Mixed up...

You can officially add "mixed use" to the list of buzzwords that once represented something but now seem to mean, well, whatever.

Like smart growth before it, "mixed use" has become the word du jour for developers wishing to show how enlightened their otherwise banal new subdivisions will be. The latest example: Shipley's Grant.

“We are people who believe in really trying to create a community,” said John Slidell, a partner with The Bozzuto Group, which plans to break ground next month.

The 58-acre planned community, called Shipley’s Grant, is between Route 108 and Snowden River Parkway, backing up to Route 100.

The Bozzuto Group, based in Greenbelt, has acquired half the land with the remaining land being developed in phases during the next six or seven years, Slidell said.

The developers wanted to create a “traditional village feel,” Slidell said.

...The Shipley’s Grant complex will include 396 town houses and condominium residences, 62 of which will be built during this first phase. It also will have 40,000 square feet of retail space, such as a food store, coffee shop, dry cleaner and other convenience retail, said Rob Bavar, vice president of Bavar Properties Group, which is developing the retail portion.

Oh yeah, throw "village" onto that list, as well.

I generally support the concept of mixed use but not the predominate practice of it. In theory, such developments encourage less driving, more efficient use of land and a stronger "sense of place." In realty, they generate just as much if not more traffic, use roughly the same amount of land and do nothing to actually foster community. They're just regular old subdivisions with a few shops on the side.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe Shipley's Grant is better than I'm giving it credit for. I can't say for sure since I haven't seen the plans. But looking at the mix of houses and commercial space, it's pretty easy to see that few of the neighborhood's future residents will be commuting or running errands on foot or bicycle. At least they'll be close to a highway!

Although I'm not, many people are opposed to growth and perhaps rightly so if this is the type of growth we're accustomed to; it's certainly not the type of growth I support, however.

When I think about growth, I try to look at it in two ways: 1) Inevitable, at least until we enact massive, macroeconomic changes; and 2) potentially beneficial.

Like diamonds, developable land in Howard County is both limited and extremely desirable, meaning people are willing to pay handsomely for it. And it seems to me that if we put these factors to work for us, rather than against us, we have the opportunity to generate significant benefits for current and future residents of this county.

Affordable housing and jobs are oft-cited examples of the benefits of development. So is the possibility of a stronger transit system. But what about the environment or schools or our infrastructure, three things typically considered to decline in quality with an increase in population? Could we actually flip that logic on it's head?

Could we pair development with mandatory set asides for schools, as opposed to the too low impact fees and occasional "proffers" we accept now? What if, instead of requiring the construction of silly stormwater management ponds, we required developers to engage in stream and watershed restorations at the same time we enacted stronger "green" building codes? What if we made developers pay for land preservation? What if we changed parking requirements in mixed use areas to create a disincentives for driving or forced integration of transit systems into subivision plans?

I don't want to get into making an even longer list of "what ifs," but it seems to me that our perspective on growth will dictate to a large extent the type of growth we get. If it's always perceived as bad/costly/undesirablereable, then, chances are, that's what it's going to be. If, however, we look past the challenges and focus on the opportunities, we stand a much better chance of realizing the benefits of growth, mitigating its costs and getting what we really want: a great place to live.