“Home builders and city officials want the same things,” Wilson said. “We want neighborhood parks and town squares that offer friends a place to gather and children a place to play. We want communities that are safe, efficient and economically sound, with equal opportunity for all. We want neighborhoods that are attractive, unique and compelling.”
NAHB must continue to educate its “three publics,” Garczynski added: home builders, current and future home buyers and elected and appointed local officials.
A good example of a home builder educational effort, he said, is the Washington Smart Growth Alliance, which includes builders, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the citizen-based Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Urban Land Institute.
Developers can submit their plans to the alliance and if they meet its criteria, then their project can be recognized as a smart growth development.
“That recognition can make a big difference when you go to a public hearing,” Garczynski said. “It enables county supervisors or city council members to approve a good project that may face NIMBY resistance.”
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