Minimum Requirements

• Education – Bachelor’s Degree required; Advanced Degrees or certifications preferred.
• Five + years professional experience in one of these areas - non-profit, management, program work, fundraising, or other related areas.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Outstanding management and organizational skills.

Please Provide

• A resume
• An essay that illustrates your understanding and familiarity with smart growth principles
• Three references

Idaho Smart Growth is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that brings people together to create great places to live. This is a full time salaried position. Idaho Smart Growth offers a competitive salary based on experience, medical benefits, and a retirement package. Full job announcement and description.

Email applications to: andrea@idahosmartgrowth.org, or mail to 910 Main St., Suite 314, Boise, ID 83702

Review of applications will begin April 8th; position will be open until filled.

After conducting surveys and focus groups, Idaho Smart Growth and partner groups found that how areas of city impact boundaries are establish vary widely throughout the state- and that local decision makers and planners needed more tools and guidance to help understand how to create and amend Area of City Impact maps and agreements.

Idaho Smart Growth, a statewide non profit organization, and the University of Idaho College of Law Economic Development Clinic gathered Area of City Impact agreements, developed a database, and published a tool kit as a resource to Idaho cities and counties. It is intended to provide guidelines and best practices for the provisions of Idaho law.

The Tool Kit is the outcome from meetings with organizational representatives convened by Idaho Smart Growth 2012. The following organizations contributed to the content of this publication:

• Association of Idaho Cities
• Boise City
• Boise State University
• COMPASS
• Gem County
• Idaho Association of Counties
• Idaho Chapter of the American Planning Association
• Idaho District Council of the Urban Land Institute
• Idaho Smart Growth
• University of Idaho College of Law - Boise      
• Valley Regional Transit

 Electronic copies of the “Area of City Impact: A Tool Kit of Guidelines and Resources for Use by Idaho Cities and Counties”, completed in December 2012, are available here.  The full compilation of Area of City Impact Agreements can be found at http://www.uidaho.edu/law/academics/clinicsprofessionalskills/clinics/econ-dev-clinic/city-impact-agreement.

[1] Smart Growth America, http://www.rpcgb.org/events/2012/01/17/the-rise-of-walkable-urbanism/index.php

Matt Blandford works for Elite Edge Engineers as a LEED Accredited Structural Engineer.  Sharon Patterson Grant, LEED AP BD+C and Homes and managing member of Eco Edge , focuses on creating healthy indoor environments alongside reducing utility costs and using resources more wisely. Hethe Clark is a land use and real estate attorney and partner at Spink Butler, LLP.   Wyatt Johnson is an experienced civil trial lawyer with Angstman Johnson and engages in a transactional practice involving real estate and related business ventures.

The Idaho Smart Growth board also announces the election of the following officers for 2013:  Gary Allen, President; Kate Eldridge, Vice-President; Michelle Groenevelt, Secretary; and Stacey Alexander, Treasurer.

Chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, and some cancers) related to obesity and physical inactivity are among the top leading causes of death in the U.S. The direct health care cost of obesity in Idaho is $324 million per year. Among Idaho adults, those who are considered obese are significantly less likely to engage in the recommended levels of physical activity than those who are overweight. As obesity rates and their associated health care costs continue to increase in Idaho (63 percent of Idaho adults are overweight or obese), reflecting the rising obesity rates throughout the nation, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) saw the need to work at the community level to promote physical activity through bicycling and walking.

Providing infrastructure that includes active travel enables people to integrate physical activity into their daily routines. Barriers to active living exist in every community, especially when community designs typically favor motor vehicles. Urban designs that lack elements such as sidewalks, safe crossings, transit, and bicycle facilities make it difficult for people to be active safely in their communities. In Idaho, between 2007 and 2011, there were 2,804 pedestrians and bicyclists injured or killed in traffic accidents. Implementing design strategies that address neighborhoods, streets, and public outdoor spaces can reduce injuries, encourage walking and bicycling, and improve health and well-being.

The Department of Health and Welfare received one-time funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to conduct 5 pilot projects focusing on Complete Streets (streets that safely accommodate all users). The original project was for 18 months, and was extended with the help of additional funding from the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health.   Idaho Smart Growth conducted the Complete Streets pilot project with the goals to:

• Increase knowledge and understanding of the connection between community design and escalating public health concerns such as obesity and other chronic diseases, and to provide the five Idaho communities with tools to address these issues.
• Provide education about the role Complete Streets play in enhancing daily activity.
• Establish an Active Living Task Force in each community.
• Engage non-traditional partners, such as health professionals, in community design, land use and transportation planning.
• Assist and build support for passage of Complete Streets policies in five pilot communities.

“Complete Streets: Case Studies from Five Idaho Communities”, published in January 2013 provides more background on this project, Complete Streets, and the projects in Lewiston, Moscow, Idaho Falls, the Wood River Valley, and Nampa.  Hard copies are available at the Idaho Smart Growth office (call 208-333-8066) and electronic copies are available online at www.idahosmartgrowth.org.

Here's an excerpt from the blog:

City Councilmember Elaine Clegg is using her experience with smart growth development to create great neighborhoods in Boise, Idaho.

First elected to the City Council in 2003, Clegg believes Boise’s wealth of natural assets and existing infrastructure can be utilized to attract the kind of young, educated workers many leading companies demand. To accomplish those goals, however, the city must invest in the things that make a difference, creating places where people want to live and where they can walk or bike to shops, restaurants, schools and other amenities.

“A great neighborhood is one that has a center of some kind, that has open space of some kind, and that has good, connected streets,” Clegg says, noting that from an economic and financial side especially, it just makes sense to spend a few extra moments considering how and where you develop communities.

“Paying as you go – it’’s about much more than getting upfront capital costs right,” Clegg adds. “It’s about making sure that what you build over the long-term can be maintained with the money it’s going to generate.”

Read more here:  http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/06/05/councilmember-elaine-clegg-on-boise-idahos-blueprint-for-success/

The 1.5 hour webinar will provide attendees an in depth analysis of Safe Routes to Schools. The learning objectives include:

ü      Being able to explain why fewer children are walking and bicycling to school and what caused this shift from several decades ago.

ü      Being able to describe the consequences of fewer children walking and bicycling to school, to health and to the community.

ü      Understanding the smart growth principles that encourage walking and biking by bringing destinations closer together with better connections.

ü      Learning the primary tools used to build complete streets making it easier and safer to walk and bike.

ü      Understanding why schools are sited in distant locations and what strategies could change that in the future.

AICP members earn 1.5 credits for this workshop.

More information at http://www.planning.org/cm

If you are interested in attending this seminar you must register with an RSVP to Deanna Smith at deanna@idahosmartgrowth.org to receive directions on how to participate.

In the spirit of giving thanks, we’d like to give thanks to our 2012 Grow Smart Award sponsors!   If you missed the reception, you can read more about it here:  http://idahobusinessreview.com/2012/11/13/idaho-smart-growth-doles-out-annual-awards/

2012 Grow Smart Award Sponsors:

When: Monday, December 3, anytime between 5:00-10:00 pm

Where: Payette Brewing, 111 West 33^rd Street, Boise, Idaho 83714

See you there – and bring your friends!

This free workshop (refreshments included!) will take place Tuesday, October 16 from 1-4:30 p.m. at the College of Southern Idaho, Shields Building, Room 201.  Please RSVP to Deanna at Deanna@idahosmartgrowth.org or 208-333-8066 by October 12.
 
CM CREDITS PENDING:  AICP members could earn 2 Certification Maintenance (CM) credits for this activity.  More information about AICP’s CM program can be found at www.planning.org/cm.

Sponsored by the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health and the College of Southern Idaho Sustainability Council

The complete list of winners is below and the online press link is at http://idahobusinessreview.com/2012/09/19/2012-smart-growth-grow-smart-awards-announced/.  Read in-depth stories about this year’s recipients featured in a publication in the Nov. 9 IBR.

Jury members evaluated the nominees’ use of smart growth principles. Members this year include: Jenah Thornborrow, Garden City development services administrator; Melissa Lavitt, dean, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, Boise State University; Stan Cole, architect, Urban Land Institute; Kate Eldridge, Idaho Smart Growth board member and vice president for HDR Engineering, Inc.; Bill Connors, CEO, Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce; Jim Tomlinson, Tomlinson and Associates; Daren Fluke, president, Idaho Chapter of the American Planning Association; Maureen Gresham, program development team, transportation performance, Idaho Transportation Department; Russ Dane, realtor, Ada County Association of Realtors and Jeremy Grimm, Planning and Community Development director, City of Sandpoint.

Idaho Smart Growth 2012 Grow Smart Award Recipients

Northwest Bank Commercial/Industrial Award: the Biomark Building in Boise.

D.L. Evans Bank Redevelopment Award: Idaho State Capitol in Boise.

McClendon Engineering, Inc. Public Policy and Planning Award: Blueprint Boise.

Green Remodeling Smart Growth and Green Building Award: McCall-Donnelly High School.

Midas Gold Inc. Small Community Award: McCall Lakefront / Legacy Park and 2010 Improvement Project.

Givens Pursley LLP Residential Award: Crescent Rim in Boise.

PacificSource Health Plans Citizen Advocacy Award: Moscow Active Living Task Force.

HDR Inc. Smart Growth and Transportation Award: Boise State University Sustainable Transportation.

Charles Hummel Award: Stephen Meyer, Coeur d’Alene.

Honorable Mention: Roosevelt Elementary and Lowell Elementary Remodels, Boise