We want to thank everyone who has taken action on HB 299 and SB354. We need your voice again. We appreciate your time and attention to these important and dangerous bills. Unfortunately, SB 354 and HB 299, Blue Ribbon Projects, have completed their committee stops and are waiting for a floor vote in each chamber. These bills would grant big landowners the right to ignore local land use controls and protections of rural areas. This bill would green-light large projects with little oversight and minimal public participation.
Local comprehensive plans are created by the community, planning experts, and local stakeholders. These plans are the foundation of our community’s character, and new developments must meet the standards set forth in the comprehensive plan. The Blue Ribbon Projects bills completely upends this foundational structure for large-scale development projects.
One way it does this is by requiring approval of a blue ribbon project regardless of the existing future land use designation. This calls into question the validity of all land use plans. Instead of being based on data and local expertise, long term plans will be subject to the whims of large land owners no matter the actual conditions on the ground, including ignoring and overriding designations like wetlands or conservation lands.
The Blue Ribbon Projects could also put taxpayers at risk. Road networks and other infrastructure will be needed to support these sprawling developments – developments that will be the size of new cities. We know that development doesn’t pay for itself, and local taxpayers – who will have no meaningful say in whether this sprawl should be approved – will likely be left paying for the creation and upkeep of these new facilities.
Is this bill necessary? Absolutely NOT! There are tools already available in state law to allow for large-scale planning efforts, such as the ability for large landowners to create sector plans. These currently existing avenues for rural planning include full public participation, with the final decisions made, as they should be, by local elected officials during a public hearing to ensure that the sector plan is consistent with the local land use plan. All of the standards and criteria for development contained in this bill – including mixed-use design, walkability, transportation planning, and economic development goals – are already required under existing state law and included in local comprehensive plans. This bill does not include meaningful standards for these aspirational development goals.
We need you to contact your legislator. Please let them know you want them to vote NO on this dangerous bill.