Statement of
Chairman James M. Jeffords
Hearing on S.975,
the Community Character Act, and
S.1079, the Brownfield Site Redevelopment Assistance Act
Wednesday, March
6, 2002
Good Morning.
I'd like to begin by thanking all of our witnesses for participating in
today's hearing. I am really looking
forward to listening to your testimonies.
Today's hearing stems from my long-term interest in
helping our cities and towns become economically vibrant and culturally
cohesive communities. One of the best
ways to support these efforts is to provide our communities with growth
planning and redevelopment tools.
I have been involved in "smart" growth
efforts since the 1960s when I served as a Vermont State Senator and Attorney
General of Vermont.
I am proud to have had a major role in drafting
Vermont's development review plans that became Act 250, the first and most
comprehensive state level growth management policy in the United States.
I have continued my activities with regard to
"smart" growth during my tenure in both the House and Senate. In January 1999, I established the Senate
Smart Growth Task Force, a bipartisan, multi-regional caucus. Twenty-three Senators currently participate
in the Task Force. The overall goal of
the Task Force is to determine how the Federal government can help states and
localities address their own growth management issues.
Growth decisions should be made, ultimately, at the
local level. However, the Federal
government needs to continue assessing Federal policies that may interfere with
local growth management.
For example, the National Interstate System has had a
tremendous impact on local development patterns. Over the last ten years, we have brought substantial attention to
this issue through the transportation planning process. We will address this issue in our upcoming
hearing on Transportation and Smart Growth.
The Federal government also needs to provide
communities with the necessary tools and resources to achieve local growth
objectives. I believe that the two
bills before us today help us make great strides in this direction.
With the recent enactment of the Small Business
Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, we have made great
progress in addressing local liability and financial concerns.
Through the Brownfield Site Redevelopment Assistance
Act, we have an opportunity to complement these efforts. S.1079 will address that next step after
assessment and cleanup; the step in which communities actually begin
redeveloping the sites. The economic
benefits are incredible. The U.S.
Conference of Mayors estimates that brownfields redevelopment could generate
more than 550,000 additional jobs and up to $2.4 billion in new tax revenues
for cities.
The other bill we will discuss today is the Community
Character Act. This bill presents
another important opportunity to provide communities that wish to plan
proactively with the resources to do so.
This is especially important for my home state of Vermont. Rural communities frequently grapple with a
lack of planning resources and expertise.
I recently learned from our distinguished Vermont witness that only 39
percent of rural governments do comprehensive planning versus more than 70
percent of metropolitan governments. S.
975 provides the necessary resources to even out that ratio.
Finally, I am in the process of working on another
"smart" growth legislative proposal.
It will substantially improve decision-making capacity for local
planners. The legislation will provide
communities with the resources to access visualization, modeling, and other
planning tools. I look forward to
working with my EPW colleagues on this legislation.
Again, thank you all for being here today.