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Summer 2000
Walkability — A Good Investment for the Valley
A bumper sticker announcing “I’d rather be walking”
was sighted recently on a car driving in downtown Modesto. This
sentiment is not confined to the Valley – it is having economic
ramifications all over the country. Recent studies repeatedly demonstrate
that there are financial dividends for making neighborhoods and
downtowns where people can walk.
People Pay A Premium to Live Where It’s
Walkable
A 1999 Urban Land Institute study found that home buyers are
willing to pay a premium of $5,000 to $30,000 to live in walkable
neighborhoods close to shops, schools and other services.
Research also reveals that reducing traffic noise, traffic speeds,
and vehicle-generated air pollution makes housing more desirable
and a better investment. A 1999 Victoria Transport Institute study
found that traffic restraints that reduced volumes on residential
streets by several hundred cars per day increased home values by
an average of 18%. Another study revealed that a 5-10 mph reduction
in traffic speeds increased adjacent residential property values
by roughly 20%.
Walkability is Good for Retail
In the 1980s, businesses in downtown Mountain View in northern
California were not doing well. A landmark, 10-story building overlooking
the retail district symbolized their plight, sitting vacant with
guard dogs visible through the smoked-glass windows. In the late
1980s, the city resolved to turned the area around, in part by making
sidewalk improvements, installing a landscaped median and reducing
the street from four to two lanes, and creating flexible zones where
sidewalk café tables could replace on-street parking for
cars in the summer. Housing was added including office over retail
and adjacent, highly attractive multifamily development. What followed
was $150 million in private investment. Today, downtown Mountain
View is a regional draw, with bookstores, brew pubs, restaurants
– and lots of pedestrians.
In the 1990s, downtown Lodi launched a $4.5 million public-private
pedestrian-oriented project, including a retrofit of five main street
blocks from building face to building streets. Sidewalks were widened,
curbs bulbed out at intersections and colored paving stones laid
in the new sidewalks and street. Benches, 140 street trees, lighting
and other amenities were added. Along with these improvements, the
city launched a new package of economic development incentives.
The results: 60 new business, a drop in the vacancy rate from
18% to 6% and a 30% increase in sales tax revenues since work was
completed in 1997.
The Investment Community Likes Walkable Development
According to a 1998 analysis by ERE Yarmouth and Real Estate
Research Corporation, real estate values over the next 25 years
will rise fastest in “smart communities” that incorporate
traditional characteristics of successful cities including a mix
of residential and commercial districts and a “pedestrian-friendly
configuration.” As far back as 1997, Equitable Real Estate
Investment Management, Inc., published in their annual report: “The
closer that home, work, stores, and recreation areas are to one
another, the more coveted a community will become.”
The 1999 edition of the Urban Land Institute’s Deal Makers
Guide touts the economic benefits of walkable downtowns. “No
more theater boxes in asphalt parking lots,” they warn. More
good news for San Joaquin Valley communities: the guide says small
cities offer an important new opportunity for investors looking
at the entertainment market, including retail, restaurants, and
movie theaters.
New Economy Workers Like Walkable Communities
In a 1998 report, Collaborative Economics, a Silicon Valley
think tank, profiled connections between the physical design of
communities and key elements of the new knowledge-driven, service-oriented
economy. The contemporary economy with its smaller, decentralized
firms thrives on land use patterns that hearken back to the towns
of early industrial years, with city centers, corner stores, and
streetcar suburbs. Walkable downtowns with a mix of restaurants,
offices, and housing promote informal interaction – a key to
the networking and creativity which makes new economy businesses
thrive.
Walking Is Better for Agriculture and the
Environment
Vehicle-generated smog is currently reducing crop yields by
20 to 25%. The San Joaquin Valley Air Basin will soon be reclassified
from a serious to a severe non-attainment area for air quality standards.
If this problem isn’t resolved by 2005, the valley risks losing
millions of dollars in federal transportation funds in addition
to a further loss of agricultural productivity. The Fresno Growth
Alternatives Alliance – made up of leaders from both agriculture
and the business community – is promoting that cities and counties
in the Fresno region “develop livable communities that emphasize
pedestrian or transit-oriented design.”
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