Is it common practice for planners, players, stakeholders or someone with skin in the game to label anyone who is not on board with their agenda as naysayers and conspiracy theorists? Just what qualities does a project or program need to qualify it for such a designation? The fact is,there are uncanny and irrefutable similarities in these downtown projects happening throughout the state and country. In each case , there has been an extensive amount of time and resources invested soliciting the support of local communities, however, equally (and eerily) similar is the unwillingness on the part of the well informed players to acknowledge the fact that this is essentially a top-down centrally planned project. The preservation of local decision making and representative government is an American ideal that most are unwilling to forfeit. It is this fact which leaves me to conclude that there are certain individuals that have conspired to hide the ugly truths from the public they are claiming to be serving.
In the beginning, this project was scrutinized because of it's relativity to programs initiated by the United Nations. Since certain parties instantaneously reacted with knee-jerk defamation, I surmise the subject to be worthy of investigation. What I have discovered in my research is that the State of Connecticut's land use and development planning falls into perfect accordance with something that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group Assessment's recently adopted report referred to called The United Nations Plan on Human Settlements. Since the developer and the city are looking to transform Bristol's downtown into a "vibrant urban center", let us take a glimpse into that report in Chapter 8: Urban Areas.
8.1.1. Key Issues
"Adaptation to climate change depends centrally on what is done in urban centres. The level of funding needed for sound urban adaptation could exceed the capacities of local and national governments and international agencies Much of the investment will have to come from individuals and households, communities and firms through their decisions to address adaptation and resilience. This might suggest little role for governments, especially local governments.
Under such a framework, YOU, the taxpayer would have little say in what kind of development happens in your downtown.
8.4.1.2. Mainstreaming Adaptation into Municipal Planning
"Mainstreaming adaptation into urban planning and land-use management and legal and regulatory frameworks is key to successful adaptation."
In the last decade, the state of Connecticut has been working incrementally towards accomplishing these same goals since the state's adoption of it's Climate Action Plan. This is when the state began including language regarding the State Plan of Conservation and Development into legislation to establish this legal and regulatory framework.
2007 brought the passage of Public Act 07-239 AN ACT CONCERNING RESPONSIBLE GROWTH.
This bill outlines action to concentrate economic development and to promote housing choice and economic diversity in housing, including housing for both low and moderate income households around transit nodes.
In 2009 the legislature passed Public Act 09/230, AN ACT CONCERNING SMART GROWTH AND THE STATE PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES PLAN to which tha Office of Policy and Management shall amended the state plan of conservation and development to include therein a goal for reducing carbon dioxide emissions within this state and "provide transportation choices that provide alternatives to automobiles, including rail, public transit, bikeways and walking, while reducing energy consumption, the development or
preservation of housing affordable to households of varying income in locations proximate to transportation or employment centers or locations compatible with smart growth, concentrated, mixed-use, mixed income development proximate to transit nodes and civic, employment or cultural centers"
The goals of the legislation and the planning guidelines of the state are clear. According to the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency's 2007-2017 Plan of Conservation and Development:
A quick visit to the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency's (CCRPA) website reveals that the CCRPA is member of the Sustainable Knowledge Corridor, a project funded by Sustainable Communities Initiative (a joint program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency) and undertaking a variety of activities under this grant, including a revision of its regional plan to focus on sustainability, support the Sustainable Knowledge Corridor, and provide a framework for future coordinated planning and investment within and across the three planning regions that make up the Sustainable Knowledge Corridor.
According to the State of CT Department of Transportation:
• supporting compact, sustainable development.
• execute TOD
• support municipal TOD efforts
What of Transit-Oriented Development?
It is important to note that the Northeast tri-state region received more sustainable community planning grants than any other region in the U.S. in 2010, however, as Congressman John Larson said when he visited Bristol recently, "The federal funds dried up." This left many master developers, planners and special interests in limbo as the state struggled with a plan to fill the funding gap with deficit spending and budget gimmicks.
According to Bristol's chosen developer's website:
"Renaissance Downtowns believes firmly in the triple bottom line approach to real estate development, which entails a dedication to environmental, social and economic responsibility. The following guiding principles are representative of what Renaissance Downtowns brings to the table for all of its downtown redevelopment efforts:
• Create a true working public/private partnership within a Master Developer framework
• Create a sense of connectivity - locally and regionally
• Green, sustainable transit oriented development
• Create critical mass of potential riders to support both the transit and downtown components
The term "triple bottom line" is a reference to the three pillars of sustainability: People, profit and planet or as also referred to as social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. (including social equity principles)and is also reflected on the developer's public liaison's page as well. Triple bottom line also references the utilization of global reporting standards of of profits, energy consumption and demographic information as brought on by the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
The implementation of such standards through the ICLEI is now however an outmoded form as our state legislature has brought about it's own framework to replace it.
Feel free to browse the United Nation's Home Office website
for a look at what programs they support.
"Transit-oriented development is here to stay", Malloy said at a press conference with an audience of regional planners and special interest groups according to this late 2012 Hartford Courant article:. In fact, according to a July 18th, 2013 Stamford Advocate article , more than half of Connecticut's towns have Transit-Oriented Development plans. The state is currently spending an 160% more on transportation than it's 2010 levels and an unprecedented amount on Conservation and Development (nearly half of the capital budget. The state is currently funding these transit oriented infrastructure projects with this capital currently funneled only to new projects adjacent to transit. They say the plan is not coercive but the strings are attached and municipalities are dancing for carrots.For all practical purposes, I've provided links to The International Panel on Climate Change's Report :Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, which was accepted on 29 March 2014 in Yokohama, Japan and included the following sections on Human Settlements, Industry, and Infrastructure:
* Chapter 8 — Urban Areas
* Chapter 9 — Rural Areas
*Chapter 10 — Key economic sectors and services
9 Apr 2014 Post 2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals - World Urban Forum 7
Paula Cabarero Gomez: "Resources are unevenly distributed. We need a radical transformation to deal with a universal agenda."
How Far Away Should Land Planning Be Done? Outer Space?
Human Se
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