Most big box stores look like they were air-dropped into a sea of asphalt. These cavernous cubes increasingly are thought of as ugly, traffic-generating wastes of land that harm local businesses and ruin the look and feel of small towns. But if the box is tucked in among homes and offices, does it shed any of the negative baggage? Can a big box be part of an appealing mixed-use development? These questions are raised by a highly contentious proposal for 60 acres along Route 10 in Simsbury. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 23, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/UrbanSprawl/htfd_courant_072306.asp
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In 1989 the legislature passed an affordable housing appeals law intended to pry open the gates that affluent towns often erect against housing for working-class and poor people. But 15 years later, an analysis based on state housing and federal census data suggests the law has failed to forge significant progress. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: November 21, 2004
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_112104.asp
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Urban Expert David Rusk Outlines The Merits - And Limitations - Of Regional Cooperation in this interview with Tom Condon of the Hartford Courant. This interviewed first appeared in the August 8, 2004 edition of the Courant. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: August 8, 2004
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/courant_080804.asp
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Clustering new housing around Connecticut's job centers, transit lines and existing commercial hubs would significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the cost of infrastructure in the decades ahead, regional planners recently said at a forum in Hartford. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: June 01, 2009
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_060109.asp
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Overhauling Connecticut's public policies so that they encourage mixed-income, higher-density housing near transit lines can stop suburban sprawl, ease highway congestion and limit pollution. That's the claim of Partnership for Strong Communities, a housing advocacy group that hosted a roundtable discussion with top state leaders recently. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: March 10, 2009
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_031009.asp
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In this editorial, the Courant staff comment on Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s positions and proposed state budget. They comment that while she has supported some key positions that are friendly to the environment, most of the funds to implement a new brownfields remediation program have been stripped from her budget proposal. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: May 6, 2007
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Link: /issues/documents/SmartGrowth/htfd_courant_050607.asp
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State Rep. Art Feltman has proposed several bills in the General Assembly aimed at maintaining Connecticut’s quality of life and promote smart growth. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: April 1, 2007
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Link: /issues/documents/Region/htfd_courant_040107.asp
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As House chairman of the General Assembly's Planning and Development Committee, Lewis J. Wallace Jr. heard from residents at numerous public hearings about the problems caused by sprawl. The committee identified five great needs our state must meet to enhance our quality of life: The need to create jobs and homes, to preserve open space, to encourage people to live in urban areas, to save tax dollars and to encourage participation in planning at the local level of government. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 9, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_070906_c.asp
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The costs of spawl are high. Schools, sewers, electric lines and other infrastructure are expensive to build and maintain. Low density growth increases the costs. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: October 9, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_100905_c.asp
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The Capitol Region Council of Governments has been awarded federal assistance to develop responsible growth strategies for affordable housing, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced recently. The council, a regional planning agency representing Hartford-area municipalities, will receive technical assistance valued at approximately $45,000 from a team of national experts organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Rell said. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: November 12, 2008
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_111208.asp
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An architect and planner proposes that there is a movement back to the "Village" or town center which is demonstrated by the renaissance of Connecticut's center cities. Likewise in the suburbs, a village-like neighborhood that is interesting, walkable, and has a variety of housing units clustered together, is the wave of the future. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: October 9, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_100905_d.asp
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A UConn economist suggests that sprawl is not a individual lifestyle choice, but a result of from the incentive structure of mortgages, the pressures on local governments and the unwillingness of the people of Connecticut, through their elected representatives, to change the rules. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: October 9, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_100905_a.asp
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Tom Condon suggests that a walk would illustrate much of what's wrong with low-density, unplanned fringe development. After more than a half-century of unmitigated development of subdivisions and strip malls across what had been the countryside, experts belatedly discerned a public health problem. Much of it has to do with driving. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: May 6, 2007
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Link: /issues/documents/UrbanSprawl/htfd_courant_050607.asp
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Tom Sevigny expresses the opinion that far from being the result of a free market system, urban sprawl is the direct consequence of government subsidies, intense corporate lobbying and manipulation through the legalized bribery we call campaign contributions, not to mention stifling zoning regulations that have limited the choices Americans have when it comes to where we live and how we get from place to place. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: March 5, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/SmartGrowth/htfd_courant_030506.asp
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David Medina expresses the opinion that it's immensely safer and less thought-provoking for legislators to simply let towns continue to relieve the agony of property taxes by expanding their grand lists with big-box stores and luxury subdivisions than to institute property tax reform. As long as people will pay whatever it takes to live in the splendor of suburban homogeneity, property tax reform is just a gimmick to raise voter anxiety and put state lawmakers on the spot. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: March 28, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/TAXES/htfd_courant_032806.asp
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In this opinion piece, the author suggests that a property tax cap, as proposed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, would impact low-income small towns, and exacerbate inequalities in municipal services. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: February 06, 2008
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Link: /issues/documents/taxes/htfd_courant_020608.asp
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In this editorial, the Hartford Courant expresses the opinion that in the short term, officials need to improve bus and van transit as much as possible. Workers going from population centers such as Hartford to job sites such as Bradley airport or the University of Connecticut should be able to make decent bus connections. In the long term, public policy has to encourage affordable housing in city and town centers near job sites — or near transit stops so people can get to job sites. At the same time, incentives to employers should encourage them to locate in places that are accessible to workers. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 10, 2008
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Link: /issues/documents/region/htfd_courant_071008.asp
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Tom Condon writes that when the recession began a couple of years ago, then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel urged the country not to let a serious crisis go to waste. He meant that the beleaguered economy could allow changes that before were thought impossible. Connecticut thus far has largely failed to take advantage of the crisis, and instead has just bumbled along, hoping for a miracle recovery, missing opportunities. One is in the area of land-use planning, a chronic weakness in this state. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: November 14, 2010
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_111410.asp
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The smart growth revolution is based on something very simple: That there's lots of infrastructure and urban land and even suburban neighborhoods to take advantage of before it's ever necessary to turn the bulldozers loose in another cornfield. This is especially true for the town centers and downtowns and small- and medium-sized cities of New England. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 9, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_070906_a.asp
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Sprawl and its alternative - what planners and policy types call "smart growth" - were the topic at a recent Key Issues forum sponsored by The Courant and moderated by Courant Place Editor Tom Condon. Former Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman spoke at the auditorium at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. While in office, both governors said, they made smart growth a policy priority. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 14, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_071406.asp
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The Rev. Josh Pawelek and Ann Pratt of the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice review evidence that the development and maintenance of sprawl is based on "spatial racism" Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: November 27, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_112705.asp
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Although sprawl is most often associated with the far reaches of suburbia, many older American city centers have been affected by it — progressively reshaped and transformed in an effort to make them more competitive with their burgeoning suburbs. In Hartford, a fundamental change occurred in the look and configuration of the city, but also in how its transportation functions. Over the last 60 years, what has been created in downtown Hartford is a hybrid urban form that functions more like suburban sprawl than a traditional urban place. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: June 18, 2010
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Link: /issues/documents/downtowndevelopment/htfd_courant_061810.asp
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The former governors of Maryland and New Jersey, Parris N. Glendening and Christine Todd Whitman respectively, comment on the development of sprawl in Connecticut. They suggest that lessons learned in their home states may help Connecticut grow. The goal is not to try to stop growth and development, but to harness and shape it so that communities get better as they grow, and so that the state's rural and natural legacy can be passed to future generations. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 9, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_070906.asp
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In this commentary, the author suggests that as part of her anti-sprawl effort, Gov. M. Jodi Rell should create a graduate school at the University of Connecticut in planning and design that would give students the practical experience central to reversing sprawl and increasing economic opportunity. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: December 10, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/SmartGrowth/htfd_courant_121006.asp
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This editorial suggests that sprawl is the most serious challenge facing the state. The 2000 census showed dozens of small rural towns in both the eastern and western parts of Connecticut growing at a breakneck rate, while population fell in four of the state's five largest cities. Nearly all of this development is sprawl - ill-planned, low-density, auto-dependent, single-family residential or strip mall construction on what was forest or farmland. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: October 9, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/urbansprawl/htfd_courant_100905.asp
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US Census Bureau’s population estimates indicate outer suburbs are still absorbing Connecticut’s growth. According to census estimates for the period July 2007 to July 2009, nearly all the fastest growing communities are outer-ring suburban towns — as has been the case for decades. The fastest growing town in this period was East Windsor, whose population increased 4.14 percent. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 07, 2010
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_070710.asp
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In this editorial, the Courant expresses the opinion that it is imperative that the incoming governor and legislative leaders get out in front of the nascent smart growth movement and nurture it with changes in state policy. Grass-roots efforts are beginning to coalesce into a statewide coalition under the banner of 1,000 Friends of Connecticut. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 9, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_070906_b.asp
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Tom Condon expresses the opinion that if state officials are handing out public money in the form of grants, loans or tax breaks to corporations, they should require - not encourage or suggest, require - that the corporations set up shop in town centers or transit corridors. Subsidizing sprawl worsens the state's quality of life. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: April 1, 2007
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Link: /issues/documents/UrbanSprawl/htfd_courant_040107.asp
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In this commentary, Tom Sevigny expresses the opinion that in the end, unplanned growth, both commercial and residential, will cost towns more than they receive in property taxes. There is a need for commercial development along major routes such as 44. However, such development needs to be carefully planned, within scale, and designed to keep a town's character intact. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: July 23, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/UrbanSprawl/htfd_courant_072306_a.asp
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Lyle Wray, the executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments sees a real opportunity for the capital region to create an alternative to the car-centered life. It's called transit-oriented development, or TOD. The basic idea is simple - use transit stops, whether busway or commuter rail stations or enhanced bus stops, as the nucleus for a mix of housing, retail, offices and street enhancements. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: October 9, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/transportation/htfd_courant_100905_b.asp
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In March of 2003, the demographer Myron Orfield warned that Connecticut, despite its wealth, was not on a path for healthy growth. Orfield was the principal author of "Connecticut Metropatterns — A Regional Agenda for Community and Prosperity in Connecticut." The study looked at the state's growth patterns and found "inequality and sprawl. The Metropatterns report was one of many efforts in to stop the low-density, wasteful development patterns. For all of that, sprawl continues. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: February 27, 2013
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Link: /issues/documents/region/htfd_courant_022713.asp
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Wyn Achenbaum, a tax reform activist, suggests in this commentary that there are many benefits to a two-tiered property tax system in which land is taxed at a higher rate than buildings. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: March 12, 2006
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Link: /issues/documents/Taxes/htfd_courant_031206.asp
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The federal government has been influencing where people live since the Depression, when it involved itself in a major way in the housing market. This involvement included, shamefully, redlining urban neighborhoods for home loans as well as building public housing projects and, later, constructing the interstate highway system. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: March 11, 2013
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Link: /issues/documents/smartgrowth/htfd_courant_031113.asp
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Tom Condon suggests that building smaller houses in mixed-income developments is preferable to mega houses, but that zoning laws must change in Connecticut if this is to happen. Published by The Hartford Courant
; Publication Date: November 27, 2005
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Link: /issues/documents/housing/htfd_courant_112705.asp
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