| Maryland’s
Governor has made himself a leader in growth management issues, which his administration
dubbed smart growth. In a recent speech before national environmental leaders he restated
his resolve to not support sprawl with state funds. As part of this anti sprawl agenda
infill is touted as a way to revitalize communities and to avoid the conversion of
cornfields and farms into subdivisions. Many builders and developers have no or
little experience with infill development and stayed away from it because it appears to be
fraught with problems:
- Small or scattered
parcel sizes not large enough to have efficient construction
- Neighborhood
opposition (not in my backyard)
- Problems with the
permitting process in more urban communities where the review agencies seem to have more
staff and more requirements.
While these problems
are definitively real and not only a matter of perception there are increasingly trends
tipping the scale towards infill development:
- Demographic changes
("the aging of America") create a growing market segment of empty nesters
looking for centrally located urban settings close to services and with mixed uses. These
trends create in turn new fashions in which it is chic to live downtown instead of the
suburbs.
- New state and local
policies curb water and sewer service areas, new schools and roads making many previously
profitable greenfield developments less desirable.
- Zoning and plan
review agencies streamline their processes to facilitate infill development or development
in older areas to become competitive with the quick review of small rural jurisdictions
and to shore up their local tax base. Maryland is even considering a new building code for
rehabilitation and infill.
- State and local
government have in place a slew of tax incentives which save the developer cost for
revitalization and infill development. Maryland incentive programs include:
- "Live near your
work programs" assisting homebuyers with their closing costs
- historic tax credits
in historic districts or for historic landmark building renovations
- Brownfields programs
for the redevelopment of former industrial sites
- Transfer development
rights (TDR) which transfer development rights from farmlands into older communities.
(Details vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The TDR process is most advanced in
Montgomery County but many more local Governments have introduced similar programs)
In addition to the
trends mentioned above there are things the builder/developer can do to make infill
development profitable:
- Find the angle from
which the proposed development adds value to the existing community and is not perceived
as a threat. Often this angle is to demonstrate how the proposed development will increase
the value of existing homes.
- Work early on with
the local community and pair your development proposal with
small improvements
and investments that benefit both the development and the existing community such as
trails on remaining open space, billfolds, community rooms as part of the new development
or just minor fix ups to an existing community which often hasn’t seen much
investment in years
- Work on a land
disposition plan by adding several scattered sites within one area until there is
sufficient critical mass for construction or work on swapping sites with the help of a
local development agency.
- Add new building and
dwelling unit types to the repertoire matching the new demographics: Consider live/work
units, apartments for single parents or co-op style units for several adults living
together.
- Look for ways to add
density without changing the zoning. Often a good way to do that is to add
"in-law" apartments, "granny flats" or similar structures which are
considered accessory.
Klaus Philipsen, AIA
President ArchPlan
Inc.
ArchPlan is a
downtown Baltimore architectural firm with special experience in redevelopment, infill,
adaptive reuse and rehabilitation.
Koppers Site,
Baltimore: Rowhouse infill on former foundry site. (from an ArchPlan proposal)
Site Plan: Proposed housing around an urban
square. |
