City officials are close to passing a law that would give major density bonuses to developers in exchange for funding for seawalls, pump stations, and other climate resilience projects.
A new Miami law would allow developers to build up to double the allowable density in certain neighborhoods if they agree to pay into the city’s Resilience Trust Fund, according to an article in The Real Deal.
The trust fund is designed to pay for flood control and climate resilience projects including raising streets, replacing seawalls, and pump stations. Critics of the policy say it would give developers an open door to building oversized projects in flood zones rather than planning for more sustainable development.
The city commission approved the proposal, but it requires a second vote to go into effect. “Aaron DeMayo, who chairs the city’s Climate Resilience Committee, supports the proposal, but said he found it ‘somewhat ironic that we’re incentivizing additional development capacity in an area that obviously is already flooding significantly.’”
FULL STORY: Miami commission pushes climate fix by doubling development density
Over 500 NYC ‘Blue Zones’ at Risk of More Destructive Floods
High-risk flood zones cover roughly 20% of the city’s land.
Report Links Housing Growth and Climate Resilience
Data from three U.S. metro areas show a failure to address land use and sprawl as a key factor driving climate change.
Sea Level Rise Will Not Be Uniform
As the climate warms, the world's glaciers and ice sheets are melting, but sea level increase will be greater in some places due to the earth's rotation and gravity, according to a newly released study by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association