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SMARTER GROWTH

Contextual Design Lends to Vibrant Communities, Healthy Landscapes

By Lucia Stewart, 11-13-07

Three examples of rural subdivisions. Top to Bottom: (1) Traditional subdivision where little special features are accounted for: 24 lots of 10 acres each, 0% open space. (2) Clustering design with minimum density and enhanced conservation: 36 lots, 40% open space. (3) Village or neighborhood-oriented design, 60 lots, 80% undivided open space.

Checkerboard subdivisions and fragmented open space spotted with homes is not a popular development plan for the Northern Rockies.

Owners dividing large tracts of land to create smaller lots to sell to buyers became widespread post World War II. This formalized method of expansion assisted in cities rapidly growing suburbs into surrounding farmland.

The problem: The old approach did not address the overall impacts and ignored the need for a comprehensive approach to planning communities – hence, it created rural sprawl.

The lesson: develop in town, or when it happens in rural areas, reduce the impacts through good design.

Through the Sonoran Institute’s research in Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies book project, the group has witnessed a remarkable renaissance of well-designed neighborhoods and subdivisions in the region.

As a follow-up, they hosted a Rural and Small Town Subdivision Design Workshop, with a hands-on approach for participants to use these discovered design practices.

“We want to present that they are not pie in the sky ideas,” said Dennis Glick, of the Sonoran Institute.

More than 50 professionals attended the workshop, including mayors, planning board members, developers, commissioners, finance officers, land trust directors and realtors from 13 Northern Rockies counties.

Each participant was prompted with new design practices through a hands-on rural and urban subdivision design activity, including the use of worksheets, site visits, discussions and evaluation criteria.

Since 1980, more than 100,000 new homes have appeared in Western Montana. The Sonoran Institute projects that if we continue at our current growth rate, by 2025, there will be an additional 100,000 new residences.

More strikingly, the number of acres developed in Western Montana has surpassed our population growth. Our rural sprawl compromises the very things that make the region so attractive.

If our current trends continue under the current regulatory framework, 500,000 additional acres of open space will be developed by 2025, said Randy Carpenter from the Sonoran Institute.

“However, concentrating new growth within and adjacent to existing communities and clustering new rural development could reduce the amount of land needed for this development down to around 33,000 acres with significant fiscal, environmental and even quality of life benefits.”

Rural development means more septic systems and wells, agriculture increasingly priced out and fragmented and wildlife displaced as our river valleys continue to be built up.

The fiscal impacts include a strain on fire protection costs, dispersal of capital improvements, increase transportation costs for both the homeowner and county maintenance that in turn, deteriorates air quality.

With many growing rural communities seeing cookie-cutter, low-density subdivision and larger communities striving to implement their growth policy effectively, conversations around design practices are essential to maintaining the local community values in the Northern Rockies.

“Is there a reason to develop a project that doesn’t enhance the characteristics of a place?” asked Ralph Johnson, a Montana State University architecture professor.

Johnson shared with the group two overarching principles when it comes to both rural and urban subdivision design: Design with the Community and Design with Nature.

“There is nothing new here,” Johnson said. “What we are talking about is rediscovering the historic character and development patterns of this region. How can we make the new as wonderful as what our forebears created 100 years ago?”

The process, he explains, begins with inventory, analysis and then design.

He emphasized that the context is essential and that gathering soft data — cultural and historical resources, major land attributes, viewsheds, public amenities — is just as important as the hard data — slopes, grades, hydrology, services.

And it’s immensely important to walk the site, discuss with previous landowners, year-round, and bring a tent — items that often gets overlooked with the use of Google Earth and maps due to the busy world’s speed, Johnson said. “But don’t underestimate the value of community value-based design, or soft data.”

When looking at urban design, Johnson suggested gathering inventory in the traditional historic neighborhoods, since those are often thought of as the most valued in a community.

How do they deal with street and block plan? What significant natural features or community services are adjacent? Any cultural and historical resources? How do they deal with storm water retention with parks or water conservation?

During the workshop, groups diligently explored a rural site and an urban site.

Each participant was grouped into a design team with individuals from counties dealing with similar growth issues, along with a landscape architect as the facilitator.

After inventory of the site, each team crafted an overall vision for the projects. What did they want to accomplish with each site? What community values and natural amenities needed to remain?

Then the physical design process began.

The volume level in the room rose and conversations rose above the din. Discussion of rural settings and urban setting, the values of the community and maintaining natural and visual resources vibrated the walls. Messy tables were covered with colored markers, notes and field observations.

To wrap up the day, each group made presentations on its rural and urban site designs and overall vision:

“Agriculture is the central pivot of this land, we’re leaving irrigated lands intact.”

“In Teton County, our delineated wetlands make ideal horse property, so we are requiring a horse trail capacity that links to the trail into town.”

“We are focusing on traditional family community and park trails connectivity.”

“When we checked for previewing winds…”

“We see it crucial to protect view sheds and enhance the natural resources of the land, and here is how we did it…”

There is more than one solution. There are options. Remember inventory, analysis and then design. Develop preferably in town. And above all don’t forget about nature and the community.

Now if only we could do something about the word subdivision…

Here are two resources that may assist (Links open PDFs):
Growing Greener: Putting Conservation into Local Codes, by Natural Lands Trust

Economics of Conservation Subdivisions, by Rayman Mohamed

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