March 31, 2015
David T. Whitaker, AICP
Planning, Smart Growth
2015 National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Agency, american planning association, Montgomery County, white flint
Two Maryland planning agencies to receive American Planning Association national awards for planning excellence
For many decades Maryland has supported and fostered sound community and regional planning. This long term commitment to sound planning principles and planning innovation in the “Old Line State” will be recognized by the American Planning Association (APA) in April at their National Conference in Seattle, WA. For the first time, APA will bestow national awards for planning excellence in the same year to two Maryland planning agencies. The Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) and the Montgomery County Planning Department will be the recipients of the awards announced today and to be presented in mid-April at the APA’s National Planning Conference in Seattle. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
March 3, 2015
Kristen Mitchell
Redevelopment and Revitalization, Smart Growth
Part 2 of a 2-part series (see Part 1)
In this blog series, we present tips and strategies for creating successful pop-up store events, spotlighting the efforts of Hagerstown, Maryland. This post features information about selecting dates, preparing a budget, raising money and marketing, and it closes with a list of additional helpful hints from Hagerstown. The first post {link} discussed securing and preparing spaces, and recruiting vendors and encouraging regulatory compliance.
Local leaders interested in filling vacant storefronts in historic downtowns and older commercial districts – to increase community livability and stimulate economic growth – might consider cultivating locally owned businesses. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
February 25, 2015
Kristen Mitchell
Redevelopment and Revitalization, Smart Growth
Downtown Movement, Hagerstown
Local leaders interested in filling vacant storefronts in historic downtowns and older commercial districts – to increase community livability and stimulate economic growth – might consider cultivating locally owned businesses.
Throughout the country, local governments, business improvement districts and Main Street organizations are experimenting with ways to bring retail into older commercial districts with less of an upfront commitment from small business owners. Their tools: retail business incubators and pop-up stores. Pop-up stores use vacant building space for a day, a week, or even longer, but on a temporary basis; they bring foot traffic to the commercial district and can help business owners test the market prior to making a long-term commitment. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
December 12, 2014
David T. Whitaker, AICP
Historic Preservation, Smart Growth
2015 Sustainable Communities Tax Credit Awards, Carrollton Hall, ellicott city maryland, historic preservation, sustainable communities, tax credits
The 2015 Sustainable Communities Tax Credit Awards
Taylor’s Furniture Store
Designed to make reinvestment easier and bring new life to threatened historic structures, the Sustainable Communities Tax Credit has played a pivotal role in incentivizing private investment in the restoration of Maryland’s historic resources. By rehabilitating historic properties, the program spurs job growth, improves property values and encourages reinvestment of properties, commercial districts and neighborhoods into places where people want to live and entrepreneurs want to do business. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
October 24, 2014
Maryland Department of Planning
Smart Growth, Transportation
#PLCC, Economic development, Montgomery County, public transit, purple line, purple line community compact, purple line corridor coalition, red line, transit, Urban and Regional Planning
By MDP Staff: , Director of Communications; , Director of Smart Growth; and , Communications Intern
National Center for Smart Growth
State and county officials and local advocacy groups are leading an effort to create a livability strategy to ensure that people living and working in the communities along the proposed Purple Line benefit from the new light rail transit system.
But how will that work, exactly?
The stakeholder groups, led by the Purple Line Corridor Coalition (PLCC), will develop a community compact that will lay out strategies for revitalizing and stabilizing mixed-income neighborhoods, preserving community assets, supporting small businesses and connecting workers to jobs, all intended to create healthy and vibrant communities. Similar to Baltimore’s Red Line Community Compact and Minneapolis’ Central Corridor Funders Collaborative in planning their Green Line, the compact will address things like maintaining affordable housing for residents, maximizing labor market potential and creating transit-oriented places. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
August 4, 2014
David T. Whitaker, AICP
Smart Growth, Transportation
bethesda center, MARC, maryland department of planning, md department of transportation, Metro Centre at Owings Mills, MTA, planning for tod, prince george's plaza, tod, WAMATA
By Scott Hansen, MDP Transportation Planning, & David Whitaker, AICP, MDP Communications
Models & Guidelines 30: Planning Tools for TOD
Owning a parcel near transit can open a wealth of development opportunities. Yet, how to achieve the most benefits from those locations can be a challenge. Transit-oriented development (TOD) is not any type of growth occurring near transit station. Instead, TOD features a well-designed and relatively high intensity of mixed land uses within a comfortable walk of a rail or bus transit station. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
July 11, 2014
Andrew Bernish
Redevelopment and Revitalization, Smart Growth
cityengine, esri, gis, parking lots, Salisbury, salisbury md
The area of the Salisbury CityEngine project as presented at the 2014 ESRI International User Conference
When you think of vibrant, successful small towns, I am going to wager that you do not conjure up thoughts of empty parking lots. These impervious seas are bereft of the strolling pedestrians that make small towns like Portsmouth, New Hampshire or Lancaster, Pennsylvania hum. Large parking lots can act like cancerous lesions amid an otherwise intricately preserved and walkable street grid. Urban parking lots’ lackadaisical monotony can sap the economic vitality of downtowns, particularly if they sit empty for most of the day. If given an opportunity to revitalize a small town, planners can target derelict parking lots for redevelopment and revitalization. More
Like this:
Like Loading...
Older Entries
