The Land Management Planning Act
HF 488

What problems is this bill trying to fix?

1. Blighted urban centers, Main Streets and neighborhoods. Over the past three decades, most of Iowaís cities ñ large and small ñ have seen a loss of population or a minimal gain at best. Most of Iowaís current population growth is occurring in suburbs and rural areas outside of Iowaís largest cities.

Solution: HF 258 provides the cornerstone to a revitalization strategy that would cost very little and has proven effective in other states. When the local development strategy encourages compact growth, cities and towns benefit greatly.

2. Lack of a level playing field. Current laws governing planning allow one community to gain an upper hand at the expense of neighboring cities and counties. Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville is one example. While the new mall experienced first-year sales of approximately $200 million, Linn County, for example, lost $29 million during the same timeframe. Throughout the sixteen county region there was a total loss of $125 million to Coral Ridge Mall during its first year of operation.

Solution. HF 258 requires that, in putting together the county-wide strategic development plan, ìpromoting employment opportunities and the economic health of the county and all cities in the countyî is one of the goals and objectives local governments must consider. This gives all cities and the county a chance to weigh in on long range economic development options, establishes a more cooperative approach to planning, and assures that every local government will share a piece of the economic development pie.

3. Property rights conflicts. Examples of conflicts between landowners and development interests in Iowa are becoming more and more common. Many conflicts involve new development and farmers, rural dwellers, urban residents or businesses that are threatened with displacement or loss of economic viability. Often times, farmers, for example, are unable to continue farming because of development pressure.

Solution: HF 258 establishes a framework for long-range planning for future growth. With this bill, local authorities will work cooperatively to establish a more predictable development scenario that looks at projected growth over the next twenty years. This would help avoid some of the conflicts that have become all too commonplace.

4. Loss of value in personal investments. When farmers are uncertain about the course of development near them they may be hesitant to invest in maintaining existing farm infrastructure or buying new machinery and equipment. Similarly, a retail business owner may upgrade his facility only to find that a big-box store is now being built with public subsidies just one mile away. Or a family may build a new home in the country only to have an industrial park built next to them two years later.

Solution: HF 258 coordinates comprehensive planning between cities and counties and cities and cities. Homeowners, businessmen and farmers wanting to improve and invest in their property have a right to know what other types of development are likely to occur near them. The bill establishes a level of predictability that would be of tremendous value to individuals and businesses alike.

5. Costly incentives, subsidies and tax breaks. We no longer have a free market system in growth and development. Tools such as TIF, abatement, RISE, CEBA, rural water, and road construction all serve legitimate purposes. But in many cases they have become subsidies for poorly planned development. As new growth moves outward and downtowns and neighborhoods lose vitality, the legislature creates new programs designed to fix up these older, decaying areas (e.g., historic tax credits, brownfields, enterprise zones, etc.). So, on one end, we subsidize new growth that probably would have occurred anyhow, and then subsidize rehabilitating older areas that wouldnít have fallen into disrepair if we hadnít subsidized outward growth in the first place!

Solution: Section 4 of an earlier draft of the bill required that state subsidies and incentives for growth and development be used only in areas that local governments have identified for growth. Over time, this approach would evolve a development climate driven not by public subsidies but by cooperative planning and free-market forces.

6. Erosion of Iowaís high quality of life. The very core of what makes Iowa an attractive place to live and visit is being eroded by poorly planned development. Many people who have moved to Iowa came here in part to get away from the very type of urban sprawl that is now becoming increasingly problematic in our state. Furthermore, our natural treasures (like the Loess Hills or the Iowa Great Lakes) and historic treasures (like Madison Countyís bridges and our traditional Main Streets) lose some of their luster every time poorly planned or conflicting development is allowed to occur nearby.

Solution: While factors including the economy, education, and even the weather contribute to peopleís decisions on whether or not to visit or live in Iowa, the growth pattern in and around our cities and towns plays a clear role in enhancing or detracting from the attractiveness of our communities. Planned growth that encourages full development of our existing urban and small town resources can only help maintain Iowaís high quality of life while protecting our natural and historic resources.

7. Conflicts between farmers and new rural residents. Farmers in areas experiencing urban growth have seen their ability to farm adversely affected by new urban and rural neighbors. Here are a few examples:

• Farmers near rural subdivisions have lost seed corn contracts because of concern that the corn would cross-pollinate with sweet corn planted in home gardens. This can be a significant financial loss to the farmer.
• Complaints and even lawsuits have been filed against farmers by new urban neighbors regarding odor, noise, lights or even personal injury incurred while trespassing and playing on farm machinery or with livestock.
• New neighbors unfamiliar with rural culture have been known to take soil, vegetables, corn stalks and even livestock. They donít see this as stealing, but it is causing serious and repeated annoyances for farmers.

Solution: While farmers living adjacent to urban development will never be entirely free of these types of conflict, HF 258 would encourage a more compact development pattern, thus minimizing the number of working farms exposed to urban development. With a twenty-year growth plan in place, prospective neighbors have no excuse not to take the time to learn what to expect in terms of sights, smells and sounds if they decide to live next to a working farm.

8. Loss of historic buildings. Most of Iowaís historic buildings are in our cities and towns. When incentives for growth and development favor outward expansion, there is often limited wherewithal for communities and individual citizens to maintain and rehabilitate historic buildings.

Solution: Tools such as the state historic tax credits program are helpful. But with a $2.4 million cap, this program can only benefit a handful of historic properties. The bill encourages full use of existing urban land, and would thus make the rehabilitation and redevelopment of historic buildings more economically feasible.

In 1997-1998, the Legislature established the State Land-Use Commission composed of four legislators and 17 public members representing a range of interests. After one-and-a-half years of study and testimony and ten public hearings across the state, that commission published a set of recommendations to address land-use problems.

In 1999-2001, these recommendations were drafted into a bill. The Iowa Senate amended and refined the bill, passing it out of three separate committees. But the bill was never allowed to come to the floor for debate.

In 2002, a new version of the bill passed the House Local Government Committee 13 ñ 7. But once again, it was never allowed to come up for a vote in the full House.

Updated March 3, 2003