Summit Explores Growth Decisions and Their Lasting Impact

Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade
Special Sections Editor

LANCASTER, Pa. — What does smart growth have to do with agriculture? Everything, according to Karen Martynick of the Lancaster Farmland Trust. And the choices made by government boards, school districts and others, while they might seem small at the time, can have profound impact.

"As much as we would like to preserve everything, we can't," Martynick said. "We need to do more if we are going to preserve agriculture."

The Coalition for Smart Growth hosted its 2009 Summit on Tuesday at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center.

"It's not just about putting a conservation easement on every farm we can find," Martynick said. Smart growth is a movement to develop mixed use communities to better utilize infrastructure and maintain agricultural and green space.

Martynick said the important decisions are often the smaller ones that communities have to make. Those small decisions have a long-term impact in growth management.

Martynick recapped her points with messages to each of the different interests at the summit. To the preservation community — "pick your battles, you can't preserve everything," she said. To municipal officials — "toughen up, there are times that the right answer is 'no' when a development is put in front of you." And to the developers — "You can't have everything … and play by the rules."

Rick Kane, Manheim Township fire chief, said smart growth planning is beneficial because it assists with response time. He noted that agricultural lands are on the outer edge of his township, while higher density housing is closer to the township's three fire stations.

Kane and James Walsh, West Lampeter Township chief of police, said it is important for the government and school districts to include the departments in future planning.

Steve Iovino, former Warwick School District superintendent, shared his experiences on the renovation of several schools during his tenure, including the renovation of the Lititz Elementary School. Through the decision process, while there was pressure to move outside of town, it was decided it would be better to remain in town. He noted the savings to the taxpayers because most of the children could walk to the school and the ability of teachers to use the community as a "walking classroom" for field trips and educational experiences. Iovino also said that if they had moved outside of town it would have encouraged more sprawl, as new school campuses tend to be followed by new houses.

Ralph Goodno of the Lancaster County Conservancy said planners can not underestimate the value of green infrastructure in long-term planning. He noted the example of the Charles River watershed in Boston, where the Army Corps of Engineers planted more than 1,000 trees in the upper watershed to control flooding, instead of building a dam.

Dan Zimmerman stressed the success of his township, Warwick, in taking a regional approach. By reaching out, the benefits have included the township's ability to share costs, avoid duplication of services and secure additional grants. He also shared his experience with farmland preservation and transferable development rights (TDRs) in focusing where growth will happen in the township. To date, he said, about half of the townships ag lands have been preserved under the two methods.

The challenge for people at the summit is what they do after leaving the meeting, Martynick said.

"It's not about sitting in a room and saying what we would like for our community, it's about personally making those personal small decisions. Those decisions will have an impact on the future," she said. Each time a municipality extends it urban growth line into more farmland, runs water and sewer through farmland or improves access to the farmland, it has an impact on agriculture's viability.

Charlene Shupp Espenshade can be reached at cshupp.eph@lnpnews.com.