Suburban Cities: Confronting Decline and Charting a Path to Renewal (March 2013)

Changing demographics, economic decline, and aging infrastructure are creating a number of unrecognized challenges for most suburban cities across the nation.  The good news is that there is no need to address these challenges on your own.  This session will offer a comprehensive look at the realities suburban cities are encountering and focused roundtable conversations for how to address them.  This session is being presented by the First Tier Suburbs Council at the National League of Cities.

Moderator: David Sander, Councilmember, City of Rancho Cordova, California

First Tier Suburbs Activities at the Congressional City Conference (March 2012)
Rather than planning a standalone meeting, the First Tier Suburbs Council has identified a series of workshops with issues and topics important to the council and encourages those from inner ring suburbs to attend.  The issues, concerns, and opportunities of suburban communities are vast and the series will touch on a number of areas that are designed to help inner ring suburbs meet their unique challenges.

View the Recommended Workshops

There were a number of activities at CoC that were relevent to first tier suburban communities.  In addition to roundtable discussions and council meetings, two workshops in particular are worth highlighting, Developing Downtown Density as well as Local Land Use Planning Solutions fo Livability.  Below are the resources from those presentations.

Developing Downtown Density
Stalled development and a shrinking tax base have become a harsh, familiar reality for many cities across the country.  This workshop will focus on how to turn existing Main Streets and downtown districts into denser, more powerful drivers for expanding your local economy and growing your tax base.  Learn why density matters and what it takes to implement it in your city.

Moderator: Douglas Athas, Councilmember, City of Garland, Texas

Speakers:
Doyle Hyett, HyettPalma
Scott Polikov, President, Gateway Planning Group, Fort Worth, Texas
Teri Killgore, Downtown Development Manager, City of Chandler, Arizona

Local Land Use Planning Solutions for Livability
Cities, towns and suburbs can take action to promote livability by maintaining affordable housing, accommodating mixed-used development and providing sufficient density to support an equitable and efficient transportation network.  By understanding the principles of livability, communities can realize the economic, environmental and quality of life benefits.  This workshop focuses on how local governments are using these land use planning principles to maximize the value of existing communities.

Moderator: Dennis Doyle, Mayor, Beaverton, Oregon and First Tier Suburbs Council Vice Chair

Speakers:
Scott Polikov, President, Gateway Planning Group, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas
Shannon Scutari, Scutari & Co., LLC, Scottsdale, Arizona

Additional Resources:
Sustainable Communities Fund

Steering Committee Meeting at the Congress for the New Urbanism (June 2011)
The First Tier Suburbs Council held its annual summer steering committee meeting in conjunction with the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) in Madison, WI.  Members of the committee met with the leadership of CNU to discuss common agendas.  Workshops focused on retrofitting suburban sprawl, sustainable transportation planning and place making.

• "New Urbanism": What Does it Mean to City Leaders?

First Tier Suburbs Council Strategic Plan
Information about the First Tier Suburbs Council and issues related to first tier suburbs. Formal membership on the steering committee of the First Tier Suburbs Council requires appointment by the NLC president.  Applications are available in September of each year.

First Tier Suburbs Issues of Importance
A primary purpose of the FTS Council is to provide input to the National League of Cities on programs and policies that will afford city officials from first tier suburbs the strategies, tools and effectiveness needed to address these issues.

Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach
The newly-released recommended practice, created by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), advances the successful use of context-sensitive solutions (CSS) in the planning and design of major urban thoroughfares for walkable communities. It provides guidance and demonstrates how context-sensitive design principles and techniques may be applied where community objectives support new urbanism and smart growth: walkable, connected neighborhoods, mixed land uses, and easy access for pedestrians and bicyclists. The manual is a partnership between the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and CNU. Under contract to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the two organizations have created a context sensitive design guide dedicated exclusively to major thoroughfares in cities and towns.

Assets and Strategies for First Tier Suburbs
This presentation (outline) by John McIlwain, Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute, and the J. Ronald Terwilliger Chair for Housing, to the National League of Cities First Tier Suburbs Council on March 13, 2005.

First Suburbs Handbook:  Case Studies and Development Tools for First Tier Suburbs
By First Suburbs Coalition of Kansas City, Mid-America Regional Council, 2004  
This handbook demonstrates some of the many ways that first suburbs are addressing such issues as loss of businesses, declining retail sales, increases in rental housing, stagnant or declining housing values and issues related to maintaining their infrastructure.

Halfway to Everywhere: A Portrait of America's First-Tier Suburbs
By Hudnut, William H., III.  Washington, DC:  Urban Land Institute, 2003 
A portrayal of first tier suburbs that reports the issues and initiatives that are rejuvenating the suburbs that ring large central cities. Includes references to other studies and publications and an appendix, which contains a summary of ten principles for revitalizing inner-ring suburbs that were developed from two Urban Land Institute symposiums on inner-ring suburbs.

One Fifth of America, A Comprehensive Guide to America's First Suburbs
This paper, published by Brookings, defines first suburbs throughout the nation, examines their similarities and differences and sets out a policy agenda tailored specifically to these distinctive places.