Camas County - Where are we headed?

On my drive home from work today, I heard an interesting segment on NPR regarding New Urbanism Design and Theory. As I was listening to the commentator, I couldn’t help but think of Fairfield, and the current design process we are going through in Camas County. If you aren’t familiar with the New Urbanism movement, it goes something like this: New Urbanism Designers are involved in new development, urban retrofits, and suburban infill. In all cases, New Urbanism neighborhoods are walk able, and contain a diverse range of housing and jobs. New Urbanism supports regional planning for open space, appropriate architecture and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe these strategies are the best way to reduce how long people spend in traffic, to increase the supply of affordable housing, and to rein in urban sprawl.

Needless to say, I like the thought. I’m interested to hear everyone’s comments on it as well. So far the last public meetings haven’t really seemed to focus on any of these issues. We seem to be debating more what specific plots of land can and can’t be used for. In my opinion, that is silly. Who cares what color of the map my property is on? Instead, I feel we should be focusing more on a “community plan” that would outline specific building requirements, and processes to go through in order to build in our community. If someone who owns land up Soldier Creek can build a sustainable community that supports the local economic base, while also creating jobs and a greater Camas County overall, I say go for it. Just because his land might be zoned A-80 (or whatever) doesn’t mean that his land is best suited for A-80. Instead, as a County, why can’t we say, “we’ll look at any ideas IF they meet the following requirements”.

One more point I would like to make is this. I’m not a professional planner, and I’m certainly not a professional developer. However, I do know what I like and what I don’t like. I know what attracts me to certain places, and I know which places I’m not attracted to. I like areas like Hyde Park in Boise. There is a great mix of commercial and residential development in a small place. When walking through Hyde Park, you get the feeling of going back in time. It is peaceful and very much feels like a community should. On the other hand, I don’t like areas like Blue Lakes Boulevard in Twin Falls. Walking on Blue Lakes is almost unheard of, and the feeling of sprawl is almost unbearable (apologies to those who have a different view). I have a feeling that when the Twin Falls P&Z sat down to discuss the future of Twin Falls, they decided to “Zone” all of Blue Lakes as Commercial. Now look at what we are left with! I would much rather see our community head in the direction of Hyde Park or Hidden Springs, and steer away from something like Blue Lakes.

Here are a few links to check out. Please let me know your thoughts on this topic.

NPR Segment – http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5338974 (click on “listen”)
Congress for New Urbanism - http://www.cnu.org/index.cfm

Hidden Springs - http://www.hiddensprings.com/community/tour.asp (community close to us)