Strongest Town 2023, Round 1: Fate, TX vs. Port Washington, WI
Welcome to this first round match-up in the eighth annual Strongest Town Contest! In this round, 16 towns are facing off, and eight will advance to the next segment of the contest, based on your votes. We invite you to read answers representatives of these cities provided to questions we posed, and then cast your vote for which place you think is the strongest.
Can’t decide? If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how we describe the Strong Towns approach.
You may vote once per match-up. Round 1 voting closes at noon CT on Thursday, March 23. For rules, and to follow along with the contest, visit the Strongest Town Contest page.
Note: All entries are lightly edited for clarity and readability.
VOTING FOR THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED. RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON FRIDAY, MARCH 24.
FATE, TX
Entry submitted by: Ryan Wells, Justin Weiss, Michael Kovacs.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
Recognizing Fate businesses are often heavily overparked, the city recently updated its Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to reduce the minimum parking standards for non-residential uses across the board. While there was an earnest discussion about removing parking minimums, there was concern among some decision-makers that our young city had not adequately developed alternative transportation infrastructure to accommodate non-vehicular transport. As part of the UDO update, the city also adopted minimum bicycle parking standards and offered a credit to reduce parking minimums even further when bicycle parking and related accommodations are being provided at a commercial or industrial facility. The city also recently updated its Parks and Trails Master Plan, which expanded the network of trail systems, providing more options for pedestrian and bicycle travel within the community.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
In October 2021, seeing growth trends and the fiscal impact they have on cities in the Dallas region, the city of Fate adopted its Forward Fate Comprehensive Plan. The city conducted a city-wide fiscal analysis on various growth scenarios in the Plan, identifying the public to private cost ratio and deciding on a land use pattern based on the fiscal productivity of the city within that framework. In this decision, the city chose to curb its own appetite for growth and focus inward by maximizing the use of lands already served by existing infrastructure. This created opportunities for higher density development within the city’s core. Despite significant pressure to expand the developed footprint of the city, Fate is preserving unserved and undeveloped land for the future while deploying strategic, incremental growth policies within the developed and actively developing portion of the city.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
Fate recognized that its existing monoculture of suburban housing was creating an affordability plateau and establishing an unsustainable relationship between property tax revenue and infrastructure and service costs. Through the adoption of their Forward Fate Comprehensive Plan and the subsequent UDO update, the city expanded the allowed residential types in nearly all residential zones to include duplexes, townhouses, tri- and quadplexes, and accessory dwellings. In addition, the UDO update established a new zoning district dubbed “Neighborhood Transition,” which is intended to create a traditional mixed district where small residential units and commercial uses can peaceably coexist side by side. The UDO update also expanded the use of live/work and home occupation uses across the city, allowing for local entrepreneurship and wealth-building right here in our own community.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
The city of Fate implemented a development fiscal analysis program in 2017. This program was continually molded until the adoption of a “fiscal sustainability” policy in the 2021 Comprehensive Plan, which was then codified in the UDO update. To maintain fiscal sustainability, Fate evaluates new development proposals in relation to the fiscal productivity of the project. Fate’s fiscal productivity analysis compares the tax revenues to the city against the ongoing maintenance and future replacement costs of the development’s infrastructure, and the annual general service costs for the project. While this analysis is a decision-making tool, a project that is not “fiscally sustainable” may still be desired by the city due to other factors such as cultural enrichment, tourism, catalyzing impacts, etc. The City’s fiscal analysis tool can be found here.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
The adoption of the UDO update in 2023 created updated street and access standards that provide greater accommodation for non-vehicular travel. The UDO now has two access spacing standards for streets and paths, creating a tighter street grid or a secondary pedestrian system for safer pedestrian and bike travel throughout the city. The city also adopted a connectivity ratio policy that establishes a required number of nodes and connections, creating more opportunity to move within the community outside of a car without having to travel along exceedingly lengthy blocks without any connections. This policy direction also led to the general prohibition of cul-de-sacs. With the updated development standards in the UDO, the city also established more pedestrian-oriented development within the commercial districts and downtown, shrinking front setbacks and activating the pedestrian space.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
Fate is an eclectic mix of Texans, people from all over America, and people from around the world. Because Fate is a fast-growing community (growing by over 2,000 people each year), its identity is developing organically and over time, so that there’s not just “that one thing”; every new resident can feel as though they too make a difference in Fate and what it ultimately becomes. In Fate, the people are educated, informed, and involved. Their councilmembers represent them and are there to serve the public, doing what they understand is best for the long-term health of this place and its residents. In Fate, the Council is the people’s Council, beholden to no agendas, and we are blessed because this creates a governing framework that allows us to have frank discussions about what works and what doesn’t, and to make proactive decisions to truly make our city a stronger town.
PORT WASHINGTON, WI
Entry submitted by: Rob Vanden Noven and Bob Harris.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
There are no surface parking requirements for buildings in the downtown zoning district. In 2014, the city sold approximately 30 parking spaces from a surface lot for the expansion of three lakefront restaurants. In 2015, a parking study was conducted which concluded that Port Washington had approximately twice the amount of parking spaces necessary to support the downtown. In response, the city sold two of its lakefront parking lots to developers for the construction of 11 townhouses and a brewpub/conference center. That sparked the development of two additional privately owned parking lots in the city, which resulted in the construction of another eight townhouses and a 27-unit, mixed-use development with commercial and restaurant space, all within the downtown and fronting (or in close proximity to) Lake Michigan.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
In 2008, the city reduced the width of one of its two state highways running through downtown from 48 feet wide to 42 feet wide. This resulted in wider, ADA-compliant sidewalks, and provided room for street trees, benches, flower containers, etc. Bump-outs at several intersections and further expansion of the terrace in areas where parking is prohibited promotes pedestrian safety and traffic calming.
In 2012, when the the state required the other highway to be expanded from two lanes to four, we reduced lane widths to 11 feet, created a wide, landscaped median, and constructed a roundabout instead of a proposed six-lane, signalized intersection, all to make it safer for pedestrians. The city also insisted on construction of a 5-foot sidewalk on one side of the highway and a 10-foot-wide multi-use path on the other, reduced the speed limit to 35 mph, and lined the highway with trees.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
The Port Washington zoning code has no off-street parking requirements in the downtown zoning district. This has resulted in the creation and expansion of several businesses, restaurants, and mixed-use developments in the downtown, adjacent to Lake Michigan. The zoning code permits mixed uses, such as single family, duplex, and residential/commercial uses by right, and missing-middle housing (three to eight residential units) via conditional use in the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown. The zoning code also permits flexibility for reducing the amount of off-street parking on a proposed development when it is determined to be excessive. A proposed zoning change for 2023 will allow ADUs in single-family neighborhoods.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
In 2022, the city developed a five-year strategic plan, which includes the creation of a “cost of service model.” This model will be used to determine (among other things), the cost to provide and maintain water, sewer, and transportation services to new and existing development compared to value of the property and the tax revenue it generates. Staff will use the model to determine if a proposed development meets the criteria for being self-sustaining. Existing development will be analyzed for sustainability to determine if re-development should be pursued. The city is also in the final stages of creating a downtown plan with identifies several properties for the city to pursue higher value development to create new revenue and sustain existing infrastructure. The strategic plan and the city’s annual budget and five-year capital plan are all available on the city’s website.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
In 2015, the city passed a resolution that reduced roadway widths on any reconstruction or new construction to promote traffic calming and reduce ongoing maintenance costs. Corner radii have been reduced to a maximum of 15 feet on all new and reconstructed roadways. Sidewalks have been widened downtown to promote accessibility and outdoor dining. Three out of the four vehicular alleys downtown have been converted to pedestrian-only alleys.
In 2018, the city passed a “Complete Streets Resolution” which states that safe, convenient, and accessible transportation for all users is a priority for the city and should be pursued in all new and existing construction. Additionally, the municipal code requires sidewalks to be constructed on both sides of every street. The city will be updating its bike/pedestrian plan in 2023, utilizing a Transportation Alternatives grant awarded by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in 2022.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
My favorite thing about Port Washington is its historic downtown, which offers spectacular views in every direction, attractive shops and restaurants, varied housing, and boasts the largest collection of antebellum architecture in the state. Located within the downtown is the Lake Michigan waterfront and 270 slip marina, home to the largest fleet of charter fishing boats on the lake’s western shore. Surrounding the marina are five lakefront parks covering more than 70 acres, two beaches, a bird sanctuary, two historic lighthouses, and a nationally recognized playground for children of all abilities, all connected by the 2-plus-mile Harborwalk. Running through this extremely walkable city is the Interurban Bike Trail, a 20-plus-mile county-wide rails to trails project completed circa 2002 which connects to similar trails in the northern and southern counties.