Executive summary

Smart growth is not anti-growth. Rather it is about developing (and redeveloping) communities and metropolitan regions in a different and positive waya way that will be more sustainable than the highway-oriented suburban sprawl that has characterized development in America in recent decades.

In Ohio, there are many good reasons to change the way development occurs. The current, haphazard patterns of growth are consuming land rapidly, undermining the fiscal health of older cities and towns, creating serious environmental problems, and exacerbating economic and racial disparities. In recent years, other states have begun innovative programs to address these land use and development issues. If Ohio wants to compete, it needs to help its metropolitan regions achieve a better balance of development.

This paper analyzes how Ohio can move forward toward smart growth. It describes what smart growth would mean for Ohio and the unique challenges presented by this diverse state. One fundamental problem is that Ohio is a difficult geography to organize for any major policy change. With the state's metropolitan areas pulling in different directions and historical divisions dividing north and south, Ohio lacks a unifying identity. It's hard to mobilize "Ohioans" to care about the state as a whole. Smart growth, however, will require new ways of thinking and planning at the state and metropolitan levels.

Fortunately, a loose movement of individuals and organizations has developed in the past decade to promote smart growth in Ohio. They come from different perspectivesrural preservation, urban redevelopment, environmental protection, economic development, transportation reform, and social justice. And they come from different fieldscommunity activism, academia, business, city government, planning, faith-based organizations, and others. Together, they form the basis of a statewide coalition for change.

Waiting to be organized

This winning coalition is waiting to be organized. Past attempts have failed for lack of leadership, strategy, and resources. Future attempts can succeed, but only if they are serious. Based on interviews with smart growth advocates around the state, here are some of the necessary features of a campaign for significant change:

• Compelling case for changeDemonstrate clearly how current development trends are hurting most people and how the future of Ohio is at stake. Sprawl has to be understood as an underlying cause of many other problems. The case document should be polished, professional, and graphically compelling.
  
• Positive agenda for a better futureCraft a message that diverse groups will rally around. The message has to be clear and simple. It has to cut through the complexities of land use issues and talk about tangible benefits.
  
• Message based on basic valuesThe message should relate to people's basic values. Polling by the Biodiversity Project has shown such values to include choice, freedom, and responsibility to future generations.
  
• Building on Ohioans' concernsA statewide poll by the Ohio League of Conservation Voters in 2000 showed that 57 percent of likely voters say that "issues involving clean water, clean air and open space" are very important and a primary factor in deciding how to vote.
  
• Business involvementBuild on the business community's new concerns about quality of life and the new economy.
  
• Policy effectivenessMake sure that the policies advocated will actually work on the ground to change the location and design of development.
  
• Recognition of political realitiesThe agenda should be revenue neutral, incentive-based, and not create unfunded mandates for local governments.
  
• Regional flexibilityGiven the diversity of Ohio's metropolitan areas, the agenda should focus on the state support of regional solutions. This not only makes political sense, but it is essential because the problems to be addressed play out at the regional scale.
  
• Cincinnati focusPolitically, the Cincinnati area is key and must play a leading role.
  
• BipartisanshipSmart growth should be positioned as a bipartisan (even nonpartisan) issue. It should transcend short-term politics.
  
• TimingAssuming Governor Bob Taft will win a second term this November, he may be persuaded to exert more leadership on land use issues (an urban redevelopment and conservation legacy?). A smart growth campaign could be developed in 2003, emerge in 2004, and seek to win in 2005.
  
• MediaThe effort should have a strong media and communications strategy. It also should create its own electronic media.
  
• TechnologyThe Internet provides tools that make it easier to network a large state.
  
• Ability to count votesKnow what it will take to win and target resources accordingly to obtain the winning margin.
  
• SeriousnessMaking significant headway on smart growth in Ohio will be hard work. The effort should not be attempted unless it's serious and has sufficient resources to get the job done.
  
• Professional staffA serious effort will likely take three to four staff people working for at least three years.

The smart growth agenda for Ohio will likely have a strong emphasis on state policies. After all, the state sets the "rules of the game" for planning and local land use control. The state also exerts influence over the location of development through transportation spending and economic development incentives. Thus, a major goal will be to make the state a better partner helping to maintain and redevelop older communities, while preserving open space. It is important to realize, however, that no single policy change will solve Ohio's complex land use and development problems. It will require a suite of policies and programs acting over many years. The task for smart growth advocates will be to figure out which options will be most effective and politically achievable.

Ultimately, smart growth will require changing the location of development (more development in existing communities and less in the countryside) and the form of development (more compact and walkable, less wasteful of land). Success will be measured by real changes on the ground.

This paper is meant to stimulate discussion about how to create these changes. It is an introduction, an early sketch. It invites comment and contributions from people throughout the state. It encourages everyone to imagine a new land use future for Ohio.

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Copyright 2002-2003

Back to main Statewide Organizing

Fortunately, a loose movement of individuals and organizations has developed in the past decade to promote smart growth in Ohio. They come from different perspectivesrural preservation, urban redevelopment, environmental protection, economic development, transportation reform, and social justice. And they come from different fieldscommunity activism, academia, business, city government, planning, faith-based organizations, and others. Together, they form the basis of a statewide coalition for change.