“Smart growth, not ‘dumb growth,’” said Susan Tchudi to a crowd of nearly 100 people on Thursday evening.
Tchudi was one of more than ten speakers who covered topics ranging from transportation, to housing affordability, to fire safety at a forum called “How Do We Grow From Here?”
The Butte Environmental Council’s Smart Growth Advocates (SGA) hosted the event at Chico’s Women’s Club. SGA pushes for greener solutions to development needs in the region.
Among the speakers were council members Bryce Goldstein and Addision Winslow. The two gave a presentation on the need for better public transportation and more housing in the city’s core.
“To be able to grow sustainably and grow smart, we need public transit and we're not doing enough with that right now,” Goldstein said.
The council member advocated for a less car-centric Chico and a safer place for those moving through town on foot and on bicycles.
SGA’s forum came at a unique time. Last week, the developer of the controversial housing plan Valley’s Edge filed a pre-lawsuit claim against the City of Chico for referendum measures on last year’s primary election ballot.
The legal team told NSPR they were still looking to build the development if it’s possible.
SGA was active in the fight against allowing Valley’s Edge to come to fruition. One concern with the development was the fire risk.
The land in southern Chico where Valley’s Edge would have been built is a region where recent Cal Fire data found a very high fire risk.
Retired Chico State Professor Jacquelyn Chase spoke about the threat of wildfire that comes with building out into wildland-urban interface areas and referred to Butte County communities as the “wise elders” of wildfire.
“Fire recovery is one thing. Fire amnesia is another. Developers, planners and other supporters of foothill sprawl are hoping for one thing: that we'll forget,” Chase said. “Then, as we forget, we'll be agreeing more and more to building into these fire-prone foothills.”
Eric Nilsson addressed Thursday’s crowd supporting more high-density housing in town and less sprawl into the outskirts like the wildland urban interface. He ended his speech with a hopeful message of cooperation.
“While these are challenging times,” Nilsson said, they are also ripe with opportunities to create for our community a sustainable and healthy Chico – a place we are and will continue to be proud of.”
The night ended with a 20 minute Q&A session, where residents could ask speakers about the topics discussed.
After the forum wrapped up, visitors made their way out of the building while the few people left cleared out the tables and chairs.
Event organizer and speaker Marty Dunlap stepped outside into the courtyard to talk with NSPR. She said she was pleased by the level of community engagement she witnessed at the forum.
Dunlap said this event was planned as an alternative to the city's ad hoc Growth and Community Development committee.
“[The committee] wasn't really getting what we felt was a broad representation of the information that's necessary to go into making decisions about ‘how does Chico grow from here?,’ Dunlap said. “So we felt more information needed to come out and it needed to have a broader perspective for the public so that they were aware of it.”
Chico resident Jimi Logsdon was at the event.
"It was a little bit overwhelming," Logsdon said. "Just so much information to think about. So I think it'll take a little while to sort it all out."
The conversation surrounding housing affordability and infill were on top of Logsdon’s mind as he made his first steps out of the building.
“By doing the infill, we’re utilizing established infrastructure which is way cheaper to deal with and going through and having to put all that new infrastructure in,” Logsdon said.
Another resident, Katie Zukoski, is on the SGA mailing list and is eager to become more active.
“I'm looking forward to getting more information about what we can do as citizens,” Zukoski said, “and to take part in this process instead of just feeling run over by a bus.”
For residents who missed the discussion, Dunlap said there will be more to come.
