemble/HCC
station; and
- Catalyze joint-development agreements based on TOD design
guidelines.
Signs of
Success
The model is showing signs of success. The workshop helped create
partnerships that did not exist before. Houston’s transit authority,
METRO, is assembling land for TOD for the first time. It is investing
in two blocks at the Ensemble/HCC station to pilot the land assembly
policy. The two blocks will be sold at cost to a developer committed
to TOD. The city is funding a corridor planning process for the
next five lines of transit. The planning and public works departments
are working with a coalition of groups on new ordinances for
TOD parking and design.
There is still much to be done, but the
SGIA program and the Dynamic Planning process established a model
for success. The inclusive workshops and the feasible plans continue
to arm program partners with tools to succeed. As the SGIA program
begins its third year to support smart growth implementation
across the nation, it will focus on finding places with the political
will and diverse partnerships to make change possible. Local,
regional, tribal, and state governments demand support to get
development that meets their vision – technical assistance workshops
are one way to get there.
