A federal sustainability agenda is truly taking shape in Washington, as agencies that for years have not talked to each other – HUD, EPA, and DOT – are integrating their efforts. Two senior officials delivered a clear message at the New England Smart Growth Leadership Forum Nov. 20 in Boston: large regions and local governments should be gearing up for this new partnership, to take advantage of new funding and serve as models for what the Obama administration seeks to accomplish.
“We want to change the conservation, change the rules, and work with the willing,” said John W. Frece, director of EPA’s Smart Growth program, the under-the-radar team during the Bush administration that will soon morph into the Office of Sustainabille Communities, folding in the EPA’s fledgling green building program. “We realize we can no longer afford single-outcome actions. We need to align spending and policy with national goals.”
The office continues to provide technical assistance on urban form, zoning reform, and greenhouse gas impacts of development, and publications such as Smart Growth for Coastal Communities. EPA also wants to develop sustainability criteria for the SRF clean water revolving fund. “What’s different is we have HUD and DOT sitting at the table with us,” Frece said, as the agencies re-write rules for funding programs and regulations for a greater emphasis on cities and sustainability, expanding transportation choices, promoting affordable housing, supporting existing communities, and minimizing programs working at cross-purposes. It’s a major change for Washington, he said, recalling how he was asked to review a speech by HUD secretary Shaun Donovan – itself an inter-agency novelty. “We couldn’t improve on it,” Frece said.
Jim Lopez, senior adviser to HUD deputy secretary Ron Sims, agreed it was an extraordinary time. Although “there are ideas just flying around,” two HUD funding programs -- the $150 million sustainable communities initiative, which includes money for regional planning as well as local code reform, and $100 million energy innovation fund – are in the works. “We have an aim, fire, ready approach, to get the ideas out there. We want to model what works, and get those models to scale.”
Another big opportunity for metropolitan regions are the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants, jointly being reviewed by DOT, EPA, and HUD, although there have been $60 billion in proposed projects for a $1.5 billion fund set aside in the stimulus package. “It’s a bit more like buying a lottery ticket,” said consultant Mark Stout, who addressed the forum on the uses of stimulus money for smart growth. (Most of the funds went to repairing or building new highway capacity). Several TIGER applications involve transit-oriented development projects in Maryland, Miami, New York, and Utah, and initially for bus rapid transit along Blue Hill Avenue in Boston until the application was pulled due to neighborhood opposition.
Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Association, led a wrap-up session at the forum to explore ways the New England region, metropolitan planning organizations, and major cities could better coordinate to respond to the new opportunities in Washington.
Meanwhile, the coordination at the federal level may continue to expand. Looking ahead, the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to join the partnership, and would bring billions for rural development.
“The first step is to talk to each other. It’s the least you would expect from your government,” said Frece. Though many top decision-makers already knew each other working in smart growth before coming to Washington, “it’s complicated – we have different rules, and different cultures. We need to institutionalize this.”