vision2020@moscow.com: Vistas and planning

Vistas and planning

Gens Johnson (gens@moscow.com)
Thu, 29 May 1997 07:55:38 -0800

I think it's intriguing that while we have read about concerns about soil
qualities, water run-off, vehicular access, preserving traditional use of
the land, the trade-offs between "affordable growth" and preservation
(which always has _some_ cost), etc., there has been little discussion of
how planning and zoning rules might be written to preserve the
"vista"...the illusion of openness, if indeed, development is being
accomodated.

I may just be uneducated in this literature...does it exist? Are there
ideas here that have been considered and rejected already in Latah County
planning?

My father used to work at BPA and one of the concerns in planning the
routes for new transmission line right-of-ways was to minimize the visual
impact in "unspoiled" areas. A similar set of design criteria might be
used in evaluating development in still-rural areas?

Gens Johnson
>----------
>
> Visionaries,
> I'm not sure this choice has to be so "either/or."
> For example, a linear park for the county consisting of interconnected
> paths with well-placed turnouts or bubble parks here and there could go a
> long way toward preserving both the wonderful Palouse viewscapes and public
> access to them.
> Perhaps what's needed is to incorporate planning for parks into county
> planning (and zoning?).
> Judy Brown
>
> ----------
> > Date: Wednesday, May 28, 1997 09:32:20
> > From: Steve Cooke
> > To: vision2020@uidaho.edu
> > Subject: Latah planning
> >
> > Dear Visionaries,
> > It occured to me that what I like about Latah Co. is the relatively
>low
> > population and scenic vistas. Either of these is in jeopardy under
> > the alternatives before the Cnty Commission. If the current plan is
> > adopted, I predict that the rural landscape will become dotted w/
> > ranchettes. The Palouse will take on the look of the Bitterroot
> > Valley so. of Missoula. The good news is that it will discourage
> > inmigration.
> > On the other hand if the rural/ag-forest option is included in the
> > plan, then string development may occur and the scenic vistas saved
> > for now. However, clustered development I predict will encourage more
> > inmigration.
> > It seems like a trade off between growth w/ beauty or
> > stability w/ dispoiled landscapes.
> > "Life is full of hard choices" Little Mermaid
> > Steve Cooke
> > Associate Professor
> > Dept. of Ag. Economics & Rural Soc.
> > University of Idaho
> > Moscow, ID 83843
> > http://www.uidaho.edu/~scooke/onepercent
> > 208-885-7170 (phone)
> > 208-885-5759 (fax)


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