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Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities
- Background
- Direct Assistance from EPA
- Assistance from EPA Grant Recipients
- Other tools and technical assistance programs
Background
Many communities around the country are asking for tools and resources to help them achieve their desired development goals, improve the quality of life for their residents, and make their communities more economically and environmentally sustainable. In response to this demand, EPA developed the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program.
Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities seeks to provide quick, targeted technical assistance to communities using a variety of tools that have demonstrated results and widespread application. This technical assistance will help selected local and/or tribal governments to implement development approaches that protect the environment, improve public health, create jobs, expand economic opportunity, and improve overall quality of life. The purpose of delivering these tools is to stimulate a discussion about growth and development, strengthen local capacity to implement sustainable communities approaches, and provide ideas on how to change local policies and procedures to make communities more economically and environmentally sustainable.
The assistance will be offered in two ways in 2011:
- EPA will select communities and provide direct assistance by EPA staff and private-sector experts based on tools that EPA has identified. Under this part of the program, each technical assistance project in a community will include:
- Public engagement—for example, a one-day workshop that is open to the public.
- Direct consultation with relevant decision-makers.
- A memo outlining specific steps the community could take if it wants to implement the ideas generated during the site visit.
- EPA has awarded grants to four nonprofit organizations with extensive sustainable communities expertise. These organizations—Cascade Land Conservancy, Global Green USA, Project for Public Spaces, and Smart Growth America—will offer technical assistance to communities based on tools they have chosen that support their organization’s primary mission while also supporting the goals of the Building Blocks program. Contact each organization directly to learn details about the assistance available and the application process (see "Assistance from Grantees" below).
Frequent questions about the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program are answered here.
EPA hosted a webinar on October 6, 2011, to answer questions about applying to the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities and Smart Growth Implementation Assistance programs. Click here for presentation slides from the webinar (PDF). (24 pp, 2MB, About PDF) Answers to questions asked during the webinar are found on the Frequently Asked Questions pages for Smart Growth Implementation Assistance and Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities.
Direct Assistance from EPA
Tools
The tools that will be used in the next round of direct assistance from EPA under the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program include:
- Complete Streets: Teaches communities how to set investment priorities, draft policies, and implement changes to make their streets safe and appealing to all users, including drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.
- Creating a Green Streets Strategy: Leads communities through actions to manage stormwater while developing streets that serve all users.
- Green Building Toolkit: Assists local governments in identifying and removing barriers to sustainable design and green building in their permitting processes.
- Linking Land Use to Water Quality: Helps local governments protect water quality through innovative approaches to land use and development that will also save money, help spur economic growth, and improve the community's quality of life.
- Parking Audit: Assists communities with managing parking supply and applying strategies for making the best use of parking for existing and planned land uses.
- Preferred Growth Areas: Offers a process for communities to review values, opportunities, tools, and constraints to determine the most environmentally beneficial locations for growth.
- Smart Growth Guidelines for Sustainable Design and Development: Helps the community understand the key principles and decisions at the location, site, and building levels that can result in a more sustainable plan or development proposal.
- Smart Growth Zoning Codes for Small Cities and Rural Areas: Offers a menu of quick fixes that rural and small-town governments can make to their zoning codes and planning documents to get development that protects their character and quality of life.
- Using Smart Growth to Produce Fiscal and Economic Health: Helps communities get better economic results from development and investments.
- Walking Audit: Assesses the pedestrian environment in a community and helps form a vision for short- and long-term improvements to sidewalks and streets.
Communities Selected in 2012
In 2012, EPA selected 56 communities in 26 states to receive technical assistance through the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program. Applications were drawn from calls for letters of interest in February and October 2011. The assistance will be delivered in a day-long workshop for each community that will provide ideas on local policies and procedures to improve the local economy, environment, and quality of life. Each community will receive a short "next steps" memo outlining options the community can consider as it moves forward.
- Complete Streets: Binghamton, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Modesto, California; Pocatello, Idaho; and Roxbury, Massachusetts.
- Green Building Toolkit: Dunwoody, Georgia and Niles, Illinois.
- Green Streets Strategy: East Lansing, Michigan; Passaic County, New Jersey; Northampton, Massachusetts; and Surprise, Arizona.
- Linking Land Use to Water Quality: Campton Hills, Lakemoor, and Round Lake Heights, Illinois.
- Parking Audits: Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Holyoke, Massachusetts; Roanoke, Virginia; Simsbury, Connecticut; and Trenton, New Jersey.
- Preferred Growth Areas: Dickinson, New England, and Richardton, North Dakota.
- Smart Growth Guidelines for Sustainable Design and Development: Greensboro, North Carolina; Hazel Crest, Lansing, and Olympia Fields, Illinois; and Salina, Kansas.
- Smart Growth Zoning Codes for Small Cities and Rural Areas: Dallas Center, Iowa; Hays, Kansas; Marietta, Pennsylvania; Onondaga County, New York; Onslow County, North Carolina; University City, Missouri; Van Meter, Iowa; Wakulla County, Florida; and Woodward, Iowa.
- Sustainable Land Use Code Audit: St. Joseph, Missouri.
- Using Smart Growth to Produce Fiscal and Economic Health: Fall River, Massachusetts; Henderson, Nevada; Kelso, Washington; Northampton County, Pennsylvania; Stony Point, New York; and Topeka, Kansas.
- Walking Audit: Blue Springs, Missouri; Contra Costa County, California; Corpus Christi, Texas; Daytona Beach, Florida; Jackson, Michigan; Jersey City, New Jersey; Lewes, Delaware; Newtown Borough, Pennsylvania; Olympia, Washington; and Port Arthur, Texas.
Communities Selected in 2011
In 2011, EPA selected 32 communities from two sources to receive Building Blocks assistance (one community chose to receive assistance in a later round, and another decided not to receive assistance). First, EPA issued a Request for Letters of Interest to generate a list of communities that would match the tools being offered. The second method was to draw from previously unsuccessful Smart Growth Implementation Assistance applicants whose issues were suited for this targeted technical assistance. The grants to the nonprofit recipients had not yet been awarded, so the 2011 round of assistance comprised only direct assistance from EPA and private-sector experts.
- Complete Streets: McKinney, Texas; Nashville/Davidson, Tennessee; Portland, Maine; and Wichita, Kansas.
- Preferred Growth Areas: Bluffton, South Carolina; Ranson, West Virginia; and Rockport, Texas.
- Smart Growth Guidelines for Sustainable Design and Development: Hellertown, Pennsylvania; Kayenta Township, Arizona; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Syracuse, New York.
- Smart Growth Zoning Codes for Small Cities and Rural Areas: Cambridge, Maryland; Essex, Connecticut; Reedsburg, Wisconsin; and Spencer, North Carolina.
- Sustainable Land Use Code Audit: Dover, New Hampshire; Granville, Ohio; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Shelburne, Vermont.
- Using Smart Growth to Produce Fiscal and Economic Health: Bemidji, Minnesota; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; Deerfield Beach, Florida; Erie County, New York; Muskegon, Michigan; and Pike's Peak Council of Governments, Colorado.
- Walking Audit: Helena, Montana; Renton, Washington; and St. Louis, Missouri.
- Linking Land Use to Water Quality: Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.
Responding to the Request for Letters of Interest
EPA's fall 2011 Request for Letters of Interest (HTML) (PDF) (13 pp, 188K, About PDF) for direct assistance from the agency closed on October 28, 2011. It is available here for your reference. Subsequent application periods will depend on budget constraints and will be announced here.
Assistance from Grantees
To find out what kinds of assistance are available, as well as the application processes and schedules for applying for assistance, from the four nonprofit organizations that have received grants from EPA to conduct related work, please contact the organizations directly:
Cascade Land Conservancy (now Forterra)
Jeff Aken (206-905-6928, jeffa@cascadeland.org)
Global Green USA
Walker Wells (310-581-2700 ext. 103, wwells@globalgreen.org)
Project for Public Spaces
Pippa Brashear (212-620-5660 ext. 323, pbrashear@pps.org)
Smart Growth America
Roger Millar (assistance@smartgrowthamerica.org)
Other tools and technical assistance programs
Please see our Making Smart Growth Happen page for links to more tools and technical assistance programs.