Grow or die.
That's the gist of a 2004 study commissioned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority that asked: What would happen if we stopped or even slowed growth? The study concluded that even a minor slowdown could ravage the valley's economy. The report says the slowdown would begin in the construction industry, sparking a trickle-down to all industries, creating mass unemployment and poverty and forcing businesses to close.
PLAN's Launce Rake speaks about the impact of growth, and pro-growth public policy, on the Las Vegas community.
by MEREDITH MCGHAN
Grow or
die. That's the gist of a 2004 study commissioned by the Southern Nevada
Water Authority that asked: What would happen if we stopped or even slowed
growth? The study concluded that even a minor slowdown could ravage the valley's
economy. The report says the slowdown would begin in the construction industry,
sparking a trickle-down to all industries, creating mass unemployment and
poverty and forcing businesses to close.
"It's the fall that's going to
kill you," the report warns gloomily, saying growth shifts always hurt
communities. The authors claim Nevada's growth is already expected to decline
slowly and naturally over the next three decades, so nothing need be done to
stop it now.
But is sprawl vs. apocalypse really the choice we face? A
look around the country finds other cities considering controlled growth and
using better urban planning to stop leapfrog development, live within their
environmental means and provide sustainable transportation.
PHOTO BY BILL HUGHES
A bulldozer drops off a load of headaches and
frustration at the valley's edge.
WHY CAN'T WE JUST GROW UP -- LITERALLY?
We have to look no
further than next door. Las Vegas' neighbor, Boulder City, passed a
controlled-growth ordinance in 1979 that's still in place, despite some
alterations. The place isn't exactly a wasteland because of it.
"It took
a grass-roots effort to get it on the ballot. [The] City Council wasn't
interested," recalls Dennis McBride, Boulder City historian and curator of the
Las Vegas branch of the Nevada State Museum. Since the ordinance has been in
place, Boulder City's growth has been small compared to the Las Vegas Valley's,
whose population has doubled since 1994. Boulder City is up to 16,500 people
now; in 1979 it was closer to 12,000. "Many people think ordinances stop growth,
but they just keep it at a manageable level," says McBride.
McBride's
positive view of smart growth is echoed by planners in other cities that have
successfully managed growth, like Portland, Ore. and Boulder, Colo.
Karen
Kane, public information officer for Portland's regional government, says urban
growth boundaries are Portland's primary method of containing sprawl. Most
residents support the idea. There, Portland's regional government -- which
encompasses 24 cities -- put in place a sort of ring-around-the-region. Each
city has a growth boundary, too, that allows for 20 years' worth of
land.
Kane says Oregonians hate both sprawl and containment, and the main
disadvantage to containment is that it may cause housing prices and congestion
to increase. But the dismal picture painted by the water authority of a future,
growth-controlled Las Vegas hasn't become a reality in the Portland
area.
"We have a lively urban core," Kane says. "We have public
transportation, bike paths and a light rail. In 1990 we passed the 2040 Growth
Concept that will guide growth for 50 years. Urban growth boundaries protect
farmland and forests in perpetuity. Growth doesn't have to stop because of
boundaries. We grow up, not out."
Boulder, Colo., has a similar program
launched by the city and county. Susan Richstone, a planning manager for the
program, says Boulder's goals are to preserve certain areas' rural flavor,
control sprawl and promote contiguous rather than leapfrog
development.
"It's important to be on the cutting edge of
environmentalism," Richstone says. "Our transit network includes multimodal
corridors with bike lanes and high-frequency bus lines. We've designated where
community centers are, so people minimize their need to drive. Our neighborhoods
are designed to be mixed-use."
Richstone says there are no subdivisions
because growth has been channeled to Boulder. "The city has annexed and
developed parcels and has little land left. Now it's all about redevelopment,
deciding how dense it's going to be and where."
Critics of smart growth
in the Las Vegas Valley have says growth boundaries would weaken the economy,
but the opposite has proved true in Boulder.
"We're an enormous
employment center," Richstone says. "There are a lot of knowledge-based jobs
with scientific labs and the university."
Richstone says housing costs
have long been a concern in the Boulder area, but at $400,000 home prices and
rents less than $1,000 for a two-bedroom apartment, they're roughly equal to
prices here.
PHOTO BY BILL HUGHES
You don't like cranes? Then you're not part of the
culture of life!
A PLAN IS JUST A PLAN Las Vegas has a master plan as well, the
Las Vegas 2020 Master Plan -- it's just not well-known, and the community hasn't
had a say in it.
"It seems like long-range planning here is to let the
developers do what they want," says Launce Rake, communications director of the
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. "[The Las Vegas 2020 Master Plan] was
created with major developers, who have been setting public policy in Las Vegas
for a long time."
"That plan is just window-dressing," says state Sen.
Dina Titus, who in 1999 tried to implement a growth boundary, dubbed "the ring
around the valley." However, the Bureau of Land Management had already set a
disposal boundary, which remains in place for now.
"The disposal boundary
approximates Sen. Titus' plan," Rake says. "But now developers are lobbying to
extend the boundary for more development. The boundary was originally set to
protect species, especially the desert tortoise. But there is no evidence that
the tortoise is doing better; it's actually more threatened now. Why, except for
the vicissitudes of business, would we look to extend that
boundary?"
Longtime Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury is one
decision-maker in the Las Vegas area who advocates changing the way Southern
Nevada has been growing.
"The growth rate here has been relentless and
exceeded expectations over two or three decades," he says. "I'm not a big fan of
the kind of growth we've had. Several different government entities would have
to get together with a concerted plan if there is to be government action on
growth, but government has been known to mess things up."
DID YOU EVEN ASK US?
In Salt Lake City, the model of Envision
Utah! suggests voluntary action is one of the best springboards for starting the
conversation about smart growth. Envision Utah! has served as a model for about
40 metropolitan areas across the country, according to the nonprofit's Executive
Director Alan Matheson. But would it play well in Nevada, where our libertarian
streak makes us view government meddling with suspicion?
"Utah, like
Nevada, is a state that has a strong history of private property rights,"
Matheson says. "To address our growth challenges, we decided to go with a
public/private partnership." Envision and the state government got together and
looked at how different growth scenarios might play out for Utah in terms of
land and water consumption, infrastructure costs, air quality and housing. Then,
Envision gave the public a sort of multiple-choice quiz of destiny in a $600,000
newspaper insert campaign.
People could choose to: 1) to do nothing and
let growth continue; 2) to grow based on existing plans; 3) to implement
mixed-use housing and public transportation initiatives; and 4) to increase
urban density and create high-capacity transit systems.
It turned out
people preferred the third and fourth options. "This gave us the momentum to
start the Quality Growth Strategy, which listed six goals and 42 strategies for
achieving them. We wrapped that up in 2000 and are now working on demonstration
projects in different areas," says Matheson.
Matheson says Envision Utah!
respects people's values. "It's not about imposing a notion of the best
development patterns," he says. "We wanted to make sure it would grow out of
what the public wanted. We conducted community research to determine four
scenarios of what the region would look like in the future, depending on what we
do now.
Matheson says Envision Utah! has been so successful because it
was tailor-made for the state.
"It came from the people of Utah. It
wasn't an idea from back East," he says. "People are involved up-front. Our
intent has always been to show transparency so the public's ideas are reflected.
It gives people ownership because it resonates with their
values."
However, Envision Utah!'s process can be accommodated anywhere.
Areas working on their own version of the program include Washington, D.C.;
Austin, Texas; Sacramento, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; and Boise, Idaho.
Sally
Campbell, executive director of Envision Central Texas! says her community faces
similar challenges to Las Vegas.
"We're growing rapidly," she says. "Our
economy is good. We can't keep growing, though. We have lots of aquifers and
native species, so we can't keep sprawling."
Campbell says they finished
Envision in 2004. "Now we're trying to give the message that there are other
forms of development than sprawl."
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