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<br />Section 1: Community Development Policy Review <br /> <br />La Porte's New Opportunity - Place-Based Economic Development <br /> <br />The Greater Downtown of La Porte offers a unique opportunity to link multiple destinations <br />that serve a broad market. The prospects to grow synergistically two different kinds of retail <br />markets (destination and local service), a tourism base and downtown living can establish La <br />Porte as one of the best places in the Houston Region to live and visit. <br /> <br />Sustainable development today means harnessing and coordinating real estate development, <br />architecture, urban planning and public-private partnerships. The nature of economic <br />development has changed, necessitating a review of current land use planning practices. Not <br />so long ago, economic development was mostly focused on recruiting businesses to locate in <br />your community. That is still important. But today, economic development has become firmly <br />connected to place and the environment. <br /> <br />"Quality of life" was once just a buzzword used as the calling card of the local neighborhood <br />activist. As measured by the quality of our neighborhoods, our cities and our regions, quality of <br />life has now become a bottom-line factor for many business decisions. Why? Business <br />decisions continue to be driven by competition. And competition is more and more about <br />recruiting the best talent-people who have the luxury of living and working wherever they <br />desire. Accordingly, attracting the best and the brightest means that companies must also <br />provide access to an attractive quality of life in addition to merely providing competitive <br />compensation. <br /> <br />Similarly, tourism has become a growing part of the economy, especially for those <br />communities that can harness historical, local assets such as Sylvan Beach. The tendency <br />towards more local spending because of the economy-rather than longer trips, and La <br />Porte's location in the Greater Houston Region, position La Porte to draw tourists out of its <br />own community and from those living within the larger region. This strategy takes advantage <br />of the fact that economic development now is inextricably tied to sustaining quality of life, <br />fundamentally creating the concept of sustainable economic development. <br /> <br />A planning approach that takes advantage of this opportunity is the New Urbanism. The goal <br />of New Urbanism is to remarry real estate development, architecture and urban planning. New <br />Urban projects can include downtown redevelopment, infill and large-scale new growth in <br />suburban greenfield locations. Based on time-tested neighborhood design principles, the <br />New Urban approach to growth and development gained some traction in 1991. That year, the <br />Local Government Commission, a California-based non-profit promoting healthy, walkable and <br />resource-efficient communities, invited a group of urban architects to develop a policy for <br />planning sustainable communities. <br /> <br />Forward La Porte Economic Development Strategic Plan I 2009-2013 <br />