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State & Local News Vol. 22, No. 3, Spring 1999
Preserving Our CitiesBy John A. DelaneyFlorida is the most urbanized state in the South and one of the three most urbanized in the United States. By the year 2000, it is expected to be the fourth most populated state in the nation with more than 15.5 million residents.1 Florida was designed to grow. Its purpose was to grow. Its constitution, tax code, and land and water law were all designed for growth. Despite the numerous growth strategies implemented over the past century, policymakers continue to debate whether growth is good or bad, though most agree that it is inevitable. Governors and mayors live and die in constant pursuit of jobs for their states and communities, just like CEOs chase sales and sandwich shop owners dream of a franchise chain. A growing economy offers a growth dividend: more tax money for services, arts, universities, parks, and police. Growth satisfies the competitive spirit and is an integral player in the American Dream. As the shirt store sells more shirts, the dry cleaners clean more clothes, restaurants serve more meals, and magazines sell more subscriptions, the unemployed find work and people buy homes. If cities are not growing, they are stagnant or, worse yet, they are dying because there is no growth dividend. Just as the pioneers moved west in pursuit of open spaces, Americans have continued to seek new frontiers. From this movement toward expansion, the suburbs were born. In the 1960s, downtown middle America collapsed. Americans moved from the centralized city and committed themselves to suburbia. Suburban housing developments destroyed old core-city traditional neighborhoods, office parks emptied buildings downtown, shopping malls killed downtown retail, and massive metropolitan areas were created. As city boundaries expanded, needs increased and public services became strained, cities were often left to foot the bill. Understandably, the costs of growth are significant. New schools are needed in the suburbs while our inner city schools are empty. Water and sewer lines continue to be extended and the demand for public safety and services steadily climbs. There are many tools to combat urban sprawl; however, the two most effective, substantively and politically, are downtown revitalization and public land acquisition. Most public officials today want to revive their urban cores and in many cases provide incentives for economic development to draw businesses away from the suburbs. The second approach, land acquisition, though not yet as popular, is the ultimate and most effective way to target where communities may or may not want growth. Urban preservation is long overdue in most American cities. Few communities have planned for growth effectively and are forced to address the associated issues of zoning, transportation, and housing as they begin to feel the strain. Urban preservation is a critical element of growth management and will determine the quality of life our children and grandchildren will enjoy in America’s cities. A number of states are setting a precedent by saving land from development and committing millions of dollars to protect green space. New York’s Open Space Conservation Plan was authorized in 1990 by the New York State Assembly and its Environmental Protection Fund contributes more than $30 million annually to conservation. Likewise, its Clean Water/Clean Bond Act provides an additional $150 million for land acquisition and farm land protection, $50 million for the improvement of state parks and $50 million for the municipal park program.2 The State of New Jersey is spending $1 billion to preserve 1 million acres over the next ten years, and voters in Arizona recently passed a bill to spend more than $200 million in ten years to conserve land. With $300 million a year allocated for land acquisition, Florida’s Preservation 2000 program is among the most aggressive. However, the State of Florida has fallen short in its acquisition of urban land. For years, the majority of funding has been spent in rural areas, where land is plentiful and less expensive. In fact, research shows that of the $2.6 billion spent by the State of Florida on land acquisition since 1972, only $27.6 million has been spent in Jacksonville, the largest city in the state in both population and land area. Essentially a donor city, Jacksonville’s fair share of these land acquisition dollars is estimated at $168.1 million, leaving an historical inequity of more than $140 million. Encompassing 841 square miles, Jacksonville is the largest city in total land area in the contiguous United States. It is the fifteenth largest city in the country in population and is larger than six U.S. states. Situated in North Florida along the Atlantic Ocean, Jacksonville’s natural resources are abundant, but nevertheless, vulnerable. Growth south and east of Jacksonville’s urban core has been swift and the need to preserve land has become more and more critical. The Preservation Project, announced in January, is designed to address Jacksonville’s rapid development. Aimed primarily at taking land out of development for conservation, The Preservation Project is an aggressive plan to not only control Jacksonville’s growth but also save its natural resources. As communities attempt to manage growth, targeted land acquisition is often looked upon as the moral equivalent of building new roads. Removing land from development eliminates cars from the roads that would otherwise be added if the land were developed. Jacksonville plans to take ten to twenty square miles of land out of development during the next five years. That’s roughly fifteen times the size of Central Park in New York City. The $312.8 million plan leverages local, state, and federal funding, as well as private donations. And, the plan seeks to recoup a greater percentage of state funding allocated for purchasing land. Though land acquisition is the primary focus of The Preservation Project, the plan will also provide residents with greater access to their natural environment, while ensuring that conservation areas are not overused. The National Park Service’s Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve will be enhanced with hiking trails, canoeing circuits, and bird-watching towers. The Northbank Riverfront Regional Park along the St. Johns River, which flows through downtown Jacksonville, will be extended, and more than 100 neighborhood parks will be improved with landscaping, benches, drinking fountains, better fencing, and a wide variety of other amenities depending on the type of park and needs of the neighborhood. Federal, state, and local leaders have all joined hands in this effort and pledged their commitment to park enhancement and land preservation in Jacksonville. A citizens oversight committee will make land purchase recommendations. In most cases, growth is a good problem to have, but instead of simply reacting to the demands of growth, cities must plan more effectively and devise strategies that outline where and how they want to grow. There are no clear cut formulas to ensure quality growth, but certainly the preservation of green space and undeveloped land is an important first step to guarantee strong cities for the future. John A. Delaney is the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. Endnotes
1. David R. Colburn & Lance deHaven-Smith, A View of the 21st Century: A Perspective on Florida (1999).
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