February 11, 2000
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GULF COAST GROWTH NEWS
Regional News
Partnership forms Sensible Growth committee
The Greater Houston Partnership's Sensible Growth subcommittee met on February 9 and heard presentations by Roger Hord of the West Houston Association and David Crossley of the Gulf Coast Institute. The committee, chaired by Jeff Brinker, is working on a set of sensible growth principles for presentation to the board this summer. Committee member Patricial Knudson Joiner agreed to act as informal liaison with the Smart Growth Initiative being facilitated by the Gulf Coast Institute.
ULI names Wulfe chair, focuses on Smart Growth
The Urban Land Institute has named the developer Ed Wulfe as its new regional chair. Outgoing chair Jim Noteware said that Wulfe and his new team have decided to focus ULI's 2000 programs on the concept of Smart Growth. Wulfe also chairs the Main Street Coalition.
Main Street strategy workshop held
The Main Street Coalition held a visioning workshop to move toward consensus on a strategic plan for the 7.5-mile corridor from UH Downtown at Buffalo Bayou to the Astrodome. This is the site of the new light rail system. In the morning, the group heard from Coalition chair Ed Wulfe, METRO's John Sedlak, Bob Litke of the City of Houston's planning department, and Donna Ellis of the Coalition. Urban planners from the firm of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn talked about their vision for the corridor. The workshop held two groups of breakout sessions, one to hear visions and discuss issues and strategies, and a second to look at pilot projects for development near many of the transit stops. Next step is completion of the Corridor Master Plan, due in May.
Clean Air Act discussion
A lunchtime discussion of the Clean Air Act will be held by Houston Council Member Carroll Robinson and the Greater North Houston Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, February 17, at noon at the UH Downtown White Oak Bayou Room. Lunch is $5, RSVP 713-869-5976.
Livable Texas Conference
The first Partnerships for a Livable Texas will be held February 27-29 in Dallas at the DoubleTree Hotel in Lincoln Centre. The theme of the conference is "Sustaining the Environment and Economic Development". Sponsor is the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. Keynote speaker is Amory Lovins, author and founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute (http://www.rmi.org/lovins.html). TNRCC Chairman Robert Huston said the conference will explore ways to "make sure economic growth results in quality of life for all Texans." Houston region speakers will include Terry Thorne of Enron and David Crossley of the Gulf Coast Institute. Info: Sue Phillips,TNRCC, 512-239-6327 or http://www.tnrcc.texas.gov/new.html.
Air solutions sought
A committee has been formed within the Regional Air Quality Planning Committee to look at long range solutions to the Houston region's air pollution problems. The committee is searching for significant area projects that will reduce air pollution (such as Mayor Brown's task force to reduce PM2.5 levels, green building, tree planting, university or corporate energy reduction initiatives, permeable paving, etc.) Chair Winifred Hamilton is interested in projects that are generally not in or likely to be in the ozone SIP, either because they focus on different pollutants or because they are longer in scope or because the benefits are not easily quantifiable. Contact: hamilton@bcm.tmc.edu.
Next Houston Gulf Coast Smart Growth Initiative meeting: Feb 23, American Institute of Architects, 3000 Richmond Suite 500. http://www.gulfcoastideas.org
Next Houston Gulf Coast Smart Growth Steering Committee meeting: Feb 15, Houston Environmental Center, 3015 Richmond Suite 270.
National Notes
"What is really at work is a market shift that no amount of government intervention can stop," writes Christopher Leinberger in the January issue of Urban Land, the Urban Land Institute's magazine. Leinberger sees a significant shift away from sprawl development and to more infill and downtown locations. "The combination of environmental, public policy, financial, and, most important, market forces will eventually put such extreme pressure on those who induce sprawl that a new approach to development will emerge," Leinberger says.
Post Properties Inc. has upgraded its Web site (www.postproperties.com) to allow potential residents to fill out pre-applications online. The company received more than 50 online pre-applications in just its first week. In addition, the site now provides new searching and maneuvering services. An online locator enables potential residents to customize their apartment search to find their ideal rental community. Also, a wealth of new property data is now available on the site, including rent, amenities, pet information, and links to PostSmart.Net community pages.
Big City News
PHOENIX
While growth has brought many benefits to the market, Arizona's largest city is starting to experience some troubling side effects. The vast Phoenix metropolitan area now covers an estimated 850 square miles--almost half the size of Delaware. Traffic congestion is worsening, schools are becoming increasingly crowded, and air pollution is on the rise. Anti-sprawl issues are even being addressed by local business leaders. Ed Fox, vice president of communications for Pinnacle West Capital Corp., reports, "There's been an ongoing concern among the business community for at least five years that somehow growth, while it was great for the economy, was impacting quality of life, and we had to address it." One approach has been to protect more open space. Indeed, steps for creating some of the nation's largest preserves are now underway. Last year, Phoenix voters went to the polls and approved a sales tax hike to purchase a local stretch of desert bigger than 11,000 football fields. In nearby Scottsdale, meanwhile, officials are currently putting together the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which will be more than 40 times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. Preserving open space is just a start. Gov. Jane Hull (R) is pushing her Growing Smarter program, which calls for more development in urban cores rather than on the fringes of cities. A rival plan, dubbed the Citizens Growth Management Initiative, would require developers to pay for all new services for their projects. These would include sewers, new schools, and roads.
(From"Growing Pains" in Continental magazine(www.continental.com) (01/00) Vol. 4, No. 1; P. 61; Ingley, Kathleen)
21st Century Power
IN A NEW REPORT by Technical Insights, PV sales will reach approximately $2 billion this year. Demand for more PV systems is currently greater than supply. Manufacturing capacity will have to double (or double in efficiency) by 2005 to match demand. By 2010, they predict the market may reach $12 billion. In a related story, Utility PhotoVoltaic Group, consisting of 100 electric service providers in eight countries produced a report that while utility companies are more likely to purchase PV products, distributed PV arrays at the point of consumer and business use will be more likely to be installed as opposed to the installation of large-scale PV power plants. It seems that the distribution of the panels would be more efficient than the remote distribution of energy generated from a giant complex of panels. The Department of Energy has recognized that the U.S. has lost its lead in the PV marketplace. Because of this, the DoE has put in place a 5-year plan for PV technology research and development. The keystone of their goals is to produce a new PV panel able to be easily grid-connected without the inversion of DC to AC. Total costs (including operational and maintenance costs) are expected to drop to $3/watt by 2010, and $1.50/watt by 2020.
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