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Legislating Smart Growth: Favorable and Unfavorable Policies

There are numerous approaches that can be taken in growth management and smart growth initiatives. Unfortunately, “No Growth” objectives can be accomplished by making very small changes to existing policy, such as restricting the sale of particular goods to keep out a specific retailer, limiting the number of parking spaces, and limiting the square footage of retail locations. This can make it extremely difficult to identify and impact bad policy, particularly on the local level.

Conversely, there are also examples of growth management policy that positively reinforce the ideal that smart growth should not equal no growth.

ICSC strongly supports growth management strategies that include the following principles:

  • Local control over land use planning
  • Integration of land uses
  • Infill development and reuse of Brownfields
  • Long-term planning that takes into account future growth needs of a community
  • Public/private partnerships
  • Diversity of shopping opportunities which will reduce required travel distances for a community
  • Open public hearings during local decision-making process

The following links provide examples of both positive and negative growth management policies.

  • Favorable Growth Management Policies
  • Unfavorable Growth Management Policies