Tacoma Chosen to Receive Smart Growth Assistance

Tacoma has been awarded a grant for free assistance from Smart Growth America. Tacoma is one of 15 communities selected out of a pool of close to 90 applications for the free assistance in implementing the principles of smart growth.

Tacoma’s application specifically requested a workshop and other support around implementation of LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) for the MLK and Dome/Brewery Districts as part of the South Downtown Subarea planning processes. By following LEED-ND processes, the City hopes to ensure that sustainability in all its forms is incorporated in the plans for the two neighborhoods involved.

From the application:

LEED-ND would help to ensure that all aspects of sustainability are incorporated into the subarea plans. It would provide a framework to set goals, measure and acknowledge progress and continue to brand these neighborhoods as centers for green development. We anticipate that LEED-ND standards would be considered for direct incorporation into the goals and requirements of the subarea plans.

In its application the City describes the issues posed by the neighborhoods included in the South Downtown planning process as “fundamentally smart growth questions – what is the vision of these areas, and how will the City realize that vision while addressing community and environmental issues.” The workshop and other assistance provided by the grant will serve as a framework for answering these questions, and for the incorporation of the principles of smart growth in the planning process.

The list of commonly accepted principles of smart growth sound like good things for downtown Tacoma:

• Mixed land uses
• Compact building design
• A range of housing opportunities and choices
• Walkable neighborhoods
• Distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
• Preservation of open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
• Strengthening and direction of development towards existing communities
• A variety of transportation choices
• Development decisions made in a predictable, fair, and cost effective manner
• Encouragement of community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions

These elements all sound like the kinds of things we’d like to see in Tacoma, and should reinforce the environmental and transportation processes already at work in the South Downtown processes. While all important principles, some may be more applicable than others. Encouragement of community and stakeholder collaboration, and strengthening and direction of development towards existing communities seem like essential components of the process.

What would you put at the top of your list of priorities?

Read more from Smart Growth America.

Previously on Exit133: LEED Neighborhoods in Tacoma?