To the editor:
A March 19 editorial titled "Think big" urged us to spend tax dollars acquiring large tracts of county land for future parks. Although such a grandiose scheme has emotional appeal and displays a sincere desire to preserve open space in the face of urban sprawl, the writer missed an important point of Smart Growth.
As Eben Fodor has said of new urbanism, it's "better, not bigger" when providing open space for neighborhoods. Yes, we need open spaces, but many small, cozy and inviting spaces within every walkable neighborhood are preferable to one huge distant park. And our commissioners would probably agree, we needn't spend tax dollars preserving all the open spaces.
Planning large park land farther out from Lawrence will do but two things. It will devour farmland (open space that's also productive), and it will draw the city to sprawl farther out. Smart Growth encourages compact growth in walkable "live-work-play" neighborhoods. By providing all the amenities close by, such as affordable homes, employment opportunities, shopping and recreation, a higher density city becomes more livable than the "drive a mile for bread" lifestyle.
Lawrence can have a better quality of life by choosing to have both higher density and open space. But to do so, our planning must have two united parts. First, our macro decision should be "Where will the city grow, and just as importantly, where will it not grow" to preserve farms and the environment. Secondly, our micro decision should be how each subdivision could cluster the homes and shops in a high density part, while preserving the other part as open space.
If each subdivision has a built-on part and an open part, the developer builds the same number of homes on a smaller footprint, while the open space remains as shared commons. The taxpayers are spared another assessment, and the residents have a cozy park nearby with smaller individual yards to tend after.
Many communities in the U.S. are taking this route. Smart Growth can be good for our neighborhoods, our pocketbooks, our environment, our farmers, and our future.
Michael Almon,
Lawrence
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