Four the Future - August 30

Today: moratorium abuse, downsizing housing, Sustainable September's Mariah McKay, and new automobile window stickers.

• Lake Whatcom building ban extended another 6 months
  Source: The Bellingham Herald; August 11, 2010
  Summary: The Whatcom County Council passed a resolution extending a 5-year old building moratorium in a portion of Lake Whatcom's watershed. Lake Whatcom is the water supply for half of the county. The moratorium is preventing the construction of up to 200 homes. The council is attempting to put a workable transfer of development rights proposal in place.
  Opinion: Moratoria are complex. If you announce you're going to have a moratorium or that rules are going to change in any way, people can subvert the process by filing for a development permit which is protected from rule changes under the state's vesting laws. So, state law recognizes that they are put in place with very limited or no public notice, but limits them to six months to permit time to have the public conversation necessary to put suitable rules in place. However, they can be extended without limit. Five years is ridiculous; it's easy to argue it's an abuse of power. More likely, however, is that they don't know what their plan is, so they can't make progress. I believe that the law regarding moratoria should be amended so that any extension past six months from the initial moratorium require that there have been a public hearing on a proposed work plan to end the moratorium. This shows accountability to the public, and makes the legislative authority demonstrate that it understands that the power to place nonstatutory moratoria is not unlimited. Even without a current obligation to do so, their planning department should present one for adoption by the county council anyway.
• Tiny houses simpler, easier on the environment
  Source: Missoulian; August 28, 2010
  See Also: Four the Future - August 29
  Summary: For 55 years, American houses grew larger and larger, peaking in 2007 at 2,521 square feet. This compares to the average of 800 sq. ft. in the original modern subdivision, Levittown, just after World War II. This was despite a steady decrease in the family size. In the same way it's becoming more fashionable to own a Mini Cooper than a Ford Expedition, there's a new trend to make homes smaller. However, governments make it difficult to build smaller houses.
  Opinion: Looking back, this now seems inevitable. The growth of house size followed the growth of the boomers and their parents. When their parents downsized, the sheer number of boomers hid the trend. Now that the boomers are looking to downsize, so, too, is the average house size. Governments which were at first enrolled to "protect the investment" of the boomers by forbidding smaller units now have the duty to start allowing the boomers to downsize by allowing smaller, more efficient,less costly living spaces for everyone.
• Face Time: Nonprofit employee talks about sustainability
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; August 30, 2010
  
  
  
  Summary: The Spokesman-Review interviews Mariah Rose McKay about the upcoming Sustainable September events next month. Over 100 events are planned, and more are being added. Many events are free.
  Opinion: There is a full calendar at the web site. Sustainability allows us to live a life which won't be taken away from us due to lack of resources or foresight. Its alternative, embracing the inability to be resilient in the face of challenges, is simply defeatist. So, how do we live an intentionally wise life? Education. And this is a great way to do it. Thank you, Community-Minded Enterprises, and especially the dynamically resilient Mariah.
• E.P.A. Develops Grading System for New Car Stickers
  Source: New York Times; August 30, 2010
  Summary: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) has designed new auto window stickers to help consumers compare vehicles. Rather than comparing vehicles against others in their class, now all vehicles will be compared against all over vehicles, and assigned a composite letter grade. Vehicles will get a grade between D and A+. No failing grades will be issued. Vehicles will also be compared based on mileage, annual cost of fueling, greenhouse emissions and other air pollutants.
  Opinion: There is a whole range of colored labels for vehicles. Samples are available at the EPA web site (PDF, 16MB). The labels include several measures by which a consumer may judge a vehicle. This is important because hybrids treat fuel differently. If you're driving short distances, you may not use any fuel at all, so how do you compare that to a gasoline-only vehicle? Having multiple measures helps with that. I also support that there are no failing grades. "Failure" means that it shouldn't be allowed on the road at all. That's what emissions testing is for. But, let's not fool ourselves. Most SUV's get a C, and the highest grade any minivan gets is a C+, because of their inefficiency for single occupancy travel. If Americans were better at trip planning and sharing rides, that would make them more palatable. Carpool, anyone?