|
|
|
There are economic effects of the current system of development. Developers may purchase farmland for $2000/acre (about $5000/ha), get it rezoned for residential use, and sell it for $40,000 and up per acre ($100,000/ha). Somebody pockets that money. However, building fees and property taxes usually do not pay the full public costs of development. This will force cities and counties to look for other revenue sources or skimp on services. Mr. Dempsey favors mixed-use neighborhoods and infill development, with adequate consideration for the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. This should reduce the need for automobile travel, but maintain a high quality of life. He recommended reading the book, "Suburban Nation," by Andres Duany. —Report prepared by Wayne Luney, Recorder Viewing Copies of the PresentationYou can view a shorter variant of Mark's presentation in your browser by clicking on the link below. Note that, unless you have a DSL or broadband connection, you might want to download the PDF version and view it off-line with Adobe® Reader. Viewing the HTML version via a dial-up connection is slow and can be frustrating. The HTML version has 51 slides. You can also download Mark's complete PDF version of Smart Growth, which has 66 slides, by clicking on the link below. Note that left clicking will open it in a new browser window; right clicking will allow you to download it for subsequent opening. It's just over six megabytes in size, so the download time for a dial-up connection will be a few minutes. After opening the document (which will be in full-screen mode), use the left mouse button, the right arrow key, or the space bar to advance through the slides. Use the left arrow key or right mouse button to move in the reverse direction. To leave full-screen mode (to allow you to exit), press Ctrl+L. Note that Adobe Reader is required. If you don't have it, you can obtain the latest version by clicking on the icon, below.
|
Mark Dempsey is a citizen
activist with the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS). He is also
a former real estate broker. He gave a PDF-based presentation of charts,
drawings and photographs that showed the likely growth patterns in the
greater Sacramento area and his suggestions for responsibly handling
that growth. He spoke on the efforts of the Sacramento Area Council of
Governments (SACOG) to update its general plan to accommodate the one
million people expected to move here in the next 30 years. We shall have
to change our development patterns if we are to have a sustainable
society. Current development involves sprawl and dependence on oil. We
have large residential-only neighborhoods with layouts that make it
difficult, if not impossible, for one to conduct normal activities
without the use of an automobile. 
