by Allison Arends and Gary Taylor
In the last Connecticut legislative session HB 6467, postponed the deadline for revising the State Plan for Conservation and Development (C&D plan) until March 1, 2011 which also postpones the deadline for recommending priority-funding areas. The bill also suspended the provision of the current law which states that municipalities must update conservation and development plans every 10 years or else they will be disqualified from discretionary state funds, allowing municipalities to wait until the state adopts the revised C&D plan so that local plans can be prepared to be consistent with the state plan. Finally, the bill requires the Legislative Committee on State Planning and Development to study how the Office of Policy and Management: “(1) prepares the State plan of conservation and development and incorporates specified growth principles in it, (2) applies the plan and these principles to state agency actions, and (3) integrates the plan with municipal and regional plans of conservation and development.” To better assist this process the bill defines “smart growth” as, “economic, social and environmental development that (A) promotes, through financial and other incentives, economic competitiveness in the state while preserving natural resources, and (B) utilizes a collaborative approach to planning, decision-making and evaluation between and among all levels of government and the communities and the constituents they serve.”
The bill also defines “Principles of smart growth” as “standards and objectives that encourage smart growth when used to guide actions and decisions, including standards and criteria for (A) integrated planning or investment that coordinates tax, transportation, housing, environmental and economic development policies at the state, regional and local level, (B) the reduction of reliance on the property tax by municipalities by creating efficiencies and coordination of services on the regional level while reducing interlocal competition for grand list growth, (C) the redevelopment of existing infrastructure and resources, including, but not limited to brownfields and historic places, (D) transportation choices that provide alternatives to automobiles, including rail, public transit, bikeways and walking, while reducing energy consumption, (E) the development or preservation of housing affordable to households of varying income in locations proximate to transportation or employment centers or locations compatible with smart growth, (F) concentrated, mixed-use, mixed income development proximate to transit nodes and civic, employment or cultural centers, and (G) the conservation and protection of natural resources by (i) preserving open space, water resources, farmland, environmentally sensitive areas and historic properties, and (ii) furthering energy efficiency.”
