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East Meets Worst Governors gather in the temple of sprawl. By Susan Zakin In New England, the one thing you always know about the weather is that it will change. In Arizona, things are more stable. The sun shines 360 days a year. And you can count on the state's politicians to embarrass themselves on the national stage. On April 26 and 27, the National Governor's Association Task Force on Growth and Quality of Life will be meeting in Phoenix. Each year, the chair of the National Governor's Association picks a theme. The current chair, Gov. Parris Glendenning of Maryland, is the nation's leader in promoting solutions to sprawl. The task force, which includes Gov. Jane Hull, was formed at his behest. Ironically, this meeting comes on the heels of Gov. Hull's brutal attempt to sandbag the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, Pima County's best chance to balance the needs of wildlife and real estate development (see "Revolting Development," page 8). On March 6, Herb Guenther (D-Tacna) introduced a grotesque "stealth" amendment that would stop any county, city or town from signing a conservation agreement with a federal agency unless they have written permission from the governor and her appointees. Guenther's amendment passed the state senate on a voice vote. Enviros spent the weekend frantically e-mailing, faxing and calling politicians to stop the madness. Guenther is supposed to introduce a kinder, gentler version of the bill this week. But the whole thing is ridiculous. State officials have done nothing but act like sulky children who don't want to play when it comes to the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and the last thing we should give them is veto power. The state land department has been particularly unwilling to come to the table, finally prompting County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to exempt state lands from the planning process. Huckelberry isn't Mr. Consensus-Builder, but it's doubtful that even the most affable gent could bring the thugs at the state land department into the 20th century, much less the 21st. There's got to be a better way. Hoping to find it, I talked briefly with Gov. Glendenning about how he's balanced the competing interests in his state. Glendenning literally has drawn a line in the sand, er, in the thick, loamy soil that used to be Maryland's farmland. In 1997, Maryland's governor successfully promoted legislation that established certain towns and cities as Priority Funding Areas--that means infill. In these areas, a staggering range of subsidies promote growth. For example, Maryland has spent at least $150 million in transportation dollars for "streetscaping" projects, built 50 miles of sidewalks, helped nearly 300 private-sector employees buy homes near their jobs, and prompted the cleanup and redevelopment of 57 brownfields sites. A big chunk of school funding has gone to schools in the inner city. Maryland has allocated major resources to improve its current mass transit system and is spending big bucks on possible additions such as light rail or a high-speed magnetic levitation rail system (I know, it sounds like The Jetsons) between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. At the same time, the state has protected 47,000 acres of land. Brace yourself, Bridget. Outside the priority funding areas, the state does not subsidize development. You heard me. At least on the state level, Glendenning has gotten rid of those taxpayer-supported sprawl subsidies that we've got here. But his program is based on incentives designed to bring developers into the fold. Maria Baier, Gov. Hull's point person on the environment, told me that Arizona environmentalists pooh-pooh incentive-based sprawl programs. I would have, too, until I researched what's going on in Maryland. In Glendenning's hands, a carrot comes pretty close to being a stick. If there is a solution to sprawl that can face the test of real-world politics, this is it. "What we've literally said is that Maryland will not use its $21 billion (annual budget) to subsidize sprawl," said Glendenning. "We're trying literally to affect the bottom line. In all of the state of Maryland, every project is being evaluated on a common rallying cry: This is either consistent with smart growth or it's not consistent with smart growth." Arizona should adopt this incentive approach. First, we need a reality check. Pima county has studied the costs of wildcat subdivision, but bureaucrats have drawn a suspicious blank when it comes to the costs to the taxpayer of planned subdivisions. You think you're getting a deal on that little pink Pulte house off Thornydale? Think about it again when you get your tax bill, or next time you realize there's no park in your neighborhood or that your library is a pathetic shadow of what a library should be. If Huckelberry and Co. come up with a thorough report on the costs of planned subdivisions, which they're required to do by the end of the year under Gov. Hull's mostly ersatz Growing Smarter package, the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan might very well seem like a bargain. Glendenning didn't want to comment on the stealth attack that Baier, who's also Hull's representative on the National Association of Governors task force on sprawl, got Guenther to perpetrate last week. But he did give Hull a gentle nudge. "I will say this," he told me. "One of the things that is clear is that you can be very aggressive on environmental programs and anti-sprawl, smart growth programs, and still have a very strong economy." That's certainly been true in Maryland. Since Glendenning became governor, Maryland has become the number one state in terms of family income, and welfare rolls have been cut 66 percent. Of course, Glendenning had a leg up. He's in the east, where people actually believe in government. One of the things he did recently was elevate the head of the state planning office to a cabinet-level officer. Guess what? Arizona doesn't even have a state planning office. "The citizens of Arizona reject the concept of regional planning over and over again," said Maria Baier. Hey, guys. Ever hear of something called the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan?
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