|
2005 Workshop Reports -
Executive Summary
Introduction
Since 1970, Yellow Springs has declined in all
demographic and economic categories.
Those areas of decline include the number of
elementary and high school students who live in the Yellow Springs
school district and attend the public schools, the Antioch College
student population, the working age population, and the number of jobs
in Yellow Springs. For example, if it were not for the 108 students
from outside the Yellow Springs school district who have open-enrolled
into the Yellow Springs schools, the public schools would be facing a
fiscal and enrollment crisis. As a result of declining population and
enrollments, Yellow Springs has become less diverse in terms of race,
income, and educational attainment, and has higher housing costs, a
high tax burden, and a declining business tax base.
One major result of the 2004 Forum was the
spontaneous emergence from several discussion groups of the importance
of education, resulting in the vision of "Yellow Springs - The
Education Village." The term education is meant in
the broadest sense—education in our schools, in colleges, in
training organizations, in our libraries, basically from birth to
death.
In 2004, the goal of the first forum was to
develop a plan that integrated priorities of the Village, the
Township, and the schools, and put in place a mechanism—the
Community Round Table—to begin executing this integrated plan.
This effort toward community planning was not
the first. During the last 35 years, on at least three occasions
Yellow Springs’ residents have formally deliberated, developed a
community vision, and articulated community core values and beliefs.
In 1970 the Village sponsored a visioning process; in 1990, in
neighborhood forums, residents explored together the long-term
community vision and priorities; and most recently, in 2005, the
community is visioning via two Village Council-sponsored surveys and
forums.
These visioning efforts-1970, 1990, and
2005-indicate that a vast majority of Yellow Springs' residents hold
the following core community values:
- Diversity—real and lived every day
- Education—from birth through death,
including our own K-12 schools, Antioch College and University,
and McGregor
- Green space
- Small town size (less than 5,000 people)
In the 2005 forum, we reviewed progress
against the plan developed last year, refined that plan, and committed
to carry forward with executing this refined plan. In 2005, 88 people
were invited to represent virtually every organization in Yellow
Springs and the Township. In addition, attendance to the forum was
opened to the public, and another 31 people registered. The 100+
people in attendance organized into six discussion groups: smart
growth, economic base, education, housing, government services, and
taxes/public revenues. Highlights of these group discussions follow,
concluding in a community call to action.
Highlights from the Six Discussion Groups
Smart Growth
Yellow Springs and Miami Township are situated
in the purview of growth at the borders of Beavercreek, Fairborn,
Xenia, and Springfield/Clark County. Yellow Springs’ and Miami
Township’s future bodes both commercial and residential pressures.
Priority Challenge: Government Role in
Development
Action Steps:
Delineate in the comprehensive plan the types
of development we want.
- The plan should focus on family affordable
housing (to what level of detail has the plan specified the types
of housing that are supported?)
- The plan should delineate the types of
smart growth features the community espouses
- The plan should address density development
concepts
- The plan should address annexation issues
- Develop and use a checklist to be included
in the comprehensive land use plan. A checklist would communicate
community values and actually solidify common values, and the
result would likely be more predictable, fair, and cost effective
development.
- Design the checklist to be encouraging
rather than regulatory.
- Provide incentives to the degree we can,
for example, encouraging and attracting companies that score
high on the checklist.
- Specify the types of growth that are
valued
- Present all in a positive language
- Design the checklist flexibly,
recognizing that the application of smart growth principles will
be situational
Involve the public in open discussions about
the comprehensive [or land use] plan.
Establish a protocol that requires developers
to hold public forums about their development plans as early as
possible.
- The checklist will clarify community goals
and should be shared with developers early on in the process.
Developers need to describe the relationship between their goals
and community goals early on in the development process as well.
- The western part of the green belt is only
a concept in the comprehensive plan. The lack of solid protection
to the west of the Village creates opposition from some local
residents for development that appears to threaten that border.
Cooperate with regional partners (especially
Xenia and Fairborn) to communicate and promote the value of the green
belt. In a small village, leadership has an opportunity to broker the
types of growth that the community values.
- The Village should consider developing
specific land use plans, open space/park plans, and other targeted
plans to accompany the comprehensive plan
Economic Base
Yellow Springs made real progress from the
first forum to the second, regarding revitalization of McGregor. While
participants seemed to favor economic growth and development, an
overarching concern was the challenges that would arise as a result
thereof. Participants want to give careful consideration to the nature
of economic growth and development in the area. Consequently, a number
of the new challenges identified focused on the impact of development
and the type of development desired. There were suggestions to look at
existing plans (e.g. McGregor’s Strategic Plan for ideas on
alternative health), and to consider developing the area in ways
consistent with creating a "Creative Class." Other key
challenges identified were developing parking solutions, developing a
public transit that helped to make connections between businesses,
setting a strategic agenda for future development, addressing the need
for increased services associated with growth, and developing a
climate of collaboration. A number of challenges were viewed as
opportunities to shape development in the area.
Priority Challenge: Consensus on Development
Action Steps:
Achieve consensus on development goals
- Smart growth weekend
- Inside-outside facilitators/educators
- Secure broad community support
- Find ways for organizations to collaborate
- Develop civil/civic dialogue
- Shift away from polarization to creative
alignment
Get broad consensus to move forward
- Involve widest number of people
- Engage conflicts productively
- Set achievable goals
- Communicate existing processes (e.g.,
zoning, planning)
- Understand the constraints
- Come together rather than add groups or
splinter
- Educate on the cost of no development
Education
The Education Village concept is
multidimensional with Antioch College playing an important role both
historically and currently in the evolution of the concept. The
Business and Education Park is central to the Education Village
concept and makes the concept a visible anchor of the community. There
was strong agreement on the importance of supporting Antioch College.
The College is considered important to the Education Village concept.
Priority Challenge: Education Village and the
Role of Antioch College
Action Steps:
Antioch College is an important element in the
perception of an education village
- Opportunity exists to enhance three-way
communication and partnerships that benefit Yellow Springs and
Antioch College
- How does Antioch engage the community in
dialogue before taking action?
Focus on Antioch College as a whole,
including McGregor
Revitalizing Antioch could build and add
faculty, thus increasing the Yellow Springs population
Promote the arts/culture opportunities with
Antioch/ Community/K-12 schooling
- Plays, documentary films
- Build larger theater
- Creating works there
- Writing, painting partnerships
- Opportunity with science partnerships
Promote educating the mind, soul and body in
Yellow Springs
Housing
The most critical housing challenge is the
need for innovative and creative models for housing design, tenure and
social organization, such as new urbanism. The group’s final list
included only two housing challenges: the need for innovation in all
aspects of housing and the promotion of diversity (broadly defined to
include race, ethnicity, economic class and age) through the
development of innovative housing development and redevelopment. The
group concluded that innovative housing design and development (e.g.,
clustered developments, higher densities, new urbanism) should and
would promote diversity within the village, but that any housing
initiative should be based on an understanding of the demand for
housing among different constituent groups (e.g., the elderly) within
the Village.
Priority Challenge: Innovation
Action Steps:
- Conduct a survey of Village residents and
large employers to determine housing needs. Review existing surveys
of older adult needs (such as the 2004 Friends Care Center survey of
all Yellow Springs area residents age 55+)
- Investigate alternative housing development
options (find examples)
- Develop a public relations/education campaign
to increase awareness and support for innovative options
- Identify incentives to motivate developers to
offer alternate designs
Public Services
The Village conducted a survey of residents
regarding government services, and findings revealed that most
residents want to see their services maintained at or near their
current level. While understanding that the survey may inform
short-term actions, the group focused on longer-term solutions and
therefore did not focus on service cuts, but on bringing about
progress.
Priority Challenge: Focus on Governmental
Services that will foster economic development within our community
which support our values
Action Steps:
Clarify the "communications gap"
between the community and the government over what active role the
Village takes in the realm of economic development and then bridge the
gap
- Review (and publish) how economic
development within Village Administration/Government is currently
handled.
- Publicize the Village Administration’s
current approach to economic development to facilitate a
community dialogue
- Improve overall governmental public
relations and communications efforts to clarify
misunderstandings/assumptions and generate community support for
governmental initiatives
- For example, information concerning the
progress of the broadband plan is not regularly updated and
available to the public
- Continuously publish "progress
updates" to the community on issues pertaining to
economic development
- Generate a community initiative to enhance
the Village’s capacity to undertake targeted, smart development
initiatives in line with Village values
- Expand and improve economic development
role of the Village government
- Explore position options (i.e., hire a
consultant vs. a full-time Village position)
- Coordinate and develop a team or
committee to include the Township into the Village’s
Comprehensive Plan. This could help facilitate smart growth
- Ensure that Government and Village
Administration assumes responsibility for continuation of
Smart Growth initiatives
- Review Chamber’s role in development
- Administration should utilize the survey
results, coupled with the Village discussion, to review taxes and
revenue options
- Facilitate redevelopment of vacant
buildings/structures (commercial)
- Government should investigate and report
on cost and feasibility of improving vacant structures to
accommodate compatible uses, and then actively recruit
appropriate businesses to those vacant structures
- Recognize that street appearance affects
economic development opportunities
- Improve street maintenance
- Explore the use of assessments to improve
sidewalks and streets
Taxes/Public Revenues
The Village of Yellow Springs has a
comparatively high tax burden. In the 2002 Yellow Springs Cost of
Living Report, taxation in Yellow Springs stood out as the unique
finding among all costs studied. At that time, the tax burden in
Yellow Springs was 1.5 times greater than in any other comparison
community (communities that were similar in population size and
composition). Three major thrusts emerged as focal strategies in
response to Yellow Springs’ tax situation – advocacy, replacement
of lost revenues, and information needs.
Priority Challenge: Generate Revenue
Action Steps:
Advocate at the state level for retaining
local government funds
- Develop a grass-roots advocacy campaign to
accompany County, Township and Village government advocacy
campaigns. Let state representatives know that reduction in funds
to local government is the wrong direction to be moving.
Manage the Results of Lost Revenues
- Set a goal of $500,000 (TBR) in new
revenues.
- Apply Business Case Analysis (cost/benefit)
to all potential new sources and ensure that the outcome is not in
conflict with Village core values.
Explore alternate ways and measures to
generate new income. Examples follow.
- Apply a 3% lodging tax
- Consider fees of all kinds such as
providing Internet access to all Yellow Springs residents via
power lines, selling electric capacity to neighboring communities.
- Allow Village residents to
"invest" in the community in ways that generate returns
such as investing in the arts.
- Provide incentives to educational
institutions to develop new business starts in the way Antioch did
in the past.
- Implement an income tax for all residents
regardless of where a resident works (i.e., consider revisions to
the reciprocal tax).
- Reduce the amount of tax exempt land in the
village and township by turning a portion of this into taxable
land (e.g. Antioch owns 216 parcels).
- Charge a naming rights fee such as the Bike
Path right-of-way at the Northern Gateway
- Charge utility fees that are inclusive of
operations and depreciation so the real cost of utilities is
captured and interest costs associated with capital improvement
loans can be avoided.
- Increase local income tax to 2%.
- Use technology to improve Village
efficiency (e.g., automated meter reading)
Call to Action
The predominant theme across all small group
discussions and reiterated in the policy panel discussion held at the
end of the 2005 forum is the desire for the Village and its
surrounding communities to achieve balanced, smart growth.
Balanced growth seeks to balance the
OUTCOMES citizens wish to achieve with the MEANS to support them. Good
planning requires balancing economic development, preserving natural
resources, and maintaining healthy, diverse, and cohesive communities.
To accomplish this, the jurisdictions – the
Village, the Township, and the School District – need to establish
joint priorities and the steps to accomplishing those priorities.
Communication, compromise, consensus, and convening were mentioned as
the four elements needed to work cross jurisdictionally. The panel
discussion revealed that interaction amongst the three bodies is ad
hoc in nature (i.e., project based). The forum surfaced the need for
cross-jurisdictional meetings to be more purposeful and long range
oriented in order to achieve balanced growth.
The interdependence of the jurisdictions is
clear. Village residents desire greenspace / open space and a
greenbelt. While the eastern edge of the greenbelt is designated and
is in the Village, the western part of the greenbelt is conceptual and
is located in Miami Township. The Township articulated that its
purpose goes beyond providing open space and agricultural landscapes
to the Village, and that land use discussions must be approached with
sensitivity to the rights of property owners as well as the cost to
property owners of setting aside their land using such means as
conservation easements.
The annual forum and the Community Round Table
(CRT) were established to convene the three bodies with residents and
hold strategic conversations around shared goals. As the forums and
the CRT hold deliberations to discuss community priorities, next steps
are crystallizing and it is time to set joint, coordinated policy.
Clearly, the focal interest of the community is in setting coordinated
land use policy. Such a plan can clarify development and greenspace
priorities. Development issues can be considered in the more targeted
activity of land use planning as opposed to comprehensive planning.
Recommendations from the small group discussions highlight these next
steps:
- Convene a cross-jurisdictional land use
plan effort.
- Articulate development values/desires of
Yellow Springs and its surrounding communities to guide long-term
growth patterns.
- Use the land use plan to communicate core
values to industry.
- Explore the use of a check list to
communicate those values to industry.
- Incentivize desired industry.
- Define industries that would be a best
fit with community values.
- Determine how to best develop home grown
industry and to attract industry.
Back to Top
Back to Workshop
Reports
|
|
