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with tegitimate concerns the task then becomes a balancing act to look at both 'immediate local negacive impacts of a pro- ject and the greater community good of r- :�ding the housing or sezvices ChaC will uild a stronger more sustainable com- ntuiilC�? There is oFten a very strong contingene of neighborhood opposition that very trans- parently is simply opposed to the particular population that will be living in the pro- posed project. In pubiic hearings rhat are addressing these kinds of projects it is important that some house rules are out- lined early on that make it clear that legiti- mate concerns about impacts will be the focus of the meeting and that derogatory language or statements about the kind of peaple who wi11 be living in the project will not be talerated. Agazn this is an education- al process that is challenging our often still strong belief that neighborhoods have the right to be exclusionary." — Davic� Foster, Planning Commissioner, Santa Cruz, California "NIMBYism is a serious problem as r' ��nities seek to allow infill , :_:_-`;;,�:;�ment in or near established neighborhoods. Protesters wili often speak in favor of infilt as a desirable planning practice but, for a host of reasons, not in their neighborhood. A legicimate reason for opposing infill is that the neigliborhood infrastructure is insuffi�ient to handle additional growth. The proposed area may be Iacking curbs, gutters and sidewalks, have drainage prob- lems, existing traffi� �ongestion, chopped up streeLs, and so on. As a trade-off for increasing the density under less than favorable conditions, the municipality sk�ould be prepared to give some[hing back to the neighborhood such as upgraded infrastructure, additional street erees, tnore intense code enforcement, or the imposi- tion of stringent design review and land- scaping requirements for the new housing. A less legitima[e reason Eor infill NI?VfBY- ism is the assertion ihat the neighbors were given an express ar implied promise by planners or council tnembers that their existing zoning would not be revised and there would be no changes to their present living environment. Increasing the density in such neighborhoods is often viewed as nothing less than treason. But one council cannot tie the hands of another and local governments have neither a legal nor ethi- cal obligation to uphold expectations of continued low density zoning. In implementing public policy, planners and council members must take into account changing demographics, values and needs. Indeed, the underlying justifica- tions for infill devetopment, such as the avoidance of sprawl and the provision of affordable housing, are real and, ot�e migh[ say, ethical concerns that override any express or implied pramise that existing zoning standards wilt be forever main- tained. ° — Irv Schiffman, Professor of Political Science, CaIifornia State Utziversity - Chico Fr PIanning Commissioner, City of Chico. .o. 3i1� �r`e�r �Oft,�K �l��i' "I'm sure you've all heard of the phenome- non oE NIMBYism — Not Tn My Back Yard ism. Every time a new buiiding is proposed absolutely anywhere in l�merica, you can guaran[ee that somebody or some group, will file a lawsuit against it. Nobody wants anything new. Well, sure. Every new thit�g we've gotten over the last 50 years has made our lives worse: the new honsing development down the road, the new strip mall, the highway improvements that turn a.�: two-lane road into a sis-laner, the corporate office that looks like the mother ship from a UFO movie. The new schod that loolcs like an insecticide factory. The new motel Yhat looks like a medium securiry prison. The new mall with a parking lot the size of Rhode Island. We don't want anymore of this. And isn't it understandable? Loak at the misery these things have produced. Its perfectly reasonable — given our experience over the past ha!£-cetaEUry. You see the guys with the yellow hard-hat out in the cow- pasture and, by reflex, you reach for the phone and call your lawyer.° —James Howard Kunsder, a��thor of The Geography of Nowhere [the above is excerpted, with perrrtission, from an ac�dress dettvered by Kiinstter, availnbte nt: <www.hiinstter.cotn/spch_FL AIA.html>. Get oa�t of my hack yarci Not in my e?ection yeat� BiiiIct n1�soleitel� nothing a�iywhere near anything PLANNING COIvIM1S510NERS JO[fRiVAL / NUMBER 51 / SUMMER 2003 ��:��