Shelley Robbins is a program associate in the Sustainable Communities Program at Upstate Forever, a nonprofit, membership-based organization promoting sensible growth and the protection of special places in the Upstate region of South Carolina.. For more information, email her or call 864-327-0090.
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Those familiar with bicycle and pedestrian advocacy usually invoke cities on the west coast, such as Portland and San Francisco, when they need a proven example of the benefits of building bike/ped infrastructure. Upstate Forever, however, recently took a different approach.
We brought the mayor of an unlikely Indianapolis suburb called Carmel to Spartanburg and Greer. There we explained how investing in downtown infrastructure that encourages active living and de-emphasizes the automobile has resulted in well-managed population growth as well as that town being named Money magazine’s No. 1 Best Place to Live in America in 2012.
Mayor James Brainard took office in 1996. As he campaigned, he noticed that the citizens of Carmel didn’t even agree where their downtown actually was – there was no cohesion. He quickly realized this confusion would never foster economic development. Using Paris as a model of urban planning, he worked to change that.
Carmel didn’t have a lot of assets to work with – there was no charming old downtown building stock, no river, no mountains, no waterfall. Carmel is in the middle of flat cornfields.
But once upon a time, Paris was also flat and uninteresting, with only a smallish brown river. The attraction of Paris today, however, is not its natural features, but rather its built environment. The heart of the city is built to attract and hold the attention of pedestrians.
Brainard replicated this philosophy. Buildings were limited to four or five stories – a scale comfortable for pedestrians. Retail space and galleries were located on the first floor, apartments and condominiums above, and parking below ground in garages. Sidewalks are wide to accommodate outdoor dining and European-style plazas are common. Carmel didn’t have water so they built water – a large fountain and reflecting pool anchors an area where the city’s residents gather for outdoor concerts and festivals.
Parks and open space grew from 40 acres to 800 acres within their 49 square miles. Bike trails and multi-use paths run right through downtown, bringing residents in to town for dinner and shopping without the need for a car.
Brainard realized, as many planners and elected officials are realizing, that cars don’t spend money – people spend money. The key to a vital downtown economy is getting people out of their cars.
The neighborhoods connected to downtown by trails also benefit. Homes within a half-mile of the Monon Trail, a 22-mile rail trail connecting Carmel to Indianapolis, sell for an average of 11 percent more than similar homes farther away. For downtown businesses, a Portland study found that while business patrons on bikes spend less per trip than those in cars, they spend 24 percent more per month.
Most importantly, however, might be how bicycle and pedestrian investments attract both intellectual and financial capital to towns. According to Mayor Brainard, young job seekers previously found a job and then moved wherever that job took them. Today, our young talented professionals choose first where they want to live and then find a job once they get there.
Young white-collar workers increasingly want to live in urban areas with lifestyle amenities they enjoy, and they often look at the bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure as it relates to downtown. Money follows talent, and an increasing percentage of venture capital investment is choosing urban ZIP codes over suburban ones. For example, 92 percent of San Diego venture capital flocks to the urban core over the suburbs and 73 percent of Boston venture capital does the same.
The health benefits are also clear. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, people who ride a bike regularly use 32 percent fewer sick days, have 55 percent lower health costs, and experience up to a 52 percent increase in productivity compared to their more sedentary colleagues.
Boosting business activity and residency downtown also has taxpayer benefits – all of the other infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines, fire departments and police stations, are already in place. According to Brainard, residential developments miles from existing services often do not have a high return on investment in terms of tax dollars. Municipalities spend far more investing in new services and infrastructure than they recoup in property taxes.
In 1996, when Mayor Brainard took office, Carmel’s population was around 31,000, a little larger than Greer today. Carmel’s population 18 years later is 85,000 – larger than the city of Greenville! Median household income is $116,874, compared to $46,438 for the rest of Indiana. Median home values are $303,400, more than double the state median of $122,400. Carmel also ranks ninth on Forbes’ latest list of Cities Creating the Most Tech Jobs.
And it all started with investment in a walkable, bikable downtown that pulled people out of their cars. As Upstate cities prepare for growth, we need to look no further than an Indiana cornfield to learn how to maximize this opportunity.
