The Guide to Going Green

By Amy Hagedorn and Sarah Lansdale

Flip through the pages of today's newspaper and you'll likely find a story featuring plans for a big development coming to a community near you. Recent projects receiving exceptional attention are the Nassau Hub, the ski resort in Riverhead, the tunnel from Syosset to Westchester, the mall on the former Cerro Wire site, the expansion of Heartland Park to include the former Pilgrim State site, and many more. Most news stories are accompanied by colorful drawings offering us a glimpse into the future of Long Island. Analysis often focuses on taxes or traffic or schools.

What we rarely see is how proposed developments will work within the new suburbia, that is, how the project will affect the region today and in the future. We may hear about a project's impact on the environment, or the local economy, or one particular community. But rarely do we acknowledge the synergy or interrelationship of the new development to the whole region. Without recognition of the overall impact, we can’t know if a proposal is truly sustainable.

The old suburbia took only 60 years to mature; yet it contains much that is unsustainable today. Our traffic jams, limited amounts and inequitable distribution of open space, deteriorated downtowns, sprawl, segregated neighborhoods, high taxes and high housing costs are the results of lack of foresight or deliberate missteps in the past. We cannot continue on this course.

Since Long Island has developed into a series of isolated communities -each one competing with the next to attract jobs, limit the number of affordable housing units and avoid bringing new children to the school district, the old suburbia has become outmoded.

The concerted efforts of our planners, developers, elected officials, community organizations and community members can make Long Island a better place for all of us to live. A regional perspective, mindful of the lessons learned from mistakes of the past and combined with new advances in green technology, can yield the new suburbia that will provide choices and opportunities for all Long Islanders.

To planners and developers of the new suburbia -we're counting on you to innovate!

To elected and municipal leaders of the new suburbia -we're counting on you to promote the community planning process and to adopt the comprehensive plans that emerge from the collective wisdom of the community!

Community organizations, like Sustainable Long Island, also have a big responsibility for the new suburbia -that is to work together. Partnerships of like-minded non-profit leaders can set a higher standard for the new suburbia. We're calling on our own ranks to re-think the old development ideas and work together!

To all who read this, we're counting on you to take an active role in determining the future of your regional community. We ask you to adopt a wider view than the old-time, narrow perspective of your locality alone. While reading about those proposed new community developments, here's a checklist to apply:

• Do they deplete open space or re-use previously developed or, better yet, once contaminated land?
• Do they offer a variety of residential options?
• Is there a provision for mixed use?
• Do they take advantage of existing public transportation or provide transportation options?
• Will they complement what already exists in the vicinity?
• Is there a provision to eliminate racial disparities?
• Do they provide family-supporting employment?
• Is there recognition of the need for communal gathering spaces and recreation?
• Will the project help strengthen families or provide community benefits?
• Who will bear the long-term costs of this development?
• Will they utilize green technology?

In short, let's look at all the new proposals with an eye toward providing the sustainability that will benefit all of us now and in the future.