ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF LAND DEVELOPMENT
This year (1996) the LWV Natural Resources Committee looked at the issue of land development in Hamilton County and the surrounding region. We defined land development to include:
 redevelopment in urban areas, and
new building of residential subdivisions, shopping areas, or industry in previously open areas, whether natural greenspace or agricultural land.
In addition to economic and social issues, development or redevelopment has environmental impacts that affect the quality of life in Hamilton County.These impacts include water quality and sewer issues, air quality and transportation+.ion issues, soil conservation and hillsides, noise pollution and the effect of barriers to protect houses from the noise, solid waste disposal, and loss of scenic resources, wildlife habitat, trees, and agricultural resources.
The impact of development on water, sewer and storm sewer systems in Hamilton County is great. Clean water is essential for life, and is often taken for granted. Threatened by agricultural runoff and industrial discharges, water supply must be protected for people and wildlife. Worldwide, agriculture consumes 73% of off-stream fresh water, followed by industry at 21 % and residential at 6%. The average U.S. citizen consumes 70 times as much water as the average citizen of Ghana. Standard home toilets account for 40% of that use with showers and sinks using another 35 %. The fresh water on earth is only 5 % of the total water on the planet and does not increase despite the increase in demand by increased development and populations. Development also increases the demand on the already overburdened sewer and storm sewer systems of Hamilton County. Residential development in unsewered areas has contributed greatly to water pollution in Hamilton County as individual home systems fail or are not properly maintained.
Air pollution affects the health of many residents. It comes from burning gasoline in our cars, from igniting coal and oil, from burning trash, medical and other hazardous materials, and from factories. Transportation is the fastest growing source of global air pollution with millions of new cars on the road each year. Hamilton County has seen an increase in car ridership, created in large part by the expansion and development in the outlying areas. This has a great impact on the air quality of the county which is currently an ozone non-attainment area. Options being considered are High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on the highways, light rail and busways, and electronic Transportation Management Systems.
With additional development in Hamilton County, there is an increase in solid waste production. More landfill space is needed which results in requests for landfill expansions (e.g. Elda) and permits for new landfills (e.g. Bond Rd. in Whitewater Township). Options that have been suggested include sending Hamilton County waste to landfills in other counties or greatly reducing the amount of waste we create through pollution prevention.
These environmental problems will continue to increase unless governments and citizens begin to address land use issues in new and different ways. The rest of this paper will (1) describe local initiatives in Hamilton County to control the environmental impact of development and (2) look at long-term solutions being discussed at the national level.
LOCAL INITIATIVES
Currently, several initiatives in Hamilton County address community, concerns about the environmental impact of land development. These efforts are small, localized, and have not been well publicized. They are worth studying as demonstrations of current actions citizens can take i.n their own communities. They also are the seeds of what could grow into broader, long-term solutions.
Cincinnati Environmental Quality Districts
The City of Cincinnati. has created a zoning mechanism to protect its hillsides and other sensitive areas. Environmental Quality Districts can be created as overlay zones superimposed in specific geographic areas over the zoning regulations and Building Zone Map of the City.
In the early 1970's public officials and concerned citizens believed that there were critical areas in the City where customary methods of public regulation of development were inadequate, Cincinnati's hillsides are unique because of their underlying structure. They are the result of three glaciers which changed the course of the ancient Ohio, carved and remolded the slopes, scoured and refilled the valleys and deposited debris as they melted. These diversified materials have been effected by moisture, vegetation, weathering, erosion, chemical change and the continuing action of streams. They are unstable. Hillside development that added weight at the top, excavated mass at the bottom, removed vegetation or disrupted the balance of earth forces and soil strength by injudicious development on the slopes has caused disastrous landslides. In 1974 a massive landslide on the slope of Mt. Adams when building an expressway at the foot of the hill was the most expensive landslide ever to occur in the United States.
There are 23 hillside areas of the city which are part of the Zoning Code. Each Environmental Quality-Hillside District must have at least 50% of its area within one or more of these 23 hillside areas. So far, twelve Environmental Quality-Hillside Districts have been adopted by ordinance of City Council. Other neighborhoods could receive this protection. Citizens should review their community plans and work with the City of Cincinnati Planning Department to determine whether the establishment of an Environmental Quality District would benefit their neighborhood.
Zoning is accomplished through the exercise of' the police power of government. its goal is the preservation and protection of the public health, safety and welfare. A Zoning Code is designed to guide the use of land and the location of buildings in a way that will enable private development to take place in a manner consistent with the general welfare of the community. In creating the mechanism for Environmental Quality Districts in the 1970's, legal questions were raised about whether the prohibition of development in sensitive areas was constitutional or whether is would be a "taking" requiring the City to compensate the landowner. These questions were satisfactorily resolved based on constitutional law. Today, at the Federal level, the "takings" issue is being discussed, not as a question of constitutional right, but as a legislative issue. Should the government/taxpayers be required to pay a private landowner when environmental protection laws restrict the use of the property?
Government Purchase of Greenspace
The Cincinnati metropolitan area is famous for its extensive system of parks. Mt. Airy Forest is the largest park within a municipality in the nation (1,460 acres). Parks are increasingly important as recreation opportunities for citizens and as natural resources. The term "greenspace" has been coined to describe natural ("green") areas within urban landscapes.
Ohio law (ORC 505.26) now gives township trustees the authority to purchase land "not for purposes of recreation, but for the purposes of protecting and preserving the natural, scenic, open, or wooded condition of land, water, or wetlands against modification or encroachment resulting from occupation, development, or other use_" Anderson Township in Hamilton County took advantage of this provision and passed a levy specifically for the purchase of small "greenspaces" within the fast developing suburban township. The League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area actively supported the renewal of the Greenspace Levy in 1995. Would this non-regulatory method of environmental protection have value for Delhi, Colerain, or other Townships?
Another local greenspace initiative is the work of the Mill Creek Watershed Council. The Watershed Council was formed by Intergovernmental Agreement of 17 jurisdictions in Hamilton County. A Greenways Committee of the Council is working to establish a narrow band of greenways along the industrialized banks of Mill Creek. The greenways would protect water quality in the creek and also improve the quality of life of employees and residents who live in a steel and concrete world. Funding for the Mill Creek Greenways Project is part of Hamilton County's capital budget request to the state. The Watershed Council is also pursuing a partnership with the National Park Service which has an Urban Greenways Program.
Brownfields Redevelopment
Brownfields are abandoned industrial sites where redevelopment is limited by concerns for past environmental contamination of the property. Rather than locate new plants on these sites, industry moves out to adjacent rural areas and builds on "greenfields." The environmental and social impacts are huge. The inner city site remains abandoned and contaminated. Agricultural and open space is lost. Air quality suffers as employees commute long distances.
Brownfields have become an increasing national problem because of the hazardous waste laws which make a purchaser of property liable for cleanup of any past contamination. Ohio has passed a law to encourage voluntary cleanup of old industrial sites by offering a "covenant not to sue", if current cleanup standards are met. Bills are also pending in the Ohio General Assembly to provide corporate tax credits and grants for brownfields redevelopment (HB 440 and 441).
The Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Cincinnati and Hamilton County, is developing a Brownfields initiative locally. Brownfields redevelopment is one area where economic development interests and environmental interests coincide.
Collaborative Planning in Western Hamilton County
The adoption of Metropolitan Sewer District plans to install sewers in western Hamilton County has motivated a unique collaborative planning effort. The new sewer lines are expected to result in a rash of new development. The Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission is working with western-county townships, county government, and others to develop a plan that will include a shared vision for the west side, a set of benchmarks to mark progress towards implementing the vision, and a computerized system to help measure progress and evaluate different development scenarios.
In Ohio, decisions concerning the planning of public facilities like sanitary sewers, drainage, potable water, and natural groundwater aquifer protection are predominantly made at the local level. Since there is no state legislation that calls for local land development to be consistent with a Regional Comprehensive Plan, local planning is a web of as many as ten conflicting jurisdictions, each claiming priority. The attractive housing development, that soon begins dumping raw sewage into the nearest creek as individual treatment systems fail, is an example of local land development planning gone awry. Another is the township that passes an ordinance requiring larger lots for housing development in an attempt to slow growth. While this looks like a good idea, the more widely dispersed houses made sewer installation more difficult and expensive, and has a negative effect on the total environment. Planners today are recommending denser housing interspersed with protected open areas for less environmental disruption.
Regional Land Use Planning
OKI (The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council. of Governments) was formed in 1965 as a voluntary coalition of local governments in response to an increasing need for regional cooperation in planning, primarily transportation planning. OKI provides a forum at which member communities can present, debate, and resolve local issues that have regional significance. OKI also assists its member communities in developing, coordinating, and implementing a variety of regional plans which are the principle eligibility requirement for allocation of federal and state project dollars. Due to recent budget cuts, OKI is concentrating most of its planning efforts in a few areas, mainly transportation.
OKI is currently conducting two major highway corridor planning studies that could have a major impact on land use: the Eastern Corridor Study and the 1-71 Corridor Study. In addition, OKI will be creating a commission to address consistency between long range transportation planning and local land use policies. According to OKI, "Following its analysis of transportation-land use issues, the land use commission will examine ways to encourage land use patterns that promote multi-modal travel, and to encourage the efficient use of land, natural resources, and public facilities and services." (OKI Newsletter, October-November 1995) It is OKI's hope that, ultimately, local land use policies will be adopted and implemented which integrate travel by transit, walking and bicycling with automobile travel.
OKI is concerned about the steady growth in the number of automobile trips in the region. One measure of the average number of miles traveled in a given period of time is called "vehicle miles traveled." Vehicle miles traveled in the OKI region is projected to increase by 32.4% between 1990 and 2010; whereas the region's population is projected to increase by just 12%. OKI also reports that 79% of the region's workers drove alone to work in 1990. Today, there are few transportation alternative for the majority of the region's residents.
Land development patterns clearly have an effect on transportation patterns and on costs. Taking an example from Florida which is known for sprawl, new houses built on the fringe of Tallahassee can cost local government as much as $10,000 each just for road widening and expenditures needed to accommodate extra traffic created by long commutes. By contrast, the percentage of total capital road costs attributable to commuters from closer-in neighborhoods to jobs downtown runs as low as $571 per household. (Letter from William Miller, OKI Regional Planning Manager, to Helen Hunter, Feb. 12, 1996)
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS
Sustainable Cities Movement
Sustainability is used to describe the goal of integrating environment and development concerns so that the cumulative impact does not degrade natural systems or the human community. It is often defined as "long-term cultural, economic, and environmental health and vitality." The viability of the human species and our economy is directly dependent on the health and abundance of biological diversity. The UN World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as "development which meets the needs of the present without endangering the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
These issues are now being discussed at the highest levels. In 1993, President Clinton established the President's Council on Sustainable Development. This Council is charged with advising the president about sustainability issues and developing a national strategy for sustainability.
At the local level, many community coalitions are already studying regional population pressures, historic preservation, and agricultural conservation. Environmental thresholds have been established and implemented in an increasing number of American communities. These include checks on water quality, air quality, transportation, environmentally sensitive areas, wildlife habitat protection, scenic and recreation areas, and agriculture preservation. A sustainable economy is renewable in that it uses resources no faster than they can be replenished. Sustainable economic development strategies offer practical solutions to declining communities regardless of whether they are able to attract growth. A community can, in fact, develop itself without growth. It can create housing and jobs, expand cultural and educational opportunities, improve health and protect the public safety.
In some communities questions of limits are already being raised and eco-regions have been studied. Environmental thresholds are providing policy levers to address the issues of population., and consumption in a concrete, understandable manner. A community can establish its own environmental thresholds and begin to reverse current, destructive trends. These attempts are being followed by a Center for Sustainable Cites at the University of Kentucky.
In 1973, Oregon passed the first state-wide land-use law. By 1995, seven other states had adopted planning laws or growth-management programs modeled on Oregon's - Florida, New Jersey, Washington, Maine, Vermont, Georgia and Rhode Island.
At the municipal level, leaders include Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon. In 1979, Portland-area governments banned development outside a boundary ringing the city. Voters established the country's first elected regional government called Metro, and gave it control over planning for the 24 municipalities and three counties in the metropolitan area. "Because developers can't just pick up and move out to the cheap farmlands, we've had the leverage and incentive to redevelop areas," says Gussie McRobert, a suburban mayor and chair of Metro's growth advisory committee. In November 1995, seven cities in the Rocky Mountain region alone considered ballot measures calling for caps on building permits or other restrictions on growth; about half passed. (source Wall Street Journal, 12/26/95)
Local Carrying Capacity
(This section is based on the Sierra Club's Local Carrying Capacity Campaign Training Booklet.) Carrying capacity is the largest number of any given species that a habitat can support indefinitely without environmental damage. When a species exceeds a region's carrying capacity, the species either crashes, drastically decreasing its population or expands, crowding out other species. Humans have been altering the balance in nature and destroying other species to expand their carrying capacity for most of our history.
More recently, urban planners have enlarged the definition of carrying capacity to include the many variables inherent in man-made systems as well. Carrying capacity, therefore, may also be defined as the ability of a natural or man-made system to absorb population growth or physical development without significant degradation or breakdown.
At the local level, communities can apply the carrying capacity concept to determine the impact of human activities on their local environment, and to plot a course to protect the area for future generations. Population size and distribution, technology choices, consumption and land use patterns are variables that affect a regions' carrying capacity. Carrying capacity provides measurable conditions for living sustainably by setting environmental thresholds to prevent significant impact to the local region from resource consumption and population levels. Carrying capacity planning recognizes nature's limits.
Local Carrying Capacity (LCC) can be expressed as numerical "thresholds" for each environmental concern. These thresholds are defined as an environmental standard necessary to maintain a significant natural, scientific, educational, or economic value of a region. Many thresholds already exist: air quality, for instance, is easily measured - federal standards exist which establish thresholds for health and unhealthy air.
To measure sustainability, communities are using several different kinds of thresholds. Many can be measured directly by using official sources such as government data. Others may be based on physical indicators that citizens, non-governmental organizations, or business groups can perform. LCC thresholds can be presented to local policy-making bodies as essential policy guidelines for sustainable development in a community. Instead of looking at development proposals as an individual concern, the local carrying capacity approach advocates long-term comprehensive community planning to address all aspects of a healthy, productive community.
Ideally, thresholds can form the basis for comprehensive land use plans. Such programs recognize the need to preserve a variety of land uses and limit population growth. This enables a community to maintain the integrity and health of land use for continued economic stability.
April, 1996
Natural Resources Committee
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