Renew America Success Stories

The CCA State-Wide Comprehensive Land Use Transportation and Energy Initiative

Description

The Connecticut Conservation Association (CCA) is working to redirect transportation and land-use planning in Connecticut toward an emphasis on public transit and mixed-use development as a way to increase quality of life, protect open space, reduce urban and suburban sprawl and reduce pollution.

The effort is straightforward: redirect infrastructural spending away from roads that promote automobile dependency and toward mass transit systems. At the same time, implement an urban growth boundary that restricts suburban development and encourages mixed-use development around transit centers. If it is necessary for major commercial development to be located in the suburbs, ensure that they are clustered with other commercial and residential areas and are located very near a transit center.

This type of land use planning has been successful in limiting sprawl in Oregon and more recently has been adopted by Florida as a means to channel growth into existing developed areas, especially central cities, which have both a high minority population and unemployment rate. Development within the urban core serves to revitalize urban neighborhoods and protect the environment.

In the Connecticut area, traditional development along the Long Island Sound has damaged wetlands, river and stream banks and degraded open land that served to filter pollutants before they reached the Sound. It is the hope of the CCA that their plans to focus on infrastructural development of mass transit rather than roads will save enough money to pay for new sewage treatment plants that will help clean up Long Island Sound.

Program Highlights

Program Details

• Shift infrastructural development toward mass transit and away from roads.
• Encourage mixed-use development.
• Establish urban growth boundaries.
• Require that housing be located within reasonable distances from job sites.
• Require pedestrian and bicycle paths.

• Regional mass transit systems provide convenient, reliable transportation within urban regions and dramatically reduce energy consumption, air pollution and the cost of getting to and from work.
• Growth is contained within urban service boundaries so that open space, wetlands, agricultural lands and other sensitive habitat are protected.
• Because of the proximity of residential and commercial centers, auto commutes are more rare and shorter, reducing fuel consumption and air pollution.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The CCA is working with community groups and local and regional planning authorities.

Budget: Contact the program for the latest figures.

Community Served: The residents of Connecticut.

Measures of Success:

CCA has developed a public education campaign detailing the benefits of integrating land use and transportation planning as a means of controlling urban and suburban sprawl and its disastrous environmental consequences.

CCA has drafted planning legislation, the Connecticut Energy and Land Conservation and Development Act, which they are working to have introduced and passed.

CCA has developed a slide presentation to help education Connecticut residents about the benefits of stopping sprawl.

 

 Published: May 1997

Success stories designed by Mark W. Nowak

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