From the March 2008 issue of New Urban News

In Amish country, TND suffers a setback

Robert Steuteville

 Courtesy of Design Collective
Lancaster County has a regional plan that supports smart growth and many projects underway, but one township may have gone too far too fast.

Two major new urbanist plans were shot down when a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance failed to win approval near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in January. It’s not clear what will happen to the Independence and Lime Spring projects in East Hempfield Township — but if they had been approved as previously submitted, they could have served as models of TND in central Pennsylvania.
Despite the setback, new urbanist planning is at the heart of efforts to preserve farmland in one of the most productive agricultural areas in the eastern US. The county has lost substantial land to suburban development in recent decades.
Lancaster County officials have been talking about TND and smart growth since the early 1990s. These discussions culminated in a regional plan called Growing Together, approved by 11 municipalities, including East Hempfield, in April, 2007. The plan — encompassing 169 square miles and 193,000 people surrounding and including the City of Lancaster — calls for mixed-use, compact growth in 35 targeted areas, and encourages transfer of development rights to save farms. Five municipalities have TND ordinances that support the plan, according to county planner Danny Whittle. Seven or eight other municipalities in the county have adopted TND ordinances, he adds.
Growing Together has won all kinds of awards, including Best Plan from the state planning association and a Smart Growth Leadership Award from the county. It was written by ACP Visioning & Planning and Thomas Comitta Associates.

DEVELOPER SUPPORT
New Urbanism has the support of many developers, especially Charter Homes & Neighborhoods, a regional builder. Numerous TNDs are under construction or in planning. One of the best examples under construction is the 472-unit Florin Hill in Mount Joy Borough — by Charter Homes and designed by Looney Ricks Kiss. The development extends the street grid of Mount Joy and adds commercial development to one side of a historic main street.
Yet the recent defeat of the TND ordinance in East Hempfield Township shows that the road toward New Urbanism will be rocky at times. The ordinance would have enabled at least four TNDs to move forward — in addition to Independence and Lime Spring, two smaller projects in earlier stages of planning also depended on the proposed law. The largest of the four was Independence, designed by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company in October 2005. The 309-acre, 3,000-plus unit community with transit access was the biggest TND proposed in the state (see plan on home page). Independence had the apparent support of 150 to 200 residents who attended the charrette, but public perception had shifted by late 2007, when the TND ordinance was presented to the public. Since supervisors shelved the ordinance in January, Charter Homes has been mum about its plans for Independence, according to township planner Mark Stivers.
Lime Spring, a 115-acre TND designed by Rettew Associates, will likely go forward as a more conventional development. “We would rather have a TND but we have to work with the ordinance that is there,” says Barry Mehaffey, an urban designer with Rettew.
Two smaller TNDs, each around 60 acres, were in preliminary planning when officials pulled the plug. How they move forward will depend on possible rezoning, according to Stivers.
Opposition to the TND ordinance was heavy. An estimated 250 to 300 residents showed up to a meeting to oppose the ordinance and focused on 1) the size of the potential TNDs; 2) the number of TNDs that could be in development simultaneously; 3) the provision of big box stores in the projects; 4) the allowed density; 5) perceived negative impact on the character of the community; 6) loss of agriculture and open space, according to Stivers. “I don’t disagree with some of the [residents’] concerns and I was preparing to modify the ordinance when the process was shut down by the governing body,” he says.
Ironically, the ordinance had the support of farmland preservationists because compact development is essential to saving open space in the county, planners say.

STRATEGIC ERRORS?
Some planners involved in the process point to what they believe were strategic errors. The township chose to present the ordinance without emphasizing specific examples of what would be built, says Thomas Comitta, who wrote the TND ordinance. “I think the simple act of showing the elegance of Independence plan as part of the ordinance would have assuaged the fears of people,” Comitta says.
More public outreach earlier could have made a difference, according to county planner Danny Whittle. “It got too far along before there was broad public discussion,” he says. By the time meetings were held on the ordinance, the public had focused on worst-case scenarios, Whittle says. The ordinance was based on the Transect, and opponents argued that the entire overlay district would be developed as Urban Center or Urban Core, Comitta explains. “People felt it was too far, too fast, and we got our hands slapped,” Stivers told the Lancaster News.
Will Selman, a new urbanist based in Lancaster, says the ordinance and proposed TNDs “would have put East Hempfield on a national map” for smart growth.
The township recently issued a request for proposals to rewrite its zoning to support Growing Together. The township is no longer using the term TND to describe the proposed zoning change, although the rewrite will encourage mixed-use and compact development, Stivers says. The process could take a couple years, planners estimate.

THE FUTURE OF LANCASTER TND
In many Lancaster County municipalities, the support for TND remains strong. West Lampeter Township, located on the opposite side of the City of Lancaster from East Hempfield, has two sizable developments moving forward. These are Charter Homes’ 48-acre, 220-unit West Creek, designed by Looney Ricks Kiss, and 60-acre, 346-unit Astonshire, designed by Design Collective for Keystone Custom Homes. West Lampeter has had an ordinance that encourages TND for any parcel greater than 10 acres. “We feel we are doing a good job through that type of design,” says Craig Underwood, director of community development.
“I still believe that TND is the best way to develop,” Whittle says. “Although East Hempfield has caused us to reconsider our motives and take another look at TND, it still has been reaffirmed as the best way to go. That’s especially true with regard to saving our agricultural heritage.”
The county has plenty of good locations for infill development in and around historic boroughs and villages, like Mount Joy where Florin Hill is under construction, Whittle points out. Growing Together will provide a framework for this growth.
“We have 19 boroughs that need to be infilled and revitalized,” says Whittle. Additionally, many historic villages that are part of larger townships could serve as focal points for mixed-use development, he adds. He called the East Hempfield decision “disappointing but a long way from being a major setback,” for New Urbanism in the county.
This article is available in the March 2008 issue of New Urban News, along with images and many more articles not available online. Subscribe or order the individual issue.