Upstate Forever Presents
Active Living Assessment For Spartanburg

     One of the real obstacles to “active living” — a built environment that promotes a safe and healthy lifestyle — are local codes and ordinances. A major initiative in Upstate Forever’s Spartanburg office was to undertake a painstaking review of these codes and ordinances, identify the ones that impede active living, and make recommendations for change.

John Cock of the Lawrence Group presents the results of the Active Living Assessment to members of the task force and other interested citizens of Spartanburg.

We retained the services of The Lawrence Group, a planning consulting firm in Charlotte, and established a local task force to assist us in the study, which was completed in August.

Examples of active living at the Southern Village development in Chapel Hill, North Carolina: buffered sidewalks, narrow streets, and the popular bike rack at the elementary school located within the village.

The assessment recommends over 70 specific changes in the city and county codes and ordinances. Some of the key findings in the report include:

.The basic problem in the Spartanburg area is that the codes and ordinances are not consistent with local comprehensive plans. The current rules provide primarily for an automobile-oriented, sprawling style of future development, whereas the plans envision a much different future where land uses are mixed, developments are pedestrian friendly, and rural lands are preserved.
.The city and county should apply the “transect model,” which is based on a continuum of six zones, ranging from the most natural to the most urbanized, and specifying the type of development allowed in each zone.
.Lot dimensions should be made more pedestrian-friendly by reducing setbacks and using density-based land management practices.
.Parking standards should be reduced to allow for shared parking, and on-street parking should be counted when calculating parking requirements.
.Open space requirements should be increased.
.Design guidelines should be established that support active living and incorporate active living issues into land use review and planning processes.
.The environment for pedestrians and cyclists should be improved by: establishing traffic calming policies/programs for arterials; enacting connectivity standards for new development; reducing maximum block lengths and maximum cul-de-sac lengths; requiring ped/bike connections through long blocks; installing bicycle parking at public bus stops; and developing bicycle and pedestrian plans.

Upstate Forever will now work with the local task force and other interested parties on education and advocacy initiatives for changing certain regulations and policies.

For more information on the Active Living Assessment, please call Emily Neely at 327-0090 x104.

To read the report in its entirety, please click on the link below.

Active Living Assessment for Spartanburg