Voters easily pass an initiative to establish a greenbelt tax around the city.
"By a 2-to-1 margin, [Ann Arbor voters] approved a tax to pay for buying land outside the city limits...The greenbelt millage -- which replaces an expiring tax that acquired parkland inside the city -- is expected to raise $84 million over 30 years and $1.9 million in its very first year. Two-thirds of that will be used to buy land or to buy the development rights to existing farm land...The Ann Arbor tax lobbed a direct hit at real estate developers, who had mounted an expensive campaign to defeat the proposal...[the millage] won't seize property from legal owners. It respects property rights -- and the need for people to have forests and cornfields and parks around them."
Thanks to David Gest
Read the full story: Ann Arbor's voters strike blow against urban sprawl
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Atlanta City Council unanimously backs $3.5 billion Beltline light rail project
The resolution was drafted after Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens pulled support for the Atlanta Streetcar extension last year.
SEPTA to bring nearby frequent transit to over 1 million new riders as part of decade-long plan
The agency's Accelerate plan will also bring frequent transit to twice the amount of jobs that are currently located near it.
NYC plants over 18,000 trees, the most new foliage in a decade
Many of the trees were planted in communities vulnerable to extreme heat.
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.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello