By Mark Nardone is director of advocacy for the Delaware Nature Society
Rethinking Delaware, Special to the Delaware Business Times
Delaware faces several crises: a shortage of affordable housing, a surge in poor health, erosion of environmental resilience and increasing pollution. Though none have simple causes or solutions, the problems are related, and public decisions over the decades have made them worse.
Inconsistent, piecemeal land-use decisions have resulted in sprawling development that has made us totally dependent on personal motor vehicles.Those decisions have gobbled up open space and farmland, escalated the public costs of infrastructure and services, driven climate change and eroded the sense of place that makes strong communities.
Consider Delaware’s elevated incidences of obesity, diabetes and heart disease due partly to our sedentary lifestyle, the increase in pediatric asthma due partly to local air pollution, and the associated high costs of healthcare.
Consider too increased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from traffic, the high cost of transportation as a percentage of household income, high rents and the continued building of homes at prices out of reach for too many Delawareans.
Sprawl has also compounded the mobility and housing challenges faced by our large and growing older population, including the ability to age in place, which impacts healthcare costs for state Medicaid and retiree programs and services.
What’s more, the loss of open space from new development has greatly diminished the land’s ability to absorb stormwater, which has increased flooding during major storms and extreme high tides, compromising our already compromised climate resilience and increasing the need for expensive infrastructure improvements.
All these conditions hit our most vulnerable neighbors hardest. Their health is worse than the population overall, flooding of their neighborhoods is routine and more severe, their housing options are more limited, and they are cut off from valuable resources and economic opportunities.
There is a simple solution: Address the challenges together by reforming land-use strategies to spur development where it makes sense and discourage development where it doesn’t.
The time has come. In Delaware 60 government entities make land-use decisions under a structure designed when our state was 60 percent less populated and confronted fewer critical challenges. There is little coordination between those entities and there are no penalties for deviating from state planning guidance or county comprehensive plans.
Recognizing smart land use is one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools for addressing the challenges, Rethinking Delaware believes municipal, county and state governments should get on the same page.
Rethinking Delaware is an informal coalition of former state officials and nonprofit, non-governmental organizations that believe government at all levels, led by the state, should encourage development of compact, mixed-use, walkable, transit-supportive communities as a central part of the state’s housing, transportation, health, environmental and climate priorities. Our recommendations to the new administration include:
- Review and amend all state and local land-use and infrastructure policies and funding for transportation, schools, and water and sewer systems that impede development of compact, walkable communities.
- In support of more compact development patterns, shift transportation investment to accommodate walking, biking and new transit services.
- Re-orient comprehensive plans and zoning laws to prioritize mixed-use neighborhoods with places to live, work, shop, learn, and play while increasing the supply and diversity of housing and transportation options.
- Establish state and/or county task forces to develop innovative proposals for specific areas that address the collective challenges of housing and transportation costs, our changing demographics and health challenges, and climate-related threats, all in ways that incorporate a sustainable economic strategy for the future.
Imagine it: Walk the kids to school or bus stop, then to the coffee shop, then to the co-op workspace or transit stop. It’s right near the grocer, pharmacy and cleaners. On the weekends, enjoy the beautiful green trails around the neighborhood—the same trails others use to cycle to work. Walk or bike to the park and ball fields, the farm stand, to restaurant night.
The result: more physical activity that lowers health risks, which eases the cost of healthcare; better air and fewer respiratory ailments, which also eases healthcare costs; less of your valuable time spent in traffic; lower transportation costs (which translates to more discretionary spending for our households), more necessities readily available to seniors, stronger communities and a more resilient environment.
That’s a better Delaware for all. If you agree, reach out to your town council, county council, state legislators and the governor-elect to urge action. Reach us at rethinkingdelaware@gmail.com.
Rethinking Delaware is an informal coalition of former cabinet secretaries and state officials including Anne Canby, Rita Landgraf, Christophe Tulou, Joseph Pika, Mark Chura, and Charles Salkin; New Castle County Council representative Dee Durham; and nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations including Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club, Delaware Nature Society, Healthy Communities Delaware, Housing Alliance of Delaware and The Nature Conservancy in Delaware.