Best Practice Action Detail

Best Practice Action 8.2

GreenStep City Best Practices: Land Use
Mixed Uses No. 8

Develop efficient land patterns that generate community health and wealth.

Best Practice Action 2

Locate or lease a property for use as a school, city building or other government facility that has at least two of these attributes:

a. Adjacent to an existing employment or residential center.
b. Designed to facilitate and encourage access by walking, biking, or other non-vehicle travel modes.
c. Accessible by regular transit service.

  • Eden Prairie's 2007 Active Community Planning: Site Planning Guide is written and illustrated to help local government, property owners and developers prepare plans that incorporate density, walking/biking, quality physical design and air and water quality concerns into development plans.
  • Government facilities include city buildings, libraries and schools, and county, state or federal facilities. See the Community Facilities Location Policy toolkit (Smart Growth America: 2017) written for small and rural communities, which includes city policies to help ensure resident access to new or relocated essential services such as hospitals, medical clinics, schools, courthouses, childcare centers, and post offices.
  • See the City of Raleigh, North Carolina's Design Guidelines for Pedestrian-Friendly Neighborhood Schools 
  • The US EPA provides multiple guides and tools on smart growth and school siting.
  • On average, people are willing to walk up to 3/4 mile to access a transit stop with at least hourly transit service.
  • See BPA 1.6 for more about green building frameworks and leasing provisions. 
  • See BPA 14.1 for more about reducing parking. 
1 star Explain which attributes are met; note if EV charging is publicly available. Report green building frameworks and leases under BPA 1.6
2 star Parking spaces are significantly below the parking standard due to bike/pedestrian/transit access, shared parking, and/or municipal lot.
3 star A public school is located along a public transit line and provides incentives (such as discounted bus passes) for students to use the available transit lines.

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