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MARYLAND GOVERNOR CALLS SPRAWL 'IRRESPONSIBLE'

By Dave Bodamer

Gov. Parris N. Glendening

LAS VEGAS — Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening called on developers to stress design and density to achieve so-called smart growth in a manner that preserves quality of life while not sacrificing profits in the process.

Glendening’s firm and direct speech came at the opening session of Spring Convention here. The issue has become a hallmark of his two terms. Glendening, though, did not tackle it from a hard-line environmental angle, a perspective that has often led to equating smart growth with no growth.

Instead, he described how smart-growth initiatives — including tax credits and financial incentives — have worked in his state and suggested approaching it that way rather than with regulations.

"There are only two [growth] options for a strong, successful economy: sprawl or density," Glendening said. Unfortunately, when you ask citizens, they like neither option, he said. He appealed to the industry to use its resources to show people that dense growth designed well was the right course.

Addressing developers directly, he said, "You have the ability to tell people that with quality design, we can move forward with better growth. Too much development right now is — well — just plain ugly."

He then showed an image of a shopping center with a Main Street look which, according to surveys, is much preferred by people over the more conventional-looking strip center. Glendening, who was originally elected governor in 1994 and was re-elected in 1998, also approached the topic from an economic standpoint, arguing that states and the national government should follow Maryland’s lead and provide tax breaks or other financial incentives to encourage growth in existing communities or designated growth zones. He added that building in existing cities eliminates the necessity for taxpayers and developers to pay for new infrastructure that is needed when there is sprawl.

"I’ve been called one of the most progressive governors in the country, but this is actually a conservative idea," Glendening said. "The cost of infrastructure amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars wasted nationally. Sprawl is fiscally irresponsible." He used several stark visuals to illustrate his point. A series of maps from 1900 to 1997 showed Maryland’s growth patterns in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., corridor. The images illustrated how growth moved from solely around the two metropolitan areas at the birth of the century to occurring very far outside those two cities at its end. He called it the "amoeba that ate Maryland."

W. Lehr Jackson, principal of architecture firm Williams Jackson Ewing, Baltimore, said Glendening’s speech delivered a message the industry needed to hear.

"It’s about time somebody took a real hard aggressive position on this issue," he said. His firm has worked on urban projects for years, including the redevelopment of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and projects in downtown Toronto.

In Maryland, Glendening has created several programs to help propel growth in existing communities. The state’s programs started when his administration began questioning how it could help preserve Chesapeake Bay.

Since then the state has created a program under which it purchases the development rights or buys farmland outright to protect it from being developed.

In six years, the state has permanently put the kibosh on development of 214,000 acres of farmland and in the past two years has purchased more acreage than was built on. Other programs include increased funding for mass transit and relaxation of the state’s brownfield regulations to shield developers from liabilities. Reception to the governor’s speech was positive.

"It was bold to do it with this group," said Janet Marie Smith, the vice president of planning and development with Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Baltimore. The firm provides construction, development and project management services. "The brownfields program is a great example of what can be accomplished with the state helping to pay for site testing, cleanup and protect developers from pollution that they had no role in," Smith said. "It’s really terrific to see these things in place." Glendening told SCT following the session that he had no trepidations about bringing his message to a room full of shopping center developers, despite the industry often being identified as a prime driver of sprawl.

"It was very exciting," Glendening said. "It’s wrong to say that developers are opposed to doing the right thing. As I often say, developers are people, too."

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