Land Use for Active Living Examples

State

Washington State Growth Management Act

To promote physical activity, Washington has established the following requirements:

• The land-use element of each county and municipal comprehensive plan must consider urban planning approaches that promote physical activity.
• The transportation element of each county and municipal comprehensive plan must
  include a pedestrian and bicycle component that includes collaborative efforts to
  identify improvements for pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and corridors that encourage
  community access and promote healthy lifestyles.
• Each county and municipal transportation program must include enhanced bicycle or
  pedestrian facilities that promote non-motorized transit.
• The State Parks Commission must maintain policies that increase the number of people
  who have access to free or low-cost recreational opportunities.

www.commerce.wa.gov/_CTED/documents/ID_892_Publications.pdf

Local

Escondido Becomes Vibrant, Mixed Development Including Parks, Walkways, Beauty

A five-acre site in Escondido, Calif., that was once a crime-ridden trailer park is now a mixed-use, mixed-income development serving a vibrant community. Located along a main corridor, the site provides 72 affordable apartments, 10 single-family homes and nine shopkeeper units. The aesthetics include artistically painted buildings, and native architecture and landscaping. A park, which includes a large playground, tot lots, cobblestone paths and trees, wraps around the development.
http://www.escondido.org/Data/Sites/1/media/pdfs/Housing/2006CRAAwardOfExcellence.pdf

Seattle Transforms Dilapidated Neighborhood into Vibrant Community

The Seattle Housing Authority worked closely with community members to rebuild a formerly crime-ridden and dilapidated hilltop neighborhood into a mixed-use, mixed-income and environmentally sensitive community. The mixed-income neighborhood is composed of half rental units and half owner-occupied units, and the new development includes parks, a public library, a health clinic and retail space. The more than 1,700 new units are expected to consume less water, electricity and natural gas than the community’s previous 716 units. In addition, the 600 rental housing units built by the Seattle Housing Authority are all certified to be environmentally friendly at the highest standards. This project is the nation’s first Energy Star-rated rental housing development.
www.smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=3315&res=1024

Cities and Counties Work with School Districts to Focus School Construction in Walkable Communities

During the past decade, a growing number of local governments—from California to North Carolina—have started working closely with school systems to develop processes to ensure that schools are located in pedestrian-friendly settings. In some cases, local governments have worked directly with school districts to discuss land-use and growth plans, while in other cases, one or both partners have worked at the state level to ease rules related to minimum acreage requirements and other standards that make it difficult to build or keep schools in older neighborhoods that are walkable .
http://icma.org/documents/SGNReport.pdf

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