Letter: How does smart growth work?
Letter to the editor
Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) says it is committed to ‘smart growth’ policies. So, what does that really mean? Since smart growth can be anything you want it to be, there is no wrong way to implement it. Smart growth principles seem to be more about pageantry than substance and can vary widely between cities; what is seen as beneficial in one city may be viewed as environmental degradation or gentrification in another. Additionally, the term is often used as a convenient euphemism for NIMBY and inclusionary zoning.
What is the official definition of smart growth?
Smart growth is a development and conservation approach that directs growth to existing, serviced communities rather than developing rural land. It promotes compact, mixed-use development, diverse housing options, and walkable, transit-oriented communities that are environmentally sustainable and economically efficient.
OOOKAY?!
I apologize for being misled into thinking there were only two types of growth:
a) Growth that is self-sufficient and offers multiple options for earning a livable wage.
b) Growth that results in a high demand for social services and excessive taxation.
Which American cities are considered the gold standard for smart growth?
AI Overview: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., Denver, and Arlington, VA, which emphasize dense development and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure to boost sustainability and quality of life.
Note: No tree is safe in any of these cities, and they’ve destroyed most of their wetlands, but they do develop density around their subway systems, so you can get by without a car.
Smart growth principles started being applied to these cities after the fact; they had already grown up, so to say they practice smart growth is somewhat of an oxymoron. These are not growing cities; instead, people are leaving them. I’m going to consider this AI search result as an example of AI hallucination.
Which Gainesville-sized growing cities are the gold standard for smart growth?
AI Overview – refined to small cities with populations of 150,000 to 250,000:
- Greenville, SC
- Major Employers: BMW, Michelin, and Lockheed Martin.
- Chattanooga, TN
- Major Employers: Volkswagen of America, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Unum, and several other large healthcare providers
- Boise, ID
- Major Employers: J.R. Simplot Company (agribusiness), Idaho Steel, Micron Technology, and Hewlett-Packard
- Montgomery, AL
- Major Employers: State of Alabama (10,315+ employees), Baptist Health, and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing.
- Savannah, GA
- Major Employers: The Port of Savannah, aerospace (led by Gulfstream), automotive (Hyundai Metaplant), and other manufacturing companies that provide strong industrial employment. Note: Savannah’s main source of drinking water comes from its section of Alachua County’s Floridan Aquifer. (Our aquifer)
Was this AI search a lie that told the truth?
The small cities identified by this search are violating several principles of ‘smart growth’ outlined in the Alachua County comprehensive plan. However, smart growth can be implemented in various ways if you can persuade the voters to support it. In this case, it seems that AI has been helpful.
Smart growth, Alachua County style
I believe the BoCC understands the need for a clear vision to ensure community well-being and long-term prosperity for all the citizens of the county. But the County’s high-density development plan for the western urban cluster seems to be a perversion of true smart growth principles, serving developers rather than reducing traffic or improving walkability.
The smart growth vision has been twisted to look something like the following:
- Go all in on transforming the area’s DNA from heavy manufacturing to healthcare by replacing freight trains with hospital gowns. Note: General Stoneman was an advocate for rails-to-trails.
- Incentivize developers to build density as though they were building to accommodate a subway line (waive concurrency impact fees).
- Embrace environmental policies that are sure to reduce the area’s GDP.
- Structure development impact fees in a way that picks winners and losers
- Replace the automobile with Multi-Modal Transportation Mitigation policies that will lead to everything being within walking distance.
- Put a positive twist on gentrification by having the voters vote themselves an affordable housing trust fund that leads to nowhere and call it smart growth. Very smart!
Where Nature and Culture Meet Finances and Smart Growth
The BoCC has prioritized culture and nature as key elements for maintaining the County’s financial stability in the face of rising costs. While nature and culture are valuable, they are not big employers, nor do they generate much General Fund revenue. Currently, students visiting the county and enjoying its amenities are not classified as tourists and are exempt from the Tourist Development Tax. The County’s smart growth model needs to close the “they came, grabbed, and left” loophole when it comes to tens of thousands of students.
AI Overview – Is there a downside to smart growth?: “Smart growth can have negative effects on local governments if not managed properly. While designed to improve fiscal health through dense development, potential negative impacts include reduced housing affordability, increased political controversy due to conflicting stakeholder interests, potential overloading of local infrastructure, and higher costs for public safety and maintenance in concentrated areas.”
Looking at how the County’s FY26 budget is structured gives me cause for concern.
Alachua County’s FY26 adopted budget ($944M+) is primarily funded by Other Sources (45.84%), Ad Valorem Taxes (22.99%), Charges for Services (10.57%), and Intergovernmental Revenue (6.49%).
The “Other Sources of Revenue” section in the budget is inconsistent with the principles of smart growth. Implementing smart growth that cannot sustain itself financially and relying heavily on ‘Other Sources’ for budget funding does not seem smart to me.
Anthony Johnson, eastern unincorporated area of Alachua County
The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. Assertions of facts in letters are similarly the responsibility of the author. Letters may be submitted to info@alachuachronicle.com and are published at the discretion of the editor.
The State sets the overarching concepts that local governments must abide by. Republican leadership has upended sensible policies of the Lawton Childs and Bob Graham era. REDISTRICTING will only accelerate the growth at all cost smart or not high speed train of development we are experiencing. Costing us long term residents since impact fees are never applied to new development.
Apologies for poor punctuation.
Local governments buy properties and grant conservation easements effectively reducing the tax base. They may be reducing the millage rates for properties but properties are increasing in value, thereby nullifying any potential tax savings. Throw on top of that the continually idiot supported 1 mill tax for schools and ‘vanity’ taxes for local politicians’ priorities over necessary infrastructure, and it’s clear local government has a far greater impactor on Alachua County’s cost of living than the state.
“smart growth can be implemented in various ways if you can persuade the voters to support it.”
Anything that is contingent upon Alachua county voters will be problematic at best, given the amount of coercion they get from the elite class.
“Smart Growth” would involve balanced growth around the major employers for a start. They have neglected to do that for decades.
The ‘gentrification’ is implemented in order to convert poverty pockets into expensive real estate. The local real estate cartel [usual suspects] buy up the cheap property in anticipation of the tax-payer funded renovation of the area. Follow the money…..BTW, you lost me with phrases such as ‘livable wage’….Look to areas such as Seattle for the economic carnage that occurs when ‘livable wages’ are proclaimed and enforced by statute.
Its United Nations plan, not a mandate from Tallahassee or US government.
It’s leading to new world order and one world totalitarian government…
our local governments have been corrupted.
Say no to vaccine passports.
They want technology in your body that determines your carbon footprint by 2030…
what was the survival rate for c19? 99.7%…what does that round up to? 100% “0h! People are dieing”! Did you ever hear anyone say take some NyQuil?
Say no to vaccine passports!
They want to end homelessness, end world hunger, end private property rights, implementation of CBDC, universal basic income, CO2 regulation, end climate change..
The writer ignored the Constitution and bedrock principles of private property. But even that is limited by what a bank would loan for construction costs. A bank will not rubber stamp like they used to before the 2008 financial crisis caused by Clinton trying to buy “progress”. The same idiot who started sending factories to China.
The county and city gov’t are like businesses, hoping growth will pay for itself. Citizens sit on planning boards to review any project deemed unusual or mega sized. For the latter, a developer must pay for needed new infrastructure, again approved by banks. They can sue the gov’t if citizen boards convince politicians to vote down projects otherwise legal.
And they cannot drain swamps as much as the ole days, either. Which also has a drawback, forcing developers to build on your groundwater source instead.
Smart, as an acronym, became a love child of the technocratic elite because, to them, it stands for:
Surveillance Monitoring Analysis Reporting Technology
Anything labeled ‘smart’ was created and marketed to PROMOTE A CONTROL GRID (ie surveillance today, control tomorrow). Everyone can have their own opinion about what ‘smart’ personally means or stands for but do not discount the top down ‘smart mandate’ that has been pushed on all of us for a couple decades now. Now it’s time for govt (or PPP as they say) to build more data centers…clown world timeline
And dopey local governments and citizens always go along because they do not fully understand the implications. We see people on the right backing these schemes and technologies due to perceived safety/security concerns and people on the left backing it due to perceived environmental and public health concerns. It’s just two paths to the same end.