Foot traffic steers county planning
Many seek options to head off sprawl
News Leader - 16 Sep 2006
STAUNTON, VA [Augusta County & Mary Baldwin College] - Consider walking to school or to a store for a loaf of bread; leaving the car in the garage; sharing a view of a pasture or park instead of a neighboring farmette.

Go for it, suggested a group of consultants to Augusta County's supervisors, comprehensive plan steering committee members and planning commissioners.

Work sessions are famous for filling flip charts with multi-colored marker brain storms. But the writing was on the wall at the government center: Augusta County might again hew to its heritage of pedestrian-friendly villages.

"It can boil down to the question, how shall we live?" said Milt Herd, part of the Renaissance Group team that led the three-hour seminar. "It sounds like you're really interested in a neighborhood model that's a logical extension of old crossroad farm communities — something that updates the village form."...

Changes are afoot
Shorewood steps up efforts to become more pedestrian-friendly
J ournal-Sentinel - 4 Feb 2006
...Shorewood, WI - - One of the big reasons Wendy Hewitt and her family moved to Shorewood two years ago is that its invitingly wide sidewalks connect neighbors as well as neighborhoods.

"The car isn't king here," said Hewitt, a native of England who lived in Franklin for several years. "Walking your children to school or walking to the grocery store is conducive to getting to know your neighbors. It has a European feel."

Shorewood, like many communities across the country, is working hard to make itself a "walkable community."...

Experts in the field are predicting that the communities that will have the greatest property value increases over the next 25 years will be those that have compact development that mixes residential and commercial districts in a "pedestrian-friendly configuration."...

More than half are renters, likely explained by the community's border with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.

Many students live in duplexes and large apartment buildings, many without garages or parking spots. Until recently, overnight parking was all but banned.

Bill Meeker and his wife, Cheryl Orgas, moved to Shorewood for the schools. Neither drives. They get to where they need to by bus or by walking.

"There isn't anyplace we can't get to either by walking or by bus," said Meeker, who added that he loves to listen for the sounds of the lake as he walks through the village. "I don't think we could afford to live here if we had to pay for a car."...