There are two Land Use bills that the Iowa Chapter of Sierra Club feels would help alleviate Urban Sprawl -- HF 273 and SF 173. One of these land use bills needs to come out of committee by Thursday, March 15th if it is to be passed this year. We are focusing on the House Bill, HF 273. (If you would like more details, please contact Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]). Take a minute to look this over and if you agree with its goals, please send an e-mail to your Representative or call them tonight or no later than 2 p.m. Wednesday. The capitol switchboard is (515) 281-3221 for Representatives. *At the last ExCom meeting, we decided we would like to see the restrictions on growth in prime agriculture land applied to all agricultural land. We like the many references to preserving natural areas and urge that those be retained and/or strengthened. These bills would replace the City Development Board with a Land Management Board and require each County to develop a Strategic Development Plan for the next 20 years. == Excerpts from Norm McCoy, vice-president of 1000 Friends: Briefly, these bills are designed to facilitate an orderly regional planning and stimulate our rural and urban economies with common-sense growth. If you are a struggling farmer, a hassled city-dweller, a soccer-mom taxi service, or anyone with a desire to leave our state better than we found it, legislation like this will be useful. The goals as described in Section 10 are: A. Encourage compact development. B. Promote redevelopment in existing urban areas. C. Promote the economic health of all cities and the county. D. Provide for a variety of housing choices. E. Conserve natural resource areas. F. Preserve prime agricultural land for use in agricultural production. G. Protect private property rights. The bill asks that every county, and every city in the county, plan cooperatively and agree to a strategic development plan that will encourage smart growth. The bill creates no new government entities. It merely expands the existing City Development Board from 5 to 11 members and changes its name to the Land Management Planning Board. The current board reviews and approves annexations, and since planning has an even greater impact on how communities grow, it makes sense for the board to play a role in planning as well. But the board does not exist to put road blocks in front of local officials. If local governments in any given county agree to their plans without contention, it should sail through the review process. The bill will help cities revitalize by encouraging more responsible use of existing land while discouraging development on prime farmland. It is a pro-city bill, especially for Iowa's larger, older cities. It will help protect farmland by discouraging development on land with a corn suitability rating over 60, and by encouraging cities to consider land already available for development. (*At the last ExCom meeting, Iowa Chapter decided we would like to see the restrictions on growth in prime agriculture land applied to all agricultural land.) The bill does not raise taxes. The Senate version merely increases the real estate transfer FEE (not tax) from $5 to $9 to help fund the additional work of the Land Management Planning Board. TO CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES BY INTERNET, JUST DO THE FOLLOWING -- first [log in to unmask] TO FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, JUST GO TO http://staffweb.legis.state.ia.us/find-leg. This site will provide you with a list of all your elected representatives. Just enter your address, city and zip. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]