Daily Planning News

Nov. 30--Higher local sales taxes, gas taxes and vehicle fees are being pushed by Gov. Mark Dayton's task force on transportation and could help shape the debate on highway and transit funding as DFLers take control of the Legislature next year.

The draft recommendations call for raising taxes by $20 billion over 20 years and for shifting transit funding from the state to metro governments.

"It will be the beginning of a lot of discussion about transportation and transit finance in the next legislative session," said Susan Haigh, chair of the Metropolitan Council, which oversees Twin Cities transit.

Nov. 30--As the son of a judge, Reed Voorhees felt some family pressure to make law his career.

Voorhees, who is Ittner's great-grandson, was close to his grandfather, William Ittner Jr., who was the Pentagon's assistant chief architect.

Voorhees' father is retired St. Louis County Circuit Judge Alphonso Voorhees.

Nov. 29--OAK HILL -- One of 36 new "urbanized areas" in the United States, the area from Beckley to Fayetteville along the U.S. 19 corridor will soon have its own Metropolitan Planning Organization aimed at easing the pressures that denser populations put on transportation infrastructure.

Charged with carrying out a "coordinated, cooperative and comprehensive" transportation planning process, the Fayette-Raleigh Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will create a long-range transportation plan for the next 20 years and update it every four years.

"This gives the folks locally a much bigger say in what happens in the area, and they should all be excited to have a bigger voice in how transportation decisions are made," says Perry Keller of the West Virginia Division of Highways.

Dec. 02--UPLAND -- The Upland Planning Commission has approved a correction to a proposed project to build a 7-Eleven convenience store at the southeast corner of Campus Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

The correction is related to a traffic analysis conducted for the project and will not change the project, but needed to be addressed before an appeal of the project is heard by the City Council on Dec. 10.

"We thought (to) go back to the Planning Commission to make sure everyone is on the same page out of an abundance of caution and then go back to the City Council and then they'll hear the appeal," said Jeff Zwack, the city's development director.

Dec. 03--The government's approach of cleaning up the Yamuna through sewage treatment plants (STPs) is flawed, say environmentalists.

They wanted to know whether STPs in various states were functioning properly to control the discharge of sewage into the Yamuna.

One of the answers to these innumerable questions read: "So far, 60 STPs with a treatment capacity of 3,024 million litres per day have been installed through various schemes.

Dec. 02--PELION, S.C. -- Cooking was easy until Peggy Wise learned that toxins were polluting her family's water supply.

The Wise's suit, one of four filed together against the Taylor company, has for the first time made a connection between the sewage dump and pollution of private wells.

If they are successful in state court, the Wises could force Taylor not only to pay them damages, but also do something state regulators have not required: clean up the groundwater.

PAULSBORO, N.J. - Investigators say other railroad crews have reported possible problems with a signal where a train derailed on a New Jersey rail bridge, spewing a hazardous chemical into the air.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said Sunday that investigators will focus on the signal and bridge's locking mechanisms.

Investigators say the signal may have malfunctioned on the bridge where the train derailed Friday morning over a creek in Paulsboro, N.J. No serious injuries have been reported, but more than 70 people went to a hospital and an evacuation order remains in effect for a 12-block area.

Dec. 02--BEIJING -- In a city that never stops growing, Detroit seems a long way away.

I am visiting China for a two-week tour organized by the Honolulu-based East-West Center to give U.S. reporters and editors the chance to learn about the Chinese political system, economy and culture.

After four days in Beijing, I keep thinking about the contrast between the nearly overwhelming expansion here and Detroit's evolution to a smaller city that may never fill its available land.

Even with much of the developed world still struggling, Brazil's economy exudes health.

But robust growth over the medium to long term is very much conditioned on advances in infrastructure, where enduring bottlenecks are bound to tighten unless investment grows and private-sector investors play a larger role.

They will never work with the current infrastructure," said Enrico Bentivegna, a partner at Sao Paulo law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados.

When climate scientists try to estimate how much the Earth will warm due to increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a key consideration is the role of plants and soils.

The more carbon they absorb, the more they reduce the global warming potential.

But recent studies indicate that assumptions about plants' and soils' capacity in the so-called "carbon cycle" may be overly optimistic.

Dec. 02--Two blocks from the new Duval County Courthouse, there is a grass-and-dirt lot owned by the city of Jacksonville where a crazy-quilt pattern of cars is parked daily.

Under the city's parking regulations, the city shouldn't allow those cars to park on the property because it hasn't been certified as a commercial parking lot.

But on weekdays, about 50 vehicles are parked on the Madison Street property between Duval and Monroe streets, according to a Times-Union review of the lot this past week.

Dec. 02--BOISE -- The Clean Water Act may exempt irrigators from filing a permit to send leftover water back into a canal.

The warning was addressed by attorney Andy Walder to a packed audience at the Idaho Water Users Association meeting on Thursday.

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit applies to individuals discharging water in canals, ditches, or other water sources considered "waters of the U.S." Irrigators are exempted from applying for permits but only if their discharge is "entirely of" return flows from irrigated agriculture, Walder said.

Dec. 02--HAVERHILL -- The state just can't seem to finish off projects the right way, according to some city officials.

Now some city councilors say the state did a poor job paving portions of Water Street (Route 113) and Main Street.

Councilor Michael McGonagle said uneven areas of newly-paved sections of both roadways around manhole covers are so bad that some drivers swerve into bicycle lanes to avoid them.

District planning officials are rewriting the city's zoning rules for the first time in 54 years, a process that has hastened anxieties about growth and at times has erupted into a pitched debate about the future of the city.

The proposed changes are small - allowing a corner store here, fewer parking spaces there - but the debate has grown in recent months, pitting some longtime residents and civic activists against city officials and advocates of denser transit- and pedestrian-oriented development.

Planners say the changes are necessary to shape a growing city, one that could see hundreds of thousands of new residents in coming decades as congestion fouls automobile commutes, energy prices rise and environmental considerations become more urgent.

Dec. 02--With growth expected to continue for decades -- the population of North Texas is projected to double by 2060 -- the long-term needs for water aren't going away.

But as the state wrestles to fund the State Water Plan and North Texas water providers keep looking for long-term sources of water, there is a growing realization that the issue could use a fresh perspective.

The University of Texas at Arlington is hoping to provide that insight by creating an Urban Water Institute to look at all the complex water issues the region faces, including financial and environmental impacts.

It involves negotiating swarms of traders, shoppers, cars, vans and labourers who share space on narrow streets; living as tenants in cramped rooms in old, crumbly buildings; quarrelling with landlords about maintaining the structure and sanitation of those buildings and travelling long distances to enjoy some open space and fresh air.

The same is true for thousands of people living in Null Bazaar, Chira Bazaar, Kalbadevi and several other pockets that fall in C-ward, one of Mumbai's most congested wards that also houses some of its oldest and most dilapidated buildings.

This vision is part of a study on C-ward conducted from 2009 to July 2012 by the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit, a think tank for urban planning and policy set up by the state government in 2005.

Brunswick residents upset about idle locomotives

Locomotives left idling outdoors for hours are angering residents of nearby neighborhoods, and might even lead to a new state law.

Neighbors said this week that they think Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, has dodged their concerns while steering the train layover facility toward their homes, rather than other potential sites.

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines on Saturday denounced Chinese plans to search ships sailing through what Beijing says is its territory in the South China Sea in the latest irritant between the countries.

Chinese state media announced the plans, saying southern Hainan province, which Beijing says administers the South China Sea, had approved laws giving its police the right to search vessels that pass through the waters.

Last week the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and India protested a map on a new Chinese passport that depicts disputed areas as belonging to China.

Dec. 01--The rail bridge that collapsed Friday in Paulsboro also gave way three years ago, causing the derailment of nine coal cars.

The two failures in three years raised questions about the quality of freight rail bridge inspections, which are left to bridge owners.

The owners of the nation's 77,000 freight rail bridges are required to inspect their bridges at least once a year, but they need not disclose the results of those inspections.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wants to write a second chapter for the popular Build America Bond program, by reviving the federally subsidized taxable bonds to specifically fund transportation projects.

Speaking during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the fiscal 2012 transportation budget, Wyden said he is working with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and talking to a number of other senators to try to "build a bipartisan coalition" of senators to support BABs for transportation.

Wyden has already coined a new name for the BAB redux proposal: Transportation and Regional Infrastructure Project, or TRIP, bonds.

Dec. 01--The Port Authority board has approved a new five-year agreement to provide unlimited transit rides to University of Pittsburgh students, faculty and staff.

The agreement, retroactive to July 1, calls for the university to pay $1.25 per ride, or half of the current base fare, with a maximum total payment in the first year of $5.9 million.

There is no maximum for years two through five, but if fares go up, the per-ride payments are capped at $1.375 prior to July 2014 and $1.50 thereafter.

DOHA, Qatar - A few hundred people marched in a peaceful demonstration Saturday for "climate justice" in Doha, where negotiators from nearly 200 countries are debating about how to slow global warming and help protect the most vulnerable countries from rising seas and other impacts of climate change.

The march was billed as the first environmental rally ever in the wealthy emirate, which is hosting the two-week U.N. talks aimed at forging a global deal to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.

Many of those taking part in the March said Arab leaders need to look beyond the political turmoil in the region and address the broader challenge of climate change.

Saturday marks the first day of meteorological winter, but the daily high temperatures over the next few days are forecast to reach the 60s.

The Canadian tundra is seeing temperatures of 40 degrees below zero, while the temperatures in Chicago potentially could be some 100 degrees higher than that.

A shift in the jet stream may allow part of an arctic air mass to reach this area, possibly triggering our first measurable snow this winter season.

PAULSBORO, N.J. - A freight train derailed Friday on a railroad bridge that has had problems before, toppling tanker cars partially into a creek and causing a leak of hazardous gas that was blamed for sickening dozens of people, authorities said.

After hours of not registering at all on sensors, the level of the dangerous chemical spiked Friday evening, prompting authorities to evacuate people from several blocks around the site of the derailment and causing investigators to conduct interviews and record checks away from the accident site.

The accident happened just after 7 a.m. when a train with two locomotives, 83 freight cars and a caboose made its way from Camden to the industrial town of Paulsboro, just across the river from Philadelphia International Airport.

Nov. 30--WATSONVILLE -- Environmental groups are seeking to force state officials to implement strict rules for farm water runoff with a lawsuit filed Thursday in Sacramento Superior Court.

The lawsuit alleges the state Water Resources Control Board acted unlawfully when, in September, it delayed reporting and monitoring regulations approved earlier this year by a regional water board.

The regulations, imposed by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, are designed to keep agricultural pollutants out of waterways and drinking water supplies.

Nov. 30--Developer Skanska USA and the Wallingford Community Council have settled their fight over Skanska's controversial "deep green" Stone 34 office building, and the project is expected to break ground within a month.

Skanska will provide the Wallingford group with cash and in-kind help for a project to improve neighborhood access to the Lake Union waterfront, community council President Lee Raaen said.

Raaen wouldn't reveal the settlement amount.

Nov. 30--AUGUSTA, Maine -- Republicans, newly elected to majorities in the Maine House and Senate two years ago, sparked a contentious debate with Democrats when they opened the new session with a plan to merge the Legislature's 100-year-old Labor Committee into the body's panel focused on business and economic development issues.

Two years later, Democrats have returned to the majority, but they're not moving automatically to split the resulting Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee back into two panels.

But Hayes -- who co-authored a BDN OpEd with Rep. Paul Gilbert of Jay, advocating for the committee restructuring -- isn't calling for a return to the structure of the past, in which she said the Labor Committee had a reputation for focusing heavily on labor unions.

Biddeford buys MERC land, starts 'new era'

BIDDEFORD - Biddeford officially purchased the Maine Energy Recovery Co. property on Friday, sealing a historic deal the city manager called "a long time coming."

"It's the beginning of an incredibly new era for the city," said City Manager John Bubier.

Facing strict new federal rules to reduce the amount of phosphorus from leaching into water supplies, state environmental officials held the first of two presentations Wednesday on ways to reduce pollution in stormwater runoff and sewage plant discharges.

The meeting, at the headquarters of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, drew about 100 people from towns, cities and environmental groups from across Connecticut.

Keeping phosphorus out of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams nationwide is important for the health of watersheds, wildlife and people, speakers said Wednesday.

Nov. 30--Increased coal exports could increase traffic through Helena by about eight to 10 train loads a day, a Montana Rail Link official said Thursday.

Jim Lewis, the director of sales and marketing for MRL, said that's the companies estimate -- four to five additional trains in each direction -- if proposed port expansions on the West Coast are approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, if demand grows in the Pacific Rim nations and if natural gas doesn't continue to displace the demand for coal.

The estimate is based on 50 million tons of additional coal exported annually and is considerably less than the 40 to 60 additional trains he said some groups have predicted.

Nov. 30--CITY COUNCIL approved a controversial plan Thursday to allow the Redevelopment Authority to take 17 privately owned properties by eminent domain to build affordable housing in Point Breeze.

Developers dubbed the plan, sponsored by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson on behalf of the Nutter administration, a "land grab."

City and community groups argue the proposal is necessary to maintain affordable housing in an area rife with development that has caused longtime residents to worry that gentrification will increase the cost of living.

Nov. 30--STOCKTON -- The city is accepting applications for four Planning Commission members, whose four-year term will begin upon appointment in January.

To qualify, applicants must live within their district -- except the lone at-large appointee -- not hold any elected position and not be employed by Stockton.

The seven-member Planning Commission advises the City Council and makes recommendations on the General Plan, zoning code changes, specific plans for streets and highways, redevelopment plans and the conformity of capital improvements to the General Plan.

Nov. 30--STATE COLLEGE -- After reaching consensus on a few remaining issues in a draft ordinance to regulate shopping center sites, the borough Planning Commission likely will recommend the plan to the Borough Council by the end of the year.

Borough staff suggested early this year that the commission consider how to ensure redevelopment in those areas remains heavily commercial.

A new CP-3 zone is one way the commission has worked to address that issue, and members have discussed how to keep neighborhood shopping centers accessible and friendly to pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit users.

Nov. 30--Three of Tennessee's five 2012 Green Development Awards and Grants are going to local cities or agencies.

The money also may be used for citizen outreach and education efforts, according to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Meg Lockhart.

Athens will receive $28,080 for its Green Streets Initiative, a collaborative effort with the Tennessee Public Works Institute and Tennessee Transportation Assistant Program to apply both traditional and experimental cleaning technologies to local roads, trails and parking lots.

Nov. 30--For Ice River Springs Water Co., locating a new bottling and manufacturing plant in the Lehigh Valley makes its environmentally friendly product a little greener.

Over the next three years, the Canadian producer of bottled water in containers made from recycled plastic will bring 49 manufacturing jobs to its plant in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

Based in Feversham, Ontario, family-owned Ice River Springs was looking for a place to move production closer to its customers in the mid-Atlantic region.

Projects underscore need for new ways to raise money to improve people's daily lives

TORONTO, Nov. 29, 2012 /CNW/ - Mitzie Hunter, CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance (CivicAction) responds to the speech that Metrolinx President and CEO Bruce McCuaig gave at the Toronto Board of Trade today where he unveiled the next wave of regional transportation projects planned for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

We applaud the announcement of the master agreement between Metrolinx and the TTC for four new Light Rapid Transit lines in Toronto, and that the next wave of proposed investment extends beyond major rapid transit projects to local transit, roads, active transportation and other strategic transportation initiatives.

Nov. 28--WILTON -- Wilton Recycling will pay a $7,500 penalty to the state for the company's role in an asbestos hazard at the former Forster Mill, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

The company's owner, Adam Mack, 38, said active demolition of the now-safe Depot Street site could begin at any time, whether or not he is incarcerated for unrelated charges.

"The other stuff is still ongoing and whether I'm available to directly coordinate or not, I have other responsible people in place who will continue with the Wilton project," Mack said.

SKIATOOK - Architect Daryl Bray never had heard of the Folds of Honor Foundation.

Bray volunteered to design the group's "Honor Cottage," a year- round retreat for wounded veterans and their families at CrossTimbers at Skiatook Lake.

The cottage is a joint venture among the Owasso-based Folds of Honor Foundation, CrossTimbers and the Army Corps of Engineers, said Ron Howell, the developer of CrossTimbers.

Nov. 28--WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., introduced legislation Wednesday to help clear the way for development at River Ridge Commerce Center along Ind. 62.

The legislation mirrors a similar bill introduced this year by Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., as part of the National Defense Authorization Act and helps clear the way for economic development at military installations that have been closed outside the normal Base Realignment and Closure process.

The 6,000-acre River Ridge Commerce Center fits the criteria and is being developed on the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant site that extends from Jeffersonville into Charlestown.

Nov. 29--WESLEY CHAPEL -- The potential for light rail in Pasco County is looking less likely now that Hillsborough County and Tampa officials are considering nixing a rail line along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Richard Gehring, Pasco's growth management administrator, said Hillsborough's decisions have serious ramifications to its northern neighbor -- especially if light rail is "dead" on Bruce B. Downs.

A rail line along the newly widened Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa was supposed to be a key segment of the network -- the county even set aside an extra 20 feet of right-of-way for the future rail line.

Nov. 29--SANTA CRUZ -- Santa Cruz residents want the county's transportation leaders to start building a trail next to the railroad as soon as possible, and they'd like it close to their individual neighborhoods and homes.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Santa Cruz County held its third public workshop Wednesday at Simpkins Family Swim Center to gather input on how to move forward with the commission's recent purchase of the 32-mile Branch Rail Line, which runs from Watsonville to Davenport.

The commission's long-term vision for the rail line, which was acquired from Union Pacific in October for $14.2 million, includes a recreation pedestrian-bike trail that will eventually connect with trails in Monterey County and stretch north to the San Mateo County line.

Nov. 29--Many of the St. Cloud area lakes and rivers that drain into the Mississippi River continue to have pollution problems including too many nutrients and bacteria, according to a new report.

The MPCA began an intensive monitoring effort of the St. Cloud watershed in 2009.

Water samples were collected between 2009 and 2011 from more than 70 rivers, including the Elk, Clearwater, St. Francis and Mayhew Creek; and 69 lakes, including Clearwater, Elk, Cedar, Clear and Pleasant.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - The United States claimed "enormous" strides in reducing greenhouse emissions at the opening of U.N. climate talks Monday, despite failing to join industrialized nations in committing to binding cuts.

The pre-emptive U.S. approach underscores a showdown expected at the two-week conference as China pushes developed countries to take a greater role in tackling global warming.

China's delegate, Su Wei, said rich nations should become party to an extended Kyoto Protocol - an emissions deal for some industrialized countries that the U.S. long ago rejected - or at least make "comparable mitigation commitments."

Nov. 28--Nothing better reveals the true agenda of environmental extremists than the fact that even an immediate, total U.S. carbon-emissions halt wouldn't affect climate change significantly -- but would cripple America's economy and way of life.

Writing for The Examiner of Washington, Ron Arnold, executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, highlights that key conclusion of a new Science and Public Policy Institute report ( scienceandpublicpolicy.org ).

If America eliminated all carbon emissions today, says report author Paul Knappenberger, global temperatures would rise just 0.08 degrees Celsius less by 2050, 0.17 degrees Celsius less by 2100 -- "amounts that are ...

Nov. 28--SAN FRANCISCO -- A state appellate court has reversed a Contra Costa Superior Court decision that halted Walmart's aims of expanding its Antioch store into the East Bay's first Supercenter.

In its decision Tuesday, appellate judges agreed that the Antioch City Council correctly applied its development plan when approving the retailers expansion in September 2010 without looking at environmental issues.

Walmart is preparing to move forward with its expansion plans, Walmart spokeswoman Delia Garcia said in an email.

Nov. 28--A battle is emerging over state energy conservation standards that have saved Ohioans $1 billion on their electric bills since 2008.

Ohio's Energy Efficiency Resource Standard requires that Ohio investor-owned utilities cut a cumulative 22 percent of electric consumption through energy efficiency efforts by 2025.

The standards were signed into law in 2008 by then Gov. Ted Strickland.

COVINGTON, Ky. - A northern Kentucky community college is investing an ambitious $81.5 million into a new urban campus in the hopes it will become the foundation for urban economic development in Covington.

The new Gateway Community & Technical College campus itself will be nestled in roughly a six-block area in Covington's Central Business District.

Gateway buildings and partnerships are expected to spread throughout northern Kentucky's largest city, filling up long- vacant storefronts and bringing new foot traffic for existing businesses - and, hopefully, new ones.

Two of the most overcrowded lines in the subway system have been squeezing in even more riders, thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

Straphangers have been packing into the 4 and 5 trains like sardines since the R train stopped running between Manhattan and Brooklyn, transit officials said yesterday.

The extreme conditions - the two lines together typically carry about 1.07 million passengers a day - have transit officials scrambling to repair the R line's Montague Street tunnel, which has been closed since it was damaged in the storm.

View Mack Point in a larger map

CHS Inc.'s new rail facility in the Biddeford Industrial Park can store 180,000 gallons of propane and move 20 millions gallons a year into Maine.

These questions remain in the background this week, as the Searsport Planning Board holds four days of public hearings to determine if the $40 million project meets local land-use rules.