Study Finds Long Island's Downtowns Are Good to Grow

By Nancy Rauch Douzinas

A team of researchers went looking for land in all the right places-and found oodles of it. Enough to start building a new, more vibrant and prosperous Long Island.

That's the news contained in a study just released by the Long Island Index.

The researchers, from the Regional Plan Association, explored for usable land located within ½-mile of downtowns or railroad stations.

Those are the places where it's smart to build the townhouses and apartments Long Island desperately needs to staunch the brain drain that is crippling our economy.

Downtown and transit-centered development stimulates the local economies. Expands opportunities for jobseekers and employee pools for business. Eases traffic, cuts pollution, and helps preserve open space. And most of the time, this type of development is tax positive, meaning that if you build it, taxes will go down for everyone.

That's why regions across the country are focusing their growth on downtown areas. It's happening even in places that essentially have to create their downtowns from scratch.

By contrast, Long Island is blessed with great and historic town centers. Some have become frayed in the past decades, but yet are rich in infrastructure and potential. But some have questioned whether these existing areas have the capacity to absorb significant new growth.

The answer, in turns out, is a resounding YES.

Counting only vacant land, land used for surface parking, and unprotected open space, located within ½-mile of downtowns or rail stations, the RPA researchers found some 8,300 acres.

To put that number in perspective: if we were to build single-family homes on all of the available open space left on Long Island, it would get us 90,000 units of housing. We could get those same 90,000 units with a mix of townhouses, garden apartments, and apartment buildings-on just half of those 8,300 downtown acres.

The land is to be found in 156 places, large and small. Twenty-nine downtowns were identified as having high potential for redevelopment. These range from large town centers such as Mineola, Freeport, and Hicksville, to small and mid-sized downtowns like Bay Shore, Port Jefferson Station, and Wyandanch. (The complete list is contained in the report, available on the Index website. Interactive maps identify the specific parcels and provide detailed information on every Long Island downtown.)

The study emphasizes that planning must be done case-by-case, based on numerous factors. Not the least of which is compatibility with the town's existing character.

Many of the high-potential places have been previously identified by counties, towns and others as good targets for redevelopment. Some of the places have already begun.

Mineola based its 2004 Master Plan on expanding residential and mixed-use development around its rail station while preserving the integrity of single-family neighborhoods. Patchogue moved to replace five acres of rundown properties near its railroad station with a new mixed-income, two-bedroom townhouse development.

Patchogue's stunning progress over the past decade shows what smart growth can do for a village. Better still, the new report reveals, if you put Long Island's villages together, it's enough to remake the region.

Nancy Rauch Douzinas is president of the Rauch Foundation and convener of the Long Island Index. The Index provides data about the Long Island region, in order to promote informed public debate and sound policy making. For more information visit http://www.longislandindex.org/.

Report and Video from Rauch Foundation a Must See for People on Long Island

Here are some news items shared with us from one of our partner organizations the Rauch Foundation. Certainly food for thought for anyone interested in planning for the future of Long Island. The "Places to Grow Report" is particularly interesting emphasizing the need for transit oriented development, especially in places like downtown Oyster Bay that have immediate rail access. The study also shows how the vacancy rate has decreased in Oyster Bay's downtown from over 20% to around 9% right now. This is the reflection of successful efforts by Main Street working with our partners to make downtown Oyster Bay an attractive place for people to invest and for businesses to locate. If present trends bear themselves out, the vacancy rate is likely to only reduce further in the years to follow. The fact we have 20 acres of unbuilt land within the downtown area is also worth taking note of.

Newsday Editorial: "We are losing"

This Newsday editorial reviews the 2010 Long Island Index and the downward trends that has been plaguing Long Island in recent years. It also focuses on how information from the Index's Places to Grow report can be used as a catalyst for change and future sustainability.



The Clock is Ticking

The Clock is Ticking on Long Island video graphically represents many of the trends and indicators the Long Island Index has been tracking over the years and creates a compelling and frightening argument about why the Island needs to start taking significant action now.

Places to Grow Report

The Places to Grow report, which was prepared for the Long Island Index by the Regional Plan Association identifies 8,300 acres of vacant or underutilized land located within the Island's existing downtowns that could potentially be used for redevelopment. The report points to these areas as a way to begin addressing the Island's dire need for 'next generation housing', economic development and an increased quality of life for all Long Islanders. We are hoping this report serves as a 'conversation starter' to get people thinking about their downtowns differently.

A Call to Action for Communities on Long Island

An excellent message from the Rauch Foundation to help us all get focused on what really matters in 2010. Hopefully this is something we are living up to in Oyster Bay...

Back in the day, Long Island was a land of movers and shakers.

People came here with vision and purpose. They saw opportunity, and seized it.

Robert Moses saw a deserted sandbar, and built one of the world's greatest parks. William Levitt saw low-cost land and a nascent need for affordable homes-and defined postwar suburbia. Leroy Grumman and Jake Swirbul found opportunity in America's cold war defense needs-and went to the moon.

There was a boldness then, a can-do spirit-and not just among a few leaders. Across the Island, communities were built, schools, businesses, shopping centers. In the process, Long Island became the face of the American century.

That is not, of course, the end of the story. There was a serpent in this garden: a narrowness of vision. Our history of home rule left us weak in coordinated planning. In the postwar boom, Long Island grew one community, one school district, one enterprise at a time-each one focused on its own needs. That worked all right when the economy was expanding and land was plentiful and cheap.

But when times and conditions changed, we responded less nimbly and aggressively than other regions. As the defense industry shrank, and well-paying manufacturing jobs moved offshore, we had no regional strategy to replace them. As open space ran low and housing costs soared, we did little more than wring our hands.

Where once we maximized our assets, today we are squandering them. The best-educated youth in America take their talents away, driven out by lack of housing options. Meanwhile our downtowns, which could be the pulsing centers of commerce and community, sit underutilized, if not blighted.

We see all this. Large majorities of Long Islanders agree, not only on the problem, but on the solution: smart growth with more housing options in our town centers. Yet one year follows another, and we fail to muster enough force for action.

What would it to take to turn things around? Leadership to be sure. A leadership that combines the can-do boldness of Long Island's heyday with a new, broad vision.

A wider sense of community. The days are gone when Long Island's villages and towns can advance one by one. No part of Long Island, no interest group, will prosper if the region declines. It's imperative that we start thinking, planning, and acting together.

A stronger sense of urgency. The trends are clear, and the data is compelling: we need to make serious changes, and soon.

A greater sense of possibility. Long Island still boasts enormous assets that we could turn to our advantage. Just as we must face up to the way things are, we need to envision what they could be. The future belongs, as always, to those who seize it. That used to be us, and it could be again.

And so as this new year begins, I offer three resolutions for Long Island's leaders:

1. Think big.
2. Be bold.
3. Act now.

By Nancy Rauch Douzinas
January 2010

Rauch Foundation Launches Long Island Index Map

As you may know, the map was officially launched on December 10 after a two-month beta testing period. Media outlets on Long Island provided great coverage – including a terrific editorial from Newsday – and several mapping industry websites have featured the map as well (see http://www.urbanresearch.org/news/new-LongIslandIndex-maps for a full list of coverage).

You can now access the map from the Long Island Index homepage (www.longislandindex.org) or directly at www.longislandindexmaps.org. We encourage you to sign up for free email updates so you’ll receive notice when the maps are expanded and enhanced in the future (the map page itself has an option to add your email to the list).

This Friday (January 30), the Index will be releasing its 2009 report, with a special focus on education issues facing Long Island. They’ll be adding key education statistics and maps by district to the interactive map.