Been following the discussion relating to my bit in the paper over the weekend about the TND and Independence, and what actually happened earlier this month.
As noted in the article, those responsible for the planning and trying to take a long view of what happens in Lancaster County see it as a temporary setback. But I really do think that what happened represented a repudiation of high-density across the board.
A lot has been written about this because I think many of us see this as an extremely important crossroads in terms of how Lancaster County grows in the future. Local officials (and indeed, developers) have laid out their plan, and now that plan has been rejected. So what does come next?
I sort of feel county planners ought to strike while the iron is hot and convene some sort of community forum where they would explain, in-depth, why they thought and continue to think the TND concept is necessary. Citizens could then air their concerns; and there should, then, be an attempt to come to a compromise which would include specifics - that’s extremely important.
Until now there’s been a lot of general consensus; yes, we want to save farmland; sure, “density” (whatever that means) will have to be higher in some places, etc. etc. But there needs to be some agreement on specifics - X number of houses per acre shall be the maximum, regardless; BUT, viable retail of up to, say, 40,000 square feet will be permitted in these communities because the goal is to discourage car trips.
And were there to be some attempt to forge a real community consensus now - again, while the iron is hot, while people’s interest is piqued and meetings, etc. would probably have far more participation than if this were done next summer or never done - we maybe wouldn’t have to have these debates any longer. Though even if you got widespread participation in hammering out a “consensus,” three years down the road some specific development would get people in its neck of the woods all bent out of shape, they’d air all the usual arguments irrespective of any attempt to resolve those arguments now.
We’re destined to keep reinventing the wheel on this issue, I think. That, maybe more than anything else, makes it difficult to craft an effective strategy to handle growth in Lancaster County.
