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Thursday, May 22, 2003 |
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Posted on May 18, 2003 Task force eyes balanced growth and protection of resources
As South Carolinians, we are blessed with an exceptional quality of life: healthy communities, a diverse cultural heritage and abundant natural resources. Although these blessings have been ours to enjoy for many years, they now are threatened by the deleterious impacts of unbalanced, poorly managed growth. Unless we take measures to change the status quo, South Carolina stands to compromise those very assets that define our quality of life. Gov. Mark Sanford commissioned a 29-member task force to formulate ideas about how to maintain and protect South Carolina's quality of life. The phrase "quality of life" means different things to different people, and Gov. Sanford tapped a diverse group of people -- lawmakers, conservationists, developers and businesspeople -- who represent a wide range of perspectives and interests. Remarkably, the task force found that what united us, a common vision for quality of life in South Carolina, was much stronger than what divided us, our individual causes. By working toward a common goal based on shared values, the task force was able to submit a report containing more than 60 recommendations, each one of which was agreed upon by consensus, not majority vote. While members varied in what areas they thought were most important, we were united in our vision of balancing protection of our natural and cultural resources with vibrant economic growth. One of South Carolina's greatest assets is the strength and diversity of its communities. Unfortunately, the current trend toward "mega-schools" threatens that sense of community, negatively impacting our quality of life. New public schools are increasingly massive and far from the communities that they serve. A growing body of research clearly establishes that smaller neighborhood schools are more beneficial to children's education, particularly to lower-income students. Mega-schools promote sprawl, augment traffic and congestion and further encourage fragmented development around the remote site. We recommend eliminating minimum acreage requirements to give school districts more flexibility in site selection, capping enrollment at new schools and examining funding options that promote expansion and renovation rather than new construction. The task force also focused on another key issue critical to sustaining our quality of life: public infrastructure decisions. Given the present infrastructure deficit in South Carolina, it is imperative that taxpayers' dollars are efficiently spent and appropriately directed. By following the simple directive, "plan where you build, and build only where you plan," politics are removed from public investment decisions, thereby reducing infrastructure inefficiencies and saving taxpayer dollars. The future benefit to South Carolinians would be that roads, schools and sewer lines would be directed to desirable growth areas while significant natural and cultural resources are preserved. A crucial component of establishing a vision-driven -- not politics-driven -- infrastructure model involves agency prioritization and coordination. Simply put, local and state entities need to identify growth areas as well as conservation areas, coordinate these plans with other area public service agencies and implement according to plan. Developers and conservationists alike agree that clear rules and regulations can produce mutually desirable outcomes that reduce sprawl and undue stress on traditional rural communities and natural resources. The central theme of stewardship permeates the report with recommendations emphasizing taking care of what we have before constructing something new. Community schools fall into this category, as does highway maintenance. Currently, South Carolina's roads continue to decline while the state spends a mere 20 percent of its total infrastructure budget on road maintenance. The task force recommends that highway maintenance take precedence over new road construction, and where new road capacity is justified, that the state Department of Transportation be directed to choose the least expensive way to meet these needs. Another key tenet of the task force report was bottom-up decision-making and incentives over regulation. The recommendations include stronger measures to conserve our natural resources by strengthening conservation incentives for private landowners -- specifically, raising the per-acre cap in the Conservation Incentives Act and increasing the maximum annual credit limit of $52,500 per year. We also recommend increasing funding of the Conservation Bank. In order to achieve quality growth in South Carolina, we need to streamline agency permitting and regulatory processes. While regulations are necessary to protect the environment, often agency regulations are in conflict with one another and cause unnecessary permitting delays and increased costs to the landowner and consumer. We include recommendations supporting streamlined regulations and outcome-based processes. South Carolina is a treasure to all of us who live and work here. Our natural and cultural resources attract many visitors to our state, and our quality of life is a major drawing card for new and relocating businesses. We are fortunate that the challenge before us is to protect our quality of life, not restore our quality of life. The recommendations for Gov. Sanford reinforce the task force mission of balancing economic growth and environmental conservation by emphasizing education, incentives over regulation, market principles and respect for private property rights. Ken Jackson, co-chairman of the Governor's Quality of Life Task Force, is president of the S.C. Association of Realtors. State Department of Health and Environmental Control Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Hagood, former executive director of the Lowcountry Open Land Trust and co-chair of the Quality of Life Task Force, contributed to this column. |
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All material ©2003 Spartanburg Herald-Journal | |
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