Livability in small towns #3: Cache Valley, Utah
August 30, 2010By Sean Barry
This collection of 12 case studies helps put to rest the idea that livability is an exclusively “urban” idea. Small cities, towns and rural regions across the country are transforming themselves into more livable communities. While some of these communities face formidable threats – from job losses and shrinking populations to disappearing farmland and strained resources – their leaders have forged collaborations and created plans that are growing economies, benefiting people and protecting the land and lifestyles treasured by residents and non-residents alike.
Check back each day for a new post and read the full series of livability case studies as they’re posted. The intro can be found here.
Cache Valley, Utah
| “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
State Rep. Marc Gibbs, R-Idaho |
Through a unique community planning process called Envision Cache Valley, residents in Cache Valley, Utah established strong benchmarks for preserving farmland, maintaining clean air and welcoming new development and housing.
Envision Cache Valley is modeled after Envision Utah, a similar statewide process widely praised in planning circles that operates under the banner “how we grow matters.”
Valley residents were motivated to take charge of their future in response to estimates that 2040 population levels would likely double to a quarter-million from present day 125,000. Air quality, a healthy economy and smart use of existing resources were identified as key priorities. The Cache Valley Regional Council, an agreement between Cache Valley jurisdictions and officials from both Cache County, Utah and neighboring Franklin County, Idaho, constituted the beginning of the visioning process.
According to the Envision Cache Valley website, “participants tackled such difficult issues as growth locations and patterns, private property rights, transportation, air quality, water quality, economic development, job growth, agriculture, land consumption, housing, environment, critical lands and recreation.”
Working off a baseline scenario that outlined the future of Cache Valley absent clear goals, residents asked themselves how they would preserve what was best about their community while embracing inevitable change.
During a 2009 Envision Utah meeting, Idaho State Representative Marc Gibbs, a Republican, said of the effort: “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Participants found that many of their goals – preserving farmland and open space, promoting recreation and community and maintaining air quality – would be best achieved through a more connected transit system. To that end, the final vision statement calls for higher capacity development to reduce infrastructure costs, enhanced peak-time bus loops, a potential bus-rapid-transit line and streets that accommodate walking and biking.
Source: Envision Cache Valley
-
http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/09/02/livability-a-small-town-value/ Streetsblog Los Angeles » Livability: A Small Town Value
-
- House committee ignores broad opposition, decimates transit funding anyway
February 3, 2012 - Massive letter opposing House leadership attack on transit sent to Capitol Hill
February 3, 2012 - House leadership making unprecedented assault on public transit
February 2, 2012 - House Ways and Means proposal to end guaranteed funding for public transportation undoes bipartisan agreement since Reagan
February 2, 2012 - Pedestrian deaths, blaming the victim: headphones edition
January 19, 2012
- House committee ignores broad opposition, decimates transit funding anyway
Connect with T4 America
Interactive Features and Reports
T4 America on Twitter
