A Better Way

Here's part of an article from the Stamford Advocate talking about some place-making going on in Connecticut's fastest growing city:

New development rules aim at upgrading Springdale

By Doug Dalena
Staff Writer

Posted: 01/07/2009 02:57:39 AM EST

STAMFORD - Future developers of land along a half-mile stretch of Hope Street will face new rules passed Monday in an effort to give Springdale a more cohesive and pedestrian-friendly center.

The Zoning Board unanimously approved the new Village Commercial District designation for lots facing Hope Street, Springdale's main artery, from Mulberry Street to the Springdale Metro-North Railroad station.

The new rules require developers of new buildings to put facades near the sidewalk, parking lots behind the buildings and install windows and doors instead of leaving walls blank.

"For the first time in Stamford, we're creating a village commercial district with a high degree of design standards and controls," said Robin Stein, the city's chief planner.

If the rules are successful, officials hope the resulting development would eventually make a walk through the neighborhood center safer and more pleasant, encouraging people to park once and walk to complete errands instead of driving from one shop to another.

Full article available here.

So what's so interesting about new and different zoning regulations in Stamford? Quite a bit, it turns out. You see, we like to fault developers, SUV-wielding suburbanites, and the highway lobby for the fact that most towns in this state are sprawling disaster areas. Think East Haven. The land uses in most parts of this state are so spread out and badly designed that the majority of people here have no practical choice but to drive everywhere. When people finally do get somewhere, it's all too often an ugly strip mall surrounded by noisy four lane highways leading to other ugly strip malls. While developers, suburbanites, and highways builders are certainly great to demonize and mock, they're not the biggest villains here.

The real culprit is modern zoning regulations. In most parts of this state, anyone who wants to build anything has little choice but to build what is commonly considered sprawl. Buildings have be on over-sized lots, set way back from the road, surrounded by seas of parking, and separated from any other different type of land use. In other words you can't live within walking distance of anywhere you might want to shop, or anyplace you might decide to work. That would be mixing land uses and that's a zoning no-no in these parts.

By the time they satisfy all the necessary regulations, most developers find that the majority of significant design decisions have been made for them by the zoning regulations.

This is what makes the Advocate article so interesting. In a state that many planners have reffered to as one giant suburb incapable of any sort of town planning, here's a city using zoning regulations to help a neighborhood before more walkable, more livable, and generally more pleaseant. What a concept! A constructive rather destructive use of zoning. A Connecticut town that actually gets it. Let's just hope the rest of the towns and cities are paying attention.

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