There is a major development being proposed right across the street from my house. Needless to say, I'm no happy camper. After going through stages of disbelief, anger, and sadness, I decided to get busy:
How do you start a petition? It's something I really didn't know the answer to, but after leading a petition of my own, I've learned a few things. Here's what I learned before hitting the pavement over the weekend:
- Get help. Circulating a petition is hard work, so divvy it up among a few like-minded neighbors who are willing to help. Have one person write the petition, have others make copies and go door-to-door. Talk to others in your neighborhood who have made appeals in your community before for their advice.
- Prepare your spiel. Having a concise, compelling statement ready to bring people up to speed on their doorsteps will come in handy. Agree on it between everyone so you know you're all spreading the same word.
- Go online. Petitiononline.com provides free hosting online of public petitions. This is a great way to reach further, faster.
- Get a digital copy. Once you have all of your signatures, scan the hard copies into a digital format. This will allow you to keep a record and email a copy to its recipient. Be sure to deliver a hard copy, too, though.
Have you ever circulated a neighborhood petition? What was the cause that turned you into a neighborhood activist? Any tips to add?
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What city do you live in? There may be other good ways to fight the development.
I am a city planner, and though I don't know where you are or the specifics of the situation, my general advice to people in your boat is to contact your local elected representative immediately and to keep in touch with him/her to the point of annoyance. Petitions are a great, formal way to get yourself noticed, but local politicians really are the ones who ultimately make the decisions. Believe it or not, in my experience they are generally quite responsive to the people who go out of their way to contact them. "The squeeky wheel gets the oil" after all. Just a word of warning: in this economy many city officials are willing to do anything to get new development started in their communities. I'm afraid you might have an uphill battle ahead of you, but good luck!
I second what Allez said. (I'm also a planner.) In addition, depending on where you live and the development process, there is almost certainly an established public comment procedure. I recommend that you make sure your petition goes through this channel so that it gets the proper attention it deserves. That way, you are engaging in the process in good faith, which a) shows that you are a reasonable person (even if you are angry!), and b) allows for an "official" response, as the petition will become part of the public record for that development.
I also recommend getting as informed as possible. Depending on the property rights laws where you live, it may not be possible to just block a development outright. However, if you can focus your efforts on the core issues (traffic, environment, etc.) you may be able to effect more change as a result. There is nothing more frustrating than to get everyone worked up about an issue when the law is not on your side!
NIMBY
OMG. We are dealing with this now. SFMTA was planning on blanketing my neighborhood with demand-responsive pricing for meters claiming it is to help traffic congestion.
For those of you that haven't heard of demand-responsive pricing, it's exactly what it sounds like. Blocks that have 85%+ parking utilization, will get a $.25 increase in hourly parking rates in the next month.
You can read more about it here:
http://sfpark.org/
http://metermadness.wordpress.com/
I agree with above - talk to your local representative, they'll listen to the squeaky wheel (I'm in planning as well) Generally there will be public consultation and if the development hasn't already been approved you should attend the open house and voice your concerns. Perhaps the issues that you have with the development are things that can be addressed (IE you're worried you wont have any sun - a Shadow Study can be done to show where the cast shadows will be - once you see them you might realize it's no longer an issue. Or you're worried about traffic and the development may have already done a TIA - Traffic Impact Study and they can show you it wont be an issue).
Depending on your City, you can also voice your concerns directly at the planning commission presentation and your voice will be taken into consideration (not saying that if it's only you that has issues they'll halt everything)
You also have to consider that at one point (unless you're in a very old part of your city) your development was someone else's horror. The unfortunate reality is that if you bought in a new development with a lovely wide open "green" space in front of you, you should have done a bit more research to discover that "Urban Reserve" doesn't mean "Park". If you're in an older neighbourhood then if you should look at the current land use and you might realize that your land and this development's lands have a land use that allows for a higher density. As well if you're in a transit hub (TOD zone) then your City planners have probably already agreed that the density in your area needs to increase.
There are a lot of factors that the City planners will consider when approving a new development. I feel for you in theory, but not all development is bad (not knowing all the specifics) and it has to happen somewhere.
Also do a bit a of reasearch of area structure plans or Area Redevelopment plans for your area. These documents will show what kinds of development goes where in your community. If you're right across from a community node, then you're going to be out of luck in stoping some types of development.
Sorry if my terms are incorrect for your location if you're in the USA, I'm in Canada and our terms are probably different :)
As someone who works In the non-profit sector with Cohousing groups, I'd like tooffer the perspective that not all developments are bad for your neighborhood. Some are very beneficial! Do they bring change? Yes. Are some folks simply against change altogether? Yes. Can change also be good? Yes!
Get to know the development, and the developers. Developers know that they incur more expense when opposition arises, and are often more than willing to talk with neighbors about their plans, bring you into thhe planning process, and work with your concerns.
And, you might have some leverage to bring in amenities that you haven't been able to afford, like better street lighting, parking, street resurfacing, signage, etc. Get to know what changes are being proposed, and work with it, rather than simply opposing it.
Good luck!
We (my neighbors and I) have been through a development protest process. With a case that took over 10 years of attending meetings of the town planning committee after work, ultimately went to the state Supreme Court and was tossed back to the town planning committee which caved to the developer.
It was a heartbreaker and, basically, I have no faith in the ability, or maybe the desire, of town planners to prevent developments, no matter how egregious.
But there have been two positive outcomes: 1) it's a great way to create a close neighborhood; 2) I've learned a lot about how the process works, or doesn't work which is useful as a citizen.
I'm on my way to do one, but at a smaller scale... just in my building. No one is recycling here, so I would love to promote it. Any good and innovative ideas on how to encourage these lazy vertical neighbors to do so? It seems that the discount the city hall provides on street cleaning taxes doesn't thrill them very much.
I agree with the planners above (I'm also a planner and very active neighbor) about contacting the authorities and finding out the process. Some neighborhood associations and planning commissions might not accept a petition because they don't know how the project was characterized. I've experienced developers (and neighborhood activists) getting neighbors to sign petitions based on incomplete information. It can make it very difficult for neighbors with complete information to negotiate with the developers.
@sisca
Have big bins for the recyclables available in the common areas?
If more of us would stop breeding like rabbits or cancer cells, we wouldn't have such out of control development. People just might have a better quality of life (gasp).
Sadly I would say not to bother, our neighborhood went through a similar situation. We did what we thought were all of the right things.....made no difference at all. The building was supposed to be a condominium but was changed into apartment, due to the economy I am guessing. The ironic thing is the building has been finished for over 7 months and they still have no tenants. We have to look at a large modern building in a traditional-styled neighborhood and they have no renters... a loss all around.
@Unabridged - Agree with you.
@Secret Agent Girl - What ?!? Are you serious?
Development is necessary - otherwise people would be commuting for hours on end. But it should be thoughtful, and interact with its surrounds, something I don't think most developers and some architects pay attention to, or care. I've watched 3 buildings of flats go up in my neighbourhood - 1 was beautifully designed, and all presold within 2 weeks, and final product looks lovely, even within a traditional neighbourhood of Victorians. The other two are shite - tiny and ugly. Still empty.
ooh, the @ notation is finally functionally meaningful! Awesome! :DDD
@unabridged
Thirded, if belatedly.