Towns
Cities and Counties have plans setting forth how an area should grow i.e. shopping
centers, new schools, housing projects and commercial, residential, institutional
or industrial development. Your Local Area Plan shows how anticipated growth is likely to affect quality of
life for current and future residents as well as visitors to the community.
A Quality of Life Growth Management Plan
What Is It public opinion
surveys show that the quality of life factors people view as being most
affected by poorly managed growth are: schools, traffic and various
environmental resources. Other quality
of life factors potentially affected by growth include: air quality; water
resources such as streams, lakes, tidal waters or wells; crime; farmland loss;
flooding; historic, archaeological and cultural resources; housing
affordability; jobs and a healthy economy; neighborhood street safety; open
space loss; park and recreation areas; placing incompatible uses near neighborhoods;
police and fire services; property value; safe places to walk and bike; scenic
views; shifting cost of growth from taxpayers to developers; shopping
opportunities; trees and forests; wildlife.
Quality
of Life Plans preserve and enhance anticipated growth
if they:
present quantifiable criteria for assessing the effect of growth on each factor
affected by development;
based on criteria that show how past growth has affected each quality of
life factor;
show how the effect is likely to change with anticipated growth;
propose actions that prevent a decline in quality of life and enhance
existing ones, and
provide factual basis for why these actions are likely to produce the
benefits claimed in the plan.
The following illustrates how the six components
of a Quality of Life Growth Management Plan would play out with regard to
schools. The quantifiable value for assessing school impact is percent
utilization - enrollment ÷ capacity. The planning area is served by four public
schools. First the plan would show current utilization at the four
schools. Enrollment is based on actual student count; capacity is based on
established formulas such as 20 students per classroom times the number of classrooms
in the school.
Next, the plan shows how enrollment would change
with the anticipated growth presented elsewhere in the plan. Many
developing areas see an annual population increase of about 1%. The 2026
enrollment below is based upon this average increase. Of course
enrollment reflects birth rates when tend to follow peaks and valleys.
The following table shows that at the end of the ten-year period -2026 -
overcrowding at the three schools will become far worse.
The Actions recommended in the plan for resolving this quality of life issue are:
1 build a new elementary school and 2 expand the middle school. The table
shows this resolves overcrowding.
School
|
2026 Enrollment
|
2026 Capacity
|
Utilization
|
Smith Elementary
|
501
|
535
|
94%
|
Lincoln Elementary
|
484
|
600
|
81%
|
New Elementary
|
515
|
600
|
89%
|
Washington Middle Addition
of 200 seats
|
1055
|
1100
|
96%
|
Jefferson High
|
1140
|
1501
|
76%
|
A New Plan for Your Area if your current plan
is about to expire or rates poorly based on the Quality of Life Growth Management system, we can assist you in carrying out
the outlined steps and/or conduct a community
workshop and assist you in formulating a planning strategy for your community.
Connect with Tema
for
Growth Management and Land Use Planning in Your Community
Knowledge Tourism
tema@arezza.net skype arezza1 arezza.org