Idaho Smart Growth

Bringing People Together To Create Great Places To Live

Idaho Falls – Wildfire Workshop

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IS YOUR COMMUNITY PREPARED?

Join this FREE four-hour workshop to learn about what communities
can do to be prepared for wildfire.
WHO should attend?

Whether you’re a homeowner, city planner, business owner, rancher, county commissioner, public works engineer, city police or fire, this workshop is for you.

Wildfire has no boundaries, the season is longer and fires are bigger. With these changes the importance for interdisciplinary planning for wildfire at the edges of development is growing. It will take all of us to make sure our communities are truly prepared to respond to a wildfire for best possible outcomes.

FEB 22 10AM – 2PM

Idaho Falls Fire Station

343 “E” Street Idaho Falls, ID 83402
LUNCH PROVIDED – RSVP by Wednesday, Feb 20 so we have enough food.
Register to attend

Program:

You’ll hear from experts in this field who will share their experience and talk about the various roles we each have to play to help you understand what YOU can do to make your community more resilient to wildfires. You will also receive some resources to take away.

Presenters:

  • Tyre Holfeltz – ID Dept of Lands
    Fire Prevention and Risk Mitigation Program Manager
  • Jaap Vos – University of Idaho
    Bioregional Planning and Community Design Program Head
Panelists:

Liz Davy, USFS Caribou Targhee- South Zone District Ranger
Kevin Conran, BLM – Idaho Falls District- Fire Management Specialist
Hannah Sanger, City of Pocatello- Science and Environment Administrator

Additional Upcoming Workshops:
  • March 15 in Lewiston
  • April (date TBD) in Coeur d’Alene

Youth Lobby Day

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Idaho Smart Growth joined American Heart Association, Idaho Walk Bike Alliance and Treasure Valley YMCA Safe Routes to School at the Statehouse on Jan 31 with youth from around the valley for Youth Lobby Day.

On January 31, twenty local high school students met at the Idaho State Capitol for Youth Lobby Day. Coordinated by the American Heart Association, Youth Lobby Day is an opportunity for students to learn more about the Idaho State Legislature, meet with representatives, engage in issue advocacy, and see firsthand how our political system operates.

This year, students met with legislators to ask for continued funding for Safe Routes to School. They shared personal stories, and encouraged legislators to continue funding the program. Currently the Children Pedestrian Safety Program, which provides funding for projects that serve Safe Routes to School, is in the Surplus Eliminator bill which is set to sunset in May 2019, after which dollars would no longer be available. 

With the state’s revenues currently below original projections, students were told that the fate of the Surplus Eliminator extension is uncertain. However, the students were well received by the legislators and showed great poise and leadership.

A group of students met with Representative Wood, the House Health & Welfare Chairman.

As for February 8th, Senator Den Hartog introduced legislation(S. 1063) that would extend the sunset on the Strategic Initiatives Program, where Safe Routes gets its current state funding. We’ll see where it goes from here!  If you are interested in updates on this possible change in state funding, be sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter.

March Citizens Planning Academy

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Is congestion really the problem? Talking transportation with Don Kostelec.

Wednesday, March 6 at 6 PM. Free and open to the public.

Attend Online:

Join remotely from any internet-connected device by clicking this link: https://uidaho.zoom.us/j/236930382

Attend in-person:

U of I Legacy Pointe Conference Room, Idaho Water Center, 322 E. Front Street, Boise. Free off-street parking is available in the Idaho Water Center and Ada County Courthouse garages. More information and links maps can be found here.

Don Kostelec, AICP, is a 17-year professional in transportation planning, health analysis and comprehensive planning. He is applying and researching Health Impact Assessments and integrated health/planning efforts through various projects throughout the United States. Don’s work extends from Alaska to Florida and California to New York.

Don Kostelec, AICP, is a 17-year professional in transportation planning, health analysis and comprehensive planning. He is applying and researching Health Impact Assessments and integrated health/planning efforts through various projects throughout the United States. Don’s work extends from Alaska to Florida and California to New York.

His specialty areas include: The Americans with Disabilities Act, Transportation Policy & Finance, Health Impact Assessment, Active Transportation Design, Complete Streets, and Governance. Don is a member of the Idaho Walk Bike Alliance Board of Directors and a past member of the Board of Directors of Bike Walk NC. He has also served on the TRB Committee on Transportation Demand Management and the Eat Smart/ Move More Leadership Team in North Carolina.

Don is known as a provocative speaker who helps communities better engage the design profession for more equitable and safer street design that prioritizes the safety of people over the movement of cars. He is a frequent contributor to national podcasts and stories on safe street design and walkability. Don has a Master of Urban Planning & Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Journalism from Western Carolina University.

The C.P.A. is a collaboration of Idaho Smart Growth and the University of Idaho’s College of Law in Boise and Bioregional Planning Program. Monthly sessions are designed to help citizens become effective advocates on a wide range of planning topics.

RSVP office@idahosmartgrowth.org. Learn more about the series here or view past session videos on our YouTube channel.

Wildfire Planning Workshop

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Remember the Soda fire, 2015 or the Tablerock fire, 2016?

IS YOUR COMMUNITY PREPARED?

Join this FREE four-hour workshop to learn about what communities can do to be prepared for wildfire.

WHO should attend?

Whether you’re a homeowner, city planner, business owner, rancher, county commissioner, public works engineer, city police or fire, this workshop is for you.

Wildfire has no boundaries, the season is longer and fires are bigger. With these changes the importance for interdisciplinary planning for wildfire at the edges of development is growing. It will take all of us to make sure our communities are truly prepared to respond to a wildfire for best possible outcomes.

FEB 4th 10AM – 2PM

Canyon County Administration Building

111 N 11th Ave Ste. 130, Caldwell, ID 83605
LUNCH PROVIDED – RSVP by Friday, Feb 1 so we have enough food.
Register to attend

Program: You’ll hear from experts in this field who will share their experience and talk about the various roles we each have to play to help you understand what YOU can do to make your community more resilient to wildfires. You will also receive some resources to take away.

Presenters:
  • Tyre Holfeltz – ID Dept of Lands
    Fire Prevention and Risk Mgmt.
  • Mike Pellant – BLM (retired)
    Senior Rangeland Ecologist
Panelists:

Mayor Jackie Aymon, city of McCall; Jerry McAdams, Boise City Fire, Wildfire Mitigation Coordinator; LaDawn Saxton, USFS Payette NF NM District Lead Fire Prevention; Brett Van Paepeghem, South Project Manager Idaho Firewise; Jared Jablonski, BLM, Boise District Fire Information.

We hope you’ll join us for this FREE workshop to learn more about wildfire and how you can help your community be prepared. If you are unable to attend this date, we have three additional workshops planned around the state. All are free and open to the public.

Additional Upcoming Workshops:
  • Feb 22nd from 10am-2pm
    • LOCATION: Idaho Falls Fire Station, 343 “E” Street, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402
  • March in Lewiston
  • April in Coeur d’Alene

February Citizens Planning Academy

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So we’re the fastest growing state, how does planning fit in?

Wednesday, February 6 at 6 PM. Free and open to the public.

Attend Online:

Join remotely from any internet-connected device by clicking this link: https://uidaho.zoom.us/j/236930382

Attend in-person:

U of I Legacy Pointe Conference Room, Idaho Water Center, 322 E. Front Street, Boise. Free off-street parking is available in the Idaho Water Center and Ada County Courthouse garages. More information and links maps can be found here.

The first session of the year will be a panel including:

Kelli Badesheim

Kelli Badesheim–
Kelli is the executive director of Valley Regional Transit. She serves on the COMPASS (Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho) board, is president of the board of the Community Transportation Association of Idaho and a founding member of the Treasure Valley Chapter of WTS International, an association dedicated to the advancement of women in the transportation industry.

Rob Hopper–
Rob serves as the vice president of the Idaho Smart Growth board. He has served on the Caldwell City Council since 2001, chairs the city’s urban renewal commission and is the chairman of the Valley Regional Transit Board of Directors. He is an IT manager at Blue Cross of Idaho.

Patricia Nilsson

Patricia Nilsson–
Patricia is the development services director for Canyon County. She has been a public sector planner for agriculture-based counties in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Idaho for more than 30 years. She has extensive experience in long-range planning and has been a project manager of a multimillion dollar open space and farmland preservation program.

Jaap Vos

Jaap Vos-
Jaap is the program head of the University of Idaho Bioregional Planning and Community Design program and the director of the Urban Design Center in Boise. Prior to joining the University of Idaho, Jaap was director of the planning program for Boise State University.

The C.P.A. is a collaboration of Idaho Smart Growth and the University of Idaho’s College of Law in Boise and Bioregional Planning Program. Monthly sessions are designed to help citizens become effective advocates on a wide range of planning topics.

RSVP office@idahosmartgrowth.org. Learn more about the series here or view past session videos on our YouTube channel.

2018 by the numbers

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Happy New Year!

We hope your 2019 is off to a great start! As we embark on the new year, we wanted to take a brief moment to look back. Check out some of the ways Idaho Smart Growth has empowered citizens and activated change from the state to the citizen level in 2018.

Technical Assistance:

Idaho Smart Growth provides technical assistance to communities around the state helping to create safe, healthy, vibrant communities. In 2018, we worked with 5 communities bringing stakeholders together on a variety of projects including: wayfinding plans, comprehensive plans, and neighborhood placemaking. Click here to view examples of this work.

We recently finished work with Idaho Falls, conducting visioning workshops for south downtown. Click to view the full report here. How might we help you? Click for the full list of services.

Grow Smart Awards:

With 114 awards since 2005, the Grow Smart Awards continues to grow, recognizing those working hard to practice smart growth in Idaho.

In 2018, Idaho Smart Growth celebrated 11 projects and people for excellence in smart growth. Click here to view the full list of recipients.

This year, also brought new outreach and programming to celebrate past and current Grow Smart Awards recipients. Click here to read more about the growth of this program.

Safe Routes to School:

In 2018, Idaho Smart Growth held the first ever statewide convening of safe routes workers with 15 coordinators attending. The statewide convening allowed coordinators to learn from each other and to network and build a stronger voice for safe routes. Click here to view notes from the convening.

For more information on our Safe Routes to School program, click here.

Citizens Planning Academy:

In its second year, 44 citizens attended our Citizens Planning Academy (CPA). The Citizens Planning Academy continues to connect citizens to information and tools to become more engaged and better informed advocates.

With 18 sessions since the program began, this year we were excited to add the option for attendees to join the session remotely. We also have recordings of the sessions available on our youtube channel.

Happy Holidays from Idaho Smart Growth!

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Holiday Photo of ISG

As we start to tie a ribbon on 2018 and look ahead to the next year, I have a couple of thoughts to share.

We know the U.S. Census named Idaho the fastest-growing state last year, at 2.2%. We grew by nearly 37,000 new Idahoans, mostly in a few metro areas around the state. In numbers alone, it’s not so impressive–sixteen U.S. metros each added more people than our whole state did. But the impact is proportionally more dramatic here. Most of us have come, stayed or returned to Idaho precisely to avoid the challenges of those large population numbers. Rapid population growth threatens the quality of life and the natural beauty that all of us value.

What can we do about it? Many want to build more roads and suburbs for the growth, similar to the metros they are fleeing. Others want to block new developments altogether and live in their own “private Idaho.” Neither approach is practical or sustainable. Or friendly.

At Idaho Smart Growth we know that growth and change can be painful but potentially rewarding. Our work is based on the idea that everyone has a stake in their communities, and that all stakeholders should be engaged in community issues. That means being interested, educated and involved—which is where we’re trying to make a difference. We’re working across Idaho to help people become active participants in how their communities deal with growth, or decline. Below are a few examples of what we’ve been up to, and more information is available on our website.

We know you are interested in this work, too. As Idaho grows, so does the need for Idaho Smart Growth. To keep up, we are dependent on the support of individuals and groups around the state. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to consider whether you can contribute. Check out our donate page to learn more.

Thank you for an engaging and rewarding year! I hope you have a fabulous holiday season and an excellent new year to come!

Scot

Wildfire Planning and Preparedness

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2016 Boise Table Rock Fire, above, from Harris Ranch; below, aerial view the day after.

Community wildfire planning is a leading smart growth issue of our time.

As Idaho continues its growth streak, development encroaches into areas where wildfires historically occur. Fire is a critical natural process—it’s only a disaster when people or property are harmed. Wildfire planning and preparedness is more important than ever.

This coming year Idaho Smart Growth will join the Idaho Department of Lands, University of Idaho and Boise State University to conduct workshops around the state that will bring professional expertise to local communities to discuss wildfire preparedness planning, share strategies to minimize impacts and planning for post-event recovery.

Creating great places to live means places that are resilient in the face of hazards.
Will you help expand our work with Idaho communities to plan for wildfire?

Photo: top KBOI; above Aaron Hassemer.

The costs of wildfire have never been higher. Your support has never been more important. Please consider a tax-deductible year-end contribution to Idaho Smart Growth so we can do more with Idaho communities on wildfire planning—and the rest of our smart growth activities. You can help shape the future and protect what makes Idaho so special.

Please click to make your tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!

Growing the Grow Smart Awards in 2018

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Paddy Tillet with Grove Plaza award recipients

Laura Williams, Doug Woodruff, Paddy Tillett and Ryan Armbruster celebrate the Grow Smart Award for the Grove Plaza.

Our cornerstone annual event celebrated its 14th year on November 5th with the largest attendance and a dynamic keynote by Paddy Tillett touching on the significance of planning for the future, while highlighting how far we have come. The tone of the evening was celebratory, with a record number of projects receiving recognition for exemplifying smart growth principles. Check out the full list of awards here.

With the sunset of Idaho’s first urban renewal district, in the heart of downtown Boise, our Grow Smart Awards event created the perfect opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments within the district and the importance of urban renewal as a smart growth tool. The event was held at Boise Centre East and was free to attend this year, thanks in part to Presenting Sponsor Capital City Development Corporation. We hope to continue the trend set this year and grow the event again next year! During the evening’s event, CCDC premiered a special video highlighting the district, check out clips from the video below.

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers and sponsors who helped make the event happen. Check out the photo album from the event on our Facebook page, linked here.

Moving Beyond Boise

With 14 years of awarded projects around the state, we have a unique opportunity to bring the celebration outside of Boise as well. This year, we ventured to the Wood River Valley. With half a dozen awards hailing from the region, bringing a Grow Smart Awards event to Ketchum offered an opportunity to celebrate the local award recipients within their local community. Photos below are from the event.

The event provided an opportunity to recognize some of the projects that have made the wood river valley a better place to live, work and recreate. Idaho Smart Growth also presented an award to Dale Bates, 2017 Charles Hummel Award recipient, honoring the role he played in developing the Town Square, the Fourth Street Heritage Corridor and a local residential project.

The city of Ketchum took a leading role in crafting the event, calling it “A Fair on the Square.” Mayor Neil Bradshaw wanted the event to bridge the accomplishments of the past with a chance to garner public comments on ideas for future city projects. Right in line with Idaho Smart Growth’s mission, in creating the event, Mayor Bradshaw said, “Participation and public input is vital to creating a healthy community and a vibrant town.” We agree Mayor Bradshaw! We look forward to bringing the Grow Smart Awards around the state, with our next event happening in spring 2019. Stay tuned!

Walking Tour

Serving as the formal announcement of this year’s award recipients, Idaho Smart Growth hosted our first Walking Tour and Porch Party. The brainchild of ISG board member Sarah Martz, the event was an opportunity to further highlight previous award recipients and continue to raise awareness of the program.

In our inaugural tour, attendees heard from project leaders and toured the facilities of four downtown locations including: the Veltex building, on the corner of 5th and Main; 10 Barrel, on the corner of 9th and Jefferson; the Afton, on the corner of 8th and River; and finished with a tour and porch party at CSHQA headquarters, on the corner of 2nd and Broad.

The tour called attention to the details jurors acknowledged when reviewing the nomination. It also served as an opportunity to tour several locations exemplifying smart growth that have never been nominated, Freak Alley for example.

“Anyone can nominate! It’s easy and we’re happy to help you! Projects don’t have to be new or current!” says Deanna Smith, program coordinator for Idaho Smart Growth.

Nominations will open for the 2019 Grow Smart Awards in early spring. If you would like more information about the nomination and application process, contact our office.

Join us for our Holiday Social!

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Holiday Social 2018

It’s a holiday tradition! Join us for our annual holiday gathering on Thursday, December 6th from 4:30-7pm to celebrate smart growth, socialize and network. We’re teaming up again with ULI Idaho and U.S. Green Building Council Idaho to promote collaboration on responsible development in Idaho.

Appetizers will be provided and a cash bar serving drinks.

Thanks to CTA Architects and Engineers for hosting us!

The event is FREE, bring a friend! RSVP on Facebook or by emailing office@idahosmartgrowth.org

Thank you to our event sponsors: Bittercreek Alehouse, Holland & Hart, Lee & Associates, McKibben + Cooper, Urban Land Development, and Zhoo Zhoo

Idaho Smart Growth | (208) 333-8066
910 Main Street Suite 314 | Boise, ID 83702
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