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My
wife, Laura, was raised and educated in
North
Carolina.
Although she has lived 14 years in
Richmond,
she cheerfully asserts the superiority of all things
Tarheel over things Virginian – from beaches to
basketball to business vitality. So I was taken
aback a couple of weeks ago when we were driving
along a back road in North Carolina on the way home
from a beach vacation, when she volunteered, out of
the blue, that Virginia’s countryside was really
much prettier.
We
take Virginia’s
landscapes for granted, but they are
beautiful. The Old Dominion has no monopoly on
mountains, rolling hills or miles of coastline. What
makes our vistas special is the manmade landscape:
tidy farm houses and their tree-lined drives, green
fields and whitewashed fences, rolls of hay and
lazy, cud-chewing cows.
The
rural
vistas are a treasure not just to the people
who live in the country but to urbanites like my
wife and me.
Bucolic
landscapes are part of the Virginia
experience, part of what makes the Commonwealth a
special place. The scenery and the amenities they
support -- the Blue
Ridge Parkway,
winery tours, the Gold Cup steeple chases, weekend
escapes to the
Homestead
and Tides Inn – contribute to the quality of life
of many a city slicker.
In
a knowledge economy dominated by human capital, one
of the great challenges in economic development is
retaining and recruiting members of the “creative
class” who contribute disproportionately to the
creation of wealth. The vast majority of
“creatives” live in metropolitan areas, but they
typically avail themselves of rural amenities. In
other words, in the battle for brains, a vibrant and
scenic countryside
contributes to urban
competitiveness.
Unfortunately,
Virginia’s
distinctive landscapes are under assault. Rampant
sprawl emanating from the major metro areas is
transforming farms into subdivisions, converting
country crossroads into strip shopping centers and,
in general, consuming land at an alarming rate.
Rural counties on the periphery of Northern
Virginia,
Richmond
and Hampton Roads are well aware that they stand in
the bulldozer’s path. Sadly, the means they choose
to protect themselves from being “Fairfaxed” or
“Loudounized” are often self defeating.
As
a consequence,
Virginia
is experiencing what might be dubbed “rural
sprawl” -- Fairfax writ small. The roads leading
into historic towns like Abingdon, Lexington,
Staunton
and
Winchester
have become magnets for garish, eye-offending
development: gas stations, fast food, retail outlets
and strip shopping centers. Poorly planned growth is
despoiling one of rural Virginia's greatest
competitive advantages: its small-town charm and
scenic views.
The
way we're heading, Virginia
will end up looking like
Las
Vegas
-- without the glitz.
How,
then, do we preserve Virginia's rural landscapes?
Obviously, there is no simple remedy, or someone
would have figured it out. But the problem can be
attacked from several different directions.
First,
invigorate rural industries, particularly those
based on natural resources like farming, forestry,
fisheries and outdoor recreation. If landowners can
make a decent living from the land, they'll be less
tempted to sell out to developers. Small-scale
tourism would seem to have considerable potential.
The Washington metro market, in particular, could
support hundreds of small businesses built around
bed-and-breakfasts, festivals, antiquing, hiking,
tubing, sailing, horseback riding and other outdoor
activities.
Clearly,
this is an area where the Warner administration gets
it. Gov. Mark R. Warner has organized the
first-ever Natural
Resources Leadership Summit in April and helped
push through a bond referendum to expand the state
park system. Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of
Tourism (VDT) has lent a hand to rural tourism by
expanding its website to include a Virginia
outfitters guide for everything from fishing and
hunting to kayaking and eco-tours. In another
initiative, Living
the Country Life, VDT lists working farms that
people can visit or even stay overnight.
The
second strategy is flip the orientation of suburban
development from outward expansion to infill and
redevelopment. In the long run, bed and breakfasts
won't save Fauquier County, in the heart of
Virginia's spectacular hunt country, from Fairfax
County, where the development pressure is coming
from. But if market forces can be redirected back
toward the Washington metro core, there is enough
vacant and underdeveloped land to absorb the
region's population growth for decades to come.
The
means by which that can be accomplished are too
complex to explain fully in this column. Suffice it
to say that, given the political proclivities of
most Virginians, the answer isn't more government
planning and control. Rather, the solutions are
giving priority to transportation projects that
promote infill and redevelopment rather than
subsidize sprawl, and re-thinking zoning codes to
create a better balance of where people live, work,
shop and play.
Finally,
Virginians need to tame rural sprawl.
Non-metro counties need to buy into a vision that
doesn't scatter development but clusters it. Rural
jurisdictions also need to give more thought to the
aesthetic principles embodied in their zoning codes.
The
Conservation Fund has published a marvelous guide, Better
Models for Development in Virginia, that outlines
key principles and illustrates them with many
well-selected photographs. Beauty
may be in the eye of the beholders but, as the
authors observe, you can put a dollar value
on a beautiful view.
"Scenic
landscapes are an asset not just because you or I
think they are nice but because other people are
willing to pay to see the view and to experience the
unique character of a place," writes Edward T.
McMahon. Numerous studies document that housing,
hotels and offices with scenic views command premium
prices -- the better the view, the higher the price.
Better
Models lists a number of measures that can
protect visual resources:
-
Controlling
outdoor signage
-
Prohibiting
the construction of new billboards
-
Disguising
cell towers
-
Discouraging
ridge-top construction
-
Putting
utility wires underground
-
Developing
design guidelines for chain stores and
franchises
-
Designating
roads as Virginia Scenic Byways
The
Conservation Fund also discusses techniques, which
every community should consider, for protecting
rivers and streams, preserving battlefields,
delineating community gateways and preserving
historic resources.
There
is no time to lose. Virginia's spectacular scenery
is dying a death of a thousand cuts. And once the
ugly stuff is built, it will be decades -- if ever
-- before it's ever torn down. This is not just an
issue for conservationists and little, old,
blue-haired ladies. Conserving Virginia's landscapes
is a key element of creating a superior quality of
life and economically competitive communities. We're
not just preserving our past, we're building our
future.
--
July 14, 2003
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