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Gov. Kaine joins smart-growth advocates during demonstration in Richmond, says transportation and development issues are bipartisan, ripe for action this year.

Date published: 2/8/2006

By CHELYEN DAVIS

RICHMOND--Smart-growth advocates rallied here yesterday, urging lawmakers to support bills that would give localities more ability to manage development.

About 200 people, including a handful from the Fredericksburg area, came to the state capital to lobby for legislation that would expand localities' abilities to make developers pay proffers, tie local land-use planning and state transportation planning more closely together, and give localities more control over the roads and developments built within their boundaries.

"We have to plan better to reduce traffic," said Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which helped plan the rally.

Many of the bills in question are being pushed by Gov. Tim Kaine, whose campaign last year made growth issues a focus. But legislators have also taken up the matter--Republicans have their own bills, and in some cases Republicans are carrying Kaine's bills.

Several of those Republicans were at yesterday's rally.

"Paying for development is not a Democrat issue, and it's not a Republican issue," said Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William. "It is an economic justice issue, and it's about time Virginians got some justice on this. Developers have to pay for the cost of development, and stop shoving this off on citizens."

Kaine told the crowd that growth is a truly nonpartisan issue.

People sitting in congested traffic are "not checking their party registration to see if they're frustrated," he said. "We feel a great deal of momentum this year because of this bipartisan issue. It's a year for action."

Kaine told the slow-growth supporters that his main message to legislators is that they need to do something this year--that they don't want to go home from the session empty-handed.

Kaine, who after his election held a number of town-hall meetings around the state on the issues of transportation and growth, said he's having another series of those starting next week to continue raising support for legislation intended to manage growth and ease traffic congestion.

"This is not the work of one legislative session," Kaine said. "This will not be the be-all, end-all of what we do. But I hope this session can be a watershed."

At the new meetings, Kaine said he expects to lay out not only his own transportation proposal, but those of the Senate and the House.

Date published: 2/8/2006