February 16, 2006

EDITORIAL

Council’s missing goal for 2006

One of the central issues in last fall’s campaign for Village Council was residential and business development, which, many candidates said, was needed to enhance Yellow Springs’ economy and generate more tax dollars.

Some candidates offered specific plans to promote and address residential growth, such as utilizing aggressive zoning tactics, while others issued calls for restoring the village’s population to levels seen in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, all four of the candidates who are now on Council supported residential growth during the campaign.

So it was surprising when Council overlooked housing issues during its recent goal-setting process. And, it was truly a moment for head-scratching when Council members last week turned down a suggestion to add support for housing needs to Council’s goal list for 2006. Instead, some Council members went along with an idea from Village Manager Eric Swansen that housing can be addressed as part of another goal related to economic development. He justified his suggestion by saying that the availability of housing is key to economic expansion.

While it’s good that Council members acknowledged the importance of housing, it was disheartening that Council stopped short of endorsing residential development as a separate goal. This is true especially given the support Council members expressed for residential growth in last fall’s campaign.

During their meeting last week, when six goals were approved for 2006, some Council members seemed to believe that housing does not warrant urgent attention these days, or that Council and Mr. Swansen have enough to do without adding another goal to Council’s already long and ambitious list.

Each of Council’s six goals is expected to receive extra attention during the year, setting the stage for specific plans to address such things as economic development, green space preservation and budgetary planning. And housing is too important an issue to bury it inside another goal, where it could get overlooked. Identifying residential growth as a goal would have meant that Council was making it a priority, and was directing Village resources (staff attention and your tax dollars) to further a cause.

It’s true that a lot of houses have been built in the last couple of years and several larger developments have either been approved or are in the works. But there’s plenty Council can do to address residential development, starting with committing to the promotion of housing growth that reflects the community’s values. Such a commitment should start with strategies that add to the community’s diversity in terms of both population and housing options. Council’s effort could include passage of legislation requiring developers to include moderately priced housing in their projects. Council also needs to lead a discussion about if, and how far, the boundaries of Yellow Springs should expand to accommodate growth.

The Village could require that all new developments be designed through the Planned Unit Development ordinance, which encourages both creative building designs and use of land, instead of traditional subdivision regulations. Such an approach would make it more possible that each new neighborhood would offer a greater variety of housing choices that more people could afford. Another option for Council to consider is the creation of “cottage zoning” and “cluster housing,” which permit very small homes to be built, or clustered, on small parcels.

Council could adopt “community development standards” that several local residents, including Council member Judith Hempfling, have devised and submitted to the Village Planning Commission. An impressive draft version of the standards encourages builders and developers to follow certain guidelines, such as promoting neighborhoods that are friendly to pedestrians and cyclists; provide open spaces; and incorporate innovative and sustainable design features and building practices.

Housing remains a fundamental community interest, and the subtle issues related to growth are numerous: providing affordable housing, attracting young families to town, keeping young people in the village, offering residencies for empty nesters, and creating more housing for people who work in Yellow Springs.

This is not the time for Council to let residential growth disappear from its priority list.

—Robert Mihalek