Sustainable Growth & Development Subcommittee Report

1. Sustainable Growth & Development Subcommittee Report May 17, 2007 Committee for a Sustainable Emerald Coast

2. Subcommittee Process and Products • Five work sessions to date. • Broad-based participation by local and state agencies, elected officials, design practitioners, and interest groups. • Assembled: • Key issues, principles, and guidelines. • Atlas of existing conditions: Where are we now? • Where are we headed? Comparison of business-as-usual versus sustainable Emerald scenario. • Recommending public review of Emerald Scenario via three workshops and UWF/Haas website.

3. Preparing a Preferred Scenario

4. An Information Base: The Atlas – Where Are We Now? • Local Governments and Regional Planning Authorities • Natural Resources • Water and Wetlands • Floodplains • Hurricane Surge Areas • Water Resource Caution Areas • Protected Lands • Biodiversity Hot Spots • Land-Use • Existing Land-Use • Existing Military • Current Housing • Current Employment • Local Government Comp Plans • Transportation • Major Regional Roads • Traffic Counts • Pedestrian Areas and Bike Routes • Transit Service • Aviation, Rail, and Port • Public Services • Parks & Schools • Water & Wastewater Facilities Existing Land-Use

5. Key Issues and Principles for the Future Issues Fund the region’s infrastructure. Connect planning and engage the public. Create resilient urban development and healthy communities. Protect rural character and working lands. Establish attainable workforce housing. Principles Guide local comprehensive planning with a long-range regional vision. Distinguish development challenges in coastal areas versus inland areas. Provide incentives for sustainable land-use planning. Incorporate military needs in local plans. Coordinate future school facility needs with planned development. Provide efficient and safe multi-modal transportation. Develop a transportation system that supports livable communities and regional vision. Support comprehensive transportation corridor planning. Create a range of obtainable housing opportunities. Design communities that enable healthy choices.

6. Framework for Issues and Principles These components help to organize issues and principles: People and Plans. The region’s citizens working collectively on a shared vision. Preservation. Land protected for natural resource of military purposes. Patterns. Location, intensity, and variety of land-uses. Places. Distinct communities and centers. Passages. Transportation corridors and natural greenways. Adapted from 1000 Friends of Florida

7. Scenario Evaluation with Indicators Source: Paint the Region

8. Where Are We Now? Existing Conditions - 2006 Build-Out of Current Local Plans

9. Where Are We Headed? Two Alternative Scenarios Transportation Planning 2030 Forecast University of Florida 2040 Forecast

10. Where Would We Prefer to Go? Emerald Guidelines PEOPLE & PLANS Connect the region’s planning through a shared vision of success, and inform and engage the public in planning and implementing the Committee’s recommendations. Develop and implement incentives and specific plans to ensure the achievement of the preferred Sustainable Emerald scenario. PRESERVATION Design a sustainable regional development strategy that will support the economic prosperity in the region and both preserve and enhance the region’s unique natural resources including its environmentally-sensitive, agricultural and recreational areas. Preserve and protect the ability of the region’s military installations to achieve their missions. PATTERNS Maximize existing infrastructure consistent with the shared regional 2030 vision by focusing growth in compact regional centers. Provide a variety of employment sites for all key economic sectors. Locate housing near existing jobs, and jobs near existing housing. PLACES Design flexible infill and redevelopment in existing communities that supports healthy choices by requiring through land development regulations the implementation of sidewalks, trails, bike paths etc. Preserve and create stable, compact, neighborhoods with a sense of place within urban areas and small towns in the Emerald Coast region. Encourage development that ensures that housing for all income levels and age groups are provided. PASSAGES Design corridors that connect both land use and transportation plans to advance the shared regional sustainable development vision of livable, compact, healthy and connected communities. Establish new multimodal travel options within existing developed areas and require that new development be oriented toward multimodal travel and supportive of livable, compact, healthy and connected communities. Protect the region’s greenway corridors that provide habitat and wildlife linkages as a part of a sustainable regional development strategy.

11. Putting the Emerald Scenario on the Ground

12. Multi-Modal Transportation Corridors & Nodes

13. Preliminary Draft Emerald Scenario This is a preliminary draft scenario subject to revision during public review and committee deliberations. The scenario is an illustrative concept of regional growth, not a prescriptive plan.

14. Emerald Scenario With Multi-Modal Travel Framework

15. Guidelines Comparison of Scenarios

16. Indicators Comparison of Scenarios

17. Next Steps in Scenario Planning Incorporate committee feedback on preliminary draft of the Emerald scenario. Refine the draft Emerald scenario with public input. Design implementation measures. Integrate scenario and measures into the committee’s overall recommendations.