The Third Way & Smart Growth
GOVERNOR JAMES H. DOUGLAS
State of Vermont
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Smart Growth is the Vermont Way
Thursday, October 9, 2003
INTRO
It is a pleasure to be here this morning. I want to take a moment to
thank Beth Humstone and the Forum on Sprawl for taking time to brief
my office on the details of the report that you will be reviewing today.
This report reflects both the relative success that Vermont has had
in advancing sustainable growth policy and does indicate some areas
where we can make improvements.
Vermonters have a long and patient history of making careful, considered decisions to guide our future. Our deep love of this land, and our intimate communities is passed down from generation to generation and passed on to those who move to this wonderful state.
Some of you have heard me discuss the third way-the Vermont way-before. The third way is an alternative public policy framework that envelops the different way we do things in Vermont versus other states, or even the federal government.
The Vermont way is first and foremost about people. It is about their economic security, their health and their way of life. It is about ensuring every Vermonter who wants to can enjoy Vermont's hills and valleys, lakes and streams, our forests and fields without worrying that their next paycheck will be their last. It's about protecting our air and water from pollution so that our children can grow up healthy.
It is not left of center, nor is it right of center--it is the center. The Vermont Way is about escaping rigid, doctrinaire philosophies that demand unyielding allegiance to one special interest or another, and employing a balanced, common sense philosophy that is in the best interests of everyone.
It is the guiding public policy philosophy of my administration. And it applies as much to healthcare and education as it does to job creation and environmental protection.
To me, policies that cultivate responsible economic and community growth-policies that balance our need for more and better paying jobs with our deeply imbued environmental ethic-may in today's policy jargon be dubbed Smart Growth, but in many ways are just the natural evolution of the Vermont way.
VERMONT EMBODIES THE SMART GROWTH IMAGE
When we travel around our state, we all see that Vermont in many areas
and in many ways embodies the principles of Smart Growth. Our communities-by
and large-are pedestrian-friendly with a lively mix of uses including
housing, business, shops, and open spaces. Vermont's vibrant downtowns
and villages are the very places that many people visualize when they
envision the ideal, healthy, livable community. It's this vision that
brings many folks here to live. And it is this vision that attracts
visitors and their commerce to our state.
Clearly, much of our historical land use patterns were driven by the unique geological features of this state, but more recently, our success in this area can be attributed to state policy that supports smart growth. But this is not something that government has done, can do, or should do alone. Our smart growth efforts in Vermont have benefited from terrific support from citizens, business leaders, and organizations like the Forum, working together to help Vermont grow smarter.
I believe that by working together we will be able to maintain our historic settlement patterns of compact villages and urban centers separated by rural countryside. And I intend to advance and support policy that supports this vision for land use. In fact, in the very near future I will have a very exciting announcement to make regarding coordination of our efforts to support these land use policies.
BROWNFIELDS
In just 9 short months, my administration has taken other steps to combat
sprawl. Last spring, for example, I announced an initiative that exemplifies
the third way.
Throughout Vermont are abandoned or underutilized industrial sites where redevelopment is difficult because of the presence of hazardous pollutants.
It is important that we cleanup these sites, known as brownfields,
both to improve the environment and so they can be used in our continuing
economic development efforts.
By encouraging the redevelopment of brownfields, we can reduce sprawl
by utilizing existing structures to their best advantage, clean up contamination
to protect or groundwater, and get properties back on the tax roles.
It is the Vermont way to salvage and squeeze value out of what we have
to reduce waste and unnecessary costs.
Restorative development is an important part of my economic development strategy.
Vermont also continues to seek federal funding to assess and clean up contaminated sites around the state. In addition, we are exploring, along with private sector stakeholders, options for providing developers and other businesses access to liability management tools including environmental liability insurance and other environmental liability so that companies willing to redevelop brownfields will have the comfort of knowing that their financial exposure will not be open-ended.
We are pleased to be working closely with the General Assembly on a number of legislative proposals that make sense. These legislative ideas include liability protection for municipalities who take property involuntarily; modification of eligibility requirements for the Brownfields Revitalization Fund so that petroleum sites may be included; an exemption from the tax on hazardous wastes for materials generated in accordance with an approved cleanup plan at these sites; and providing that the Secretary may not continually readjust the requirements of a corrective action plan.
We are also pursuing additional administrative measures including being more aggressive in enforcement against those who abandon contaminated property, providing technical assistance to communities in developing brownfields reclamation plans, and customizing clean-up plans to the intended use of the site, while ensuring protection of human health and the environment.
The goal of these initiatives is to develop a Brownfields program that provides a predictable, understandable, appropriate and timely process for rehabilitating commercial properties without any negative impact on the environment. That is the third way.
VERMONTS DOWNTOWN PROGRAM
Another of Vermont's success stories is our Downtown Program. This program
established downtown revitalization as a priority for state investments
in infrastructure, housing, and economic and community development.
In order for a community to achieve Downtown Designation and be eligible
for funds, community leaders, business, and cultural organizations must
form partnerships and develop a program for implementation of their
revitalization plan. The state as a partner in this process has made
grants and tax credits available to our designated downtowns, and has
given priority to all state funding programs to designated downtowns.
Here in Burlington, you can see for yourself that this statewide program has made a dramatic difference in our downtowns. Funding from this program helped to build the parking garage behind the Radisson that made Filenes possible; across the street the state has supported park improvements that front the new Main Street Landing, a multi-million dollar, mixed use development; state downtown funds have also funded a street extension for the 40 units of new affordable housing on Lake Street and two building rehabilitation projects on Church St. It's fair to say that many of these accomplishments could not have been achieved with out support from our Downtown program.
To date, 14 other downtowns have received state designation and the state has invested more than $23 million in resources to help revitalize these downtowns and fight sprawl. And I see the momentum building, with a high level of investment in our historic buildings, new banks in Windsor and Barre, new housing in St. Johnsbury and new commercial redevelopment in Burlington, Montpelier and Brattleboro.
It is particularly impressive when you consider that just five years
ago there was almost no new revitalization in Vermont's downtowns. Today,
our downtowns are centers for new investment, both public and private,
and a focus for our smart growth agenda.
WINNOSKI PROJECT
That is why I was very pleased to be able to throw my support behind
efforts to redevelop downtown Winooski. This project is smart and responsible
growth that can serve as a model for us as we seek to fight sprawl and
revitalize downtowns throughout Vermont. The City of Winooski has been
working very hard for many years to realize its vision for a revitalized
downtown. I share that vision and since coming to office in January
have worked with city officials, and others to assist in transforming
that vision into reality.
This project is a complete reinvention of an urban area in the core of Vermont's oldest industrial center. In total, this $175 million revitalization effort will have $40 million in state loan guarantees and grants, infrastructure improvements or tax credits from entities such as Vermont Housing Financing Agency when it is completed.
This will be the largest downtown revitalization project in Vermont's history. VSAC, Winooski's largest employer, will stay in the Winooski downtown and have a new headquarters and the historic Champlain Mill will be rehabilitated into a mixed residential and commercial building.
In total, this project will create 600 units of housing, 125 of which will be designated for low and moderate income Vermonters. In Chittenden County were housing is scarce-- especially affordable housing--this type of revitalization work is sorely needed.
Additional commercial and neighborhood retail space will be constructed and downtown Winooski will benefit from more than 100 acres of public recreation areas and open space. And the creation of hundreds of construction jobs as well as permanent jobs will be a terrific boost to Vermont's economy.
The city worked very hard to respond to my requests that it expand the depth of experience and financial capacity in its development team, and to reconfigure the project to better assure feasibility-and the project leadership is to be commended.
This is a very complicated project with many people working hard to make it happen. This particular downtown revitalization project is important to me for three primary reasons: it fights sprawl, it will create affordable housing and will add hundreds of new jobs. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
CONSERVATION & HOUSING
Vermont also has a coordinated strategy of investing in conservation
of key agricultural and recreation lands along with building affordable
housing. The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board helps communities
invest housing dollars in downtowns and revitalize neighborhoods while
strengthening agricultural communities through compensation, rather
than regulation.
And our housing policy emphasizes new housing in smart growth locations. Earlier in the Summer, for example, I had the privilege of visiting one such location in Wilder-where I met two young girls named <NAMES>, who were very excited about their new home and the rural setting in which they would live and play. There are numerous community development success stories like this around our state.
STATE INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
As you know, I have sought to restore Vermont's roads, bridges and rail
lines-the infrastructure that keeps business moving. I started by taking
a hard look at all the transportation projects to determine what's a
priority and what is not; what's working and what isn't; and what projects
we need right now to get Vermonters back to work.
To meet that goal, my budget included $20 million more to pave scarred roads and fix bridges.
And we've held firm to our commitment to finish critical transportation projects like the Missisquoi Bay Bridge, the Bennington Bypass and the long overdue CIRC Highway.
Some folks-including a few of you here today-have different opinions on the need for some of this infrastructure enhancement. Nevertheless, we'll agree to respectfully disagree.
One area where we do agree is that the State should continue to work to reduce incentives for sprawling land use patterns by investing public dollars in concentrated settlement patterns.
HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS & A UNIQUE PERMITTING SYSTEM
For more than 30 years Vermont has worked to balance environmental values
with economic opportunities. And here in Vermont, political leaders
I have long admired have regularly been advocates for the environmental
cause. Statesmen like George Aiken - the Eastern Wilderness Act; Bob
Stafford - the Clean Water Act; and Dean Davis who signed Act 250.
The Act 250 process ensures that commercial or residential development is well planned, protects important resources on the site, addresses community impacts, and conforms to town and regional plans. And among the ten criteria is a consideration of the costs of scattered development.
Unfortunately, in recent years, there has developed a sense, especially in Vermont, that our strong environmental ethic is competing with our economic interests. I have tried whenever I can to put an end to that notion.
So that is why I have sought out a Third Way - the Vermont Way - to accomplish our environmental goals while improving the economy - an economy we in turn depend on to provide the resources we need for environmental protection.
That's why I developed a permit reform bill that protects the criteria of Act 250, which have guarded our environment over the past 30 years, while making procedural changes that will help our economy.
As I said 9 months ago in my inaugural address, the choice we face today is not a choice between jobs and the environment. It is a choice between both or neither.
Because I believe in the Vermont way, I have sometimes had to oppose the President of the United States and the leader of my own political party when I believe that his policies may have a negative impact on our environment. I opposed his position on ANWR, on New Source Review and I have concerns about his Clear Skies Initiative.
I am also actively pursuing many initiatives that will benefit the environment. In addition to being an advocate for thrift and efficiency, several weeks ago I introduced my Clean Air Action Plan.
Vermont has long been a national leader in protecting the air we breath by fighting air pollution--both inside and outside our borders--and my three-part plan is the beginning of a clean air strategy that will protect and improve air quality in Vermont. Clean air is an issue of such importance that we must insist on steady progress.
And, just as Dorothy and I look for ways to conserve resources at home, I am actively considering ways to conserve fiscal and environmental resources in state government. That is why I've stated repeatedly that I believe state government ought to be a leader in energy efficiency-and that leadership has begun in my office. In a time of high energy costs, we should be doing everything we can to conserve resources-fiscal, natural and otherwise.
Last week, I detailed my Clean and Clear Water Action Plan. This plan will focus on providing leadership, financial resources and a sustained commitment to efforts designed to ensure that Vermont's waterways meet high water quality standards. After more than a decade of discussion about the need to improve and protect waterways throughout Vermont, I believe that we can-and we must-act now.
The earlier we achieve significant pollution reductions, the sooner our waters can begin to restore themselves. That is why under my leadership Vermont will accelerate pollution reduction measures for Lake Champlain from 2016 to 2009 in every possible instance.
To achieve these accelerated goals, Vermont will implement the EPA approved clean up plan called the Lake Champlain Phosphorous Total Maximum Daily Load, more commonly known as the TMDL. This initiative, estimated at $139 million, will require federal, state, local and private resources. I will, therefore, be leading an aggressive and comprehensive pursuit of funding from all available sources.
And in early December, I will convene the first Governor's Funders' Summit. The summit will bring together all levels of government, concerned organizations and individuals, to share ideas and pool resources for this comprehensive strategy to safeguard our water. Of course, I will continue to work with Senators Leahy and Jeffords who have long been supporters of these efforts.
Because federal funding is only one part of the equation, we will make every effort to leave no federal dollar unmatched. Working closely with state leaders, I will propose to the Legislature that Vermont issue Citizen Environmental Bonds to help fund the capital needs of this effort. I believe strongly that our environment is not an inheritance from our ancestors to be spent down; it's a loan from our children and we ought to be prepared to pay it back with interest.
To be sure, this is no easy task, but together we will invest in our natural resources for the benefit of our future generations. Every child deserves to grow up with water that is pure to drink, lakes that are safe for swimming, and rivers that are teeming with fish. This plan is about more than the precious natural resources of our lakes, rivers and streams. It's about our way of life.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT STRENGTHENS THE ECONOMY
Our concern for the environment needs to be a part of how we think about
the economy. Remember, it's a choice between both or neither.
There are some, sincere but misguided, who would have us believe that jobs can only exist at the expense of the environment. There are others, equally sincere and equally misguided, who believe that environmental protection comes at the expense of economic progress. As I have said, I reject this notion.
In our pursuit of continued smart growth, we must embrace the codependence of our economy and our environment. And, I believe, we must recognize that there is no pure way to eliminate sprawl that allows for both environmental protection and the creation of more and better paying jobs-that is why achieving a balance is so vitally important.
Many of the actions that we have taken, that the Forum embraces, and that this new report details, have clear economic advantages. Foremost among these advantages is the economic value of a healthy environment and preservation of our working landscape for Vermont's travel and tourism industry and employer recruitment and retention.
But the work that we do, and the energy and passion we invest in reducing sprawl, revitalizing our downtowns, building affordable housing, and protecting our environment shouldn't be because we prefer one partisan view over another. It should be because we have chosen to place balanced and deliberate progress ahead of partisanship. It should be because we have placed improvement and preservation of our quality of life-indeed our way of life-ahead any single issue. That is the Vermont way.
Thank you all very much for the opportunity to be here today. I look forward to working with all of you on this issue.