May 2, 2008

250 bigwigs use 2,000 Legos to learn about growth issues

Photo by Michael Schuler [enlarge]

Steve Whitney of The Bullitt Foundation was one of the participants at ULI’s Reality Check exercise this week.

Another 1.7 million people and 1.2 million jobs are projected for the Puget Sound region by 2040, so this week the Urban Land Institute gathered together top political, business, government, nonprofit and environmental leaders to figure out where to put them all.

The event was called Reality Check. It took the Seattle ULI chapter two years to plan, especially how to get 250 bigwigs in one room on the same day. But judging by the participants' reactions, it was worth it.

As Peter Orser, president of Quadrant Homes, said, “I've never actually been in a room like this with the amount of leadership, both ideological-wise and geographical-wise. It's a refreshing start for me.”

The exercise also launched a new ULI group called the Quality Growth Alliance. The alliance will take the results of Reality Check and come up with action plans focused on education, technical assistance, politics and pilot projects. It will also start a new awards program to recognize successful high density real estate projects.

Jim Potter, chairman of Kauri Investments, said follow-through is the key, since too often organizations talk about big ideas without producing tangible changes. “The benefit would be if we came up with a plan and actually stuck with it,” he said. “Once we get a plan there is nobody to help make sure it happens.”

A plan that shows where development and transportation should be concentrated would help developers build better communities, he said.

ULI said the goal was to bring transportation and development problems to light, spark a regional dialogue and foster a sense of urgency. The Reality Check exercise has also been held in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Pat Callahan of Urban Renaissance Group and immediate past chair of the ULI Seattle chapter said, “There's very few, if any, opportunities for the regional dialogue.”

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was on a panel of regional political leaders. He said he was surprised that so many people see how important it is to increase density and change how urban land is used. Solutions must include transportation, affordable housing and public education.

Keynote speaker Ed McMahon of ULI said if this region does not develop in a smart way, the economy and quality of life will suffer. New residents in Puget Sound will need 900,000 new housing units, he said. How they are designed and where they are located is critical to the region's health.

“Successful communities have a shared vision for the future,” he said. “Failing to plan simply means planning to fail.”

Reality Check was built around a two-hour exercise. During the exercise, teams developed principles to guide the region as it grows. Then they placed 2,000 Legos that represented people and yarn that represented transit lines on a giant map of the region. They identified opportunities, challenges and solutions to accommodating projected growth.

Teams were carefully planned to represent a variety of interests. At one table, for example, was Seattle City Council Member Sally Clark; Bert Gregory, president and CEO of Mithun; developer Jim Soules of The Cottage Co.; Dennis McLerran, executive director of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency; and representatives from Microsoft, Snohomish County, Fort Lewis and the Washington Roundtable.

Clark said the exercise created a safe place where people could share their concerns. The Legos were useful, she said, because some people are visually oriented and Legos are nonthreatening.

“I think there will definitely be some people who say, ‘Wow this was a very expensive game.' (But) if this is a way to break down barriers among the jurisdictions, then the game is an extremely valuable tool to me,” Clark said.

David Graybill, president and CEO of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, said the game showed him how limited people can be in their understanding of the region. He was surprised when a member of Seattle's Department of Planning and Development said she had never heard of Fredrickson, an area in Pierce County that is targeted to become an industrial hub.

Participants in the exercise said most new development should be located along transit lines and be affordable, convenient and well designed. They said the greatest barriers to this were regional leadership, infrastructure capacity and funding mechanisms.

Finding solutions will take regional collaboration, which Bill Krieger of Mithun said is a monumental task for politicians. “They're going to have to reinvent zoning. They're going to have to reinvent process.”

Cary Bozeman, mayor of Bremerton, said regional collaboration has been stymied because jurisdictions didn't want to lose their identity. To work collaboratively will take true political leadership, he said. “These are tough decisions that require really courageous leaders to make tough decisions.”

Krieger said audience members and business people can help by supporting politicians with “the moxie” to tackle these issues.

Speakers called for more public education about the importance of both density and transit. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels summarized the problem: “We hate sprawl and we despise density.”

But Greg Johnson, ULI Seattle chair and president of Wright Runstad & Co., said people will support both urban dwellers and those who want a little more living space if you frame it the right way.

“We're not talking about putting density everywhere,” he said. “If you can put it around infrastructure, you can leverage the investment in a way that preserves open space.”

McMahon said, “You can grow without destroying the things that people love.”