Issue Position: Jack's Plan for Enhancing Our Quality of Life In Delaware

Issue Position

Issue Position: Jack's Plan for Enhancing Our Quality of Life In Delaware

A Plan for Enhancing Our Quality of Life in Delaware

Delawareans have a lot to be thankful for. We live in a beautiful state with livable cities, art and culture, and a lower cost of living than nearby metropolitan areas. In addition to Delaware's natural resources, the growth of our economy, predominately in the four "C's" - chicken, chemicals, cars, and credit cards - has given Delawareans wealth and economic opportunities.

But where do we go from here? I recently released my economic development plan that outlines steps to keep out economy growing and thriving, but we also must make sure our development efforts meet long-term environmental and community goals in addition to our economic aspirations.

Not only must we protect our way of life, but we must have a bold vision ready to meet the challenges a growing economy and population will produce in the future because between 2000 and 2030, it's estimated that Delaware will grow by one-third. With 220,000 more people who need expensive services like clean water, electricity, sufficient roadways, and new schools, it's crucial that we make smart land use decisions in the coming years.

As Governor, I will help manage our growth without stifling our economy or reducing our quality of life by:

1.) Encouraging Smarter Growth and Better Land Use:

• By partnering with cities and towns, we could better manage and plan local growth. Smart decisions, like increasing transportation choices and clustering development, will help minimize infrastructure costs, taxes, and traffic congestion while preserving open space and conserving energy.

2.) Making growth planning a responsibility throughout a state government:

• I will ensure that government agencies focus on broad state issues like growth while improving our use of existing services, like the already existing but under utilized Cabinet Committee on State Planning Issues.

• I will highlight the importance of our efforts to manage land use by moving the State Planning Office out of the Office of Management and Budget.

• I will encourage state agencies to work with local governments in an expansive crosscutting effort to improve local permitting processes create better growth-related outcomes.

3.) Helping local communities with smart growth planning:

• We can help reduce sprawl by encouraging the design and creation of walkable, transit-friendly communities that integrate housing, retail businesses, and workplaces within smaller, pedestrian-friendly areas. We can encourage the adoption of these smart-growth communities by local governments by:

- Developing rational, reasonable and predictable zoning regulations.

- Offering local planning assistance regarding statewide environmental issues.

- Developing a model statewide approach to developing new schools.

4.) Encouraging the redevelopment of brownfields and grayfields:

• Brownfields, or old industrial sites with clean up and reuse potential, ought to be considered within the broader context of how our communities wish to use and preserve land. Cleaning up brownfields will improve public health and community development. To implement this strategy, we must:

- Develop a brownfield redevelopment inventory.

- Provide One-Stop Shopping for local governments and redevelopment agencies that are attempting to revitalize older contaminated properties.

- Provide funding for neighborhood groups' legal expenses to encourage acquisition of brownfields.

- Streamline permitting,

- Ensure that brownfields tax incentives focus on redevelopment.

- Buy down environmental insurance premiums to facilitate brownfields redevelopment by limiting or capping liability and cleanup costs.

- Facilitate the rehabilitation of "grayfields".

5.) Linking smart growth criteria to state funding:

• The state's "power of the purse" can be used to reward desired kinds of smart growth. For example, giving historical areas funding preferences to discourage sprawl.

• Delaware should also define spending priorities that state agencies must follow before approving expenditures for projects.

• Plans for development should also be tied to future state funding. Development projects that are not located in specific targeted growth zones will have to pay for their own infrastructure, like roads and schools.

6.) Locating state government offices in downtown areas.

7.) Preserve farmland and open spaces

• As a member of the state's Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation Board, I have seen the state preserve more than 80,000 acres of farmland. The state is trying hard to continue this conservation effort, but there is much more we can do, including:

- Enhancing the conservation options for Delaware landowners who want to protect their land, especially those in designated rural areas.

- Encouraging the use of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) to protect greenspaces while allowing for future development.

- Transitioning farms to produce high demand agricultural products.

8.) Implementing transportation ideas to get Delaware moving:

• Most jobs remain in the cities in Delaware. This fact combined with out growing elderly population makes the need for public transportation crucial.

• I will seriously look at expanding and improving public transportation systems.

9.) Reducing congestion:

• To reduce congestion on our roads, I believe Delaware should:

- Make congestion reduction the primary goal of state investments in our transportation infrastructure
- Invest in Integrated Transportation Management Systems

10.) Promoting alternatives to driving:

• I will improve DART bus routes to ensure that people can get where they work
• I will explore improvements to Delaware's rail systems

• I will encourage infrastructure development for walking and biking.

11.) I will demonstrate leadership by using alternative fuel state vehicles

Full Version: http://www.markell.org/pdf/Markell_quality_of_life.pdf

Source