Price signals influence decision making and behavior at each stage in the path that discarded material takes to reuse, recycling, composting, or disposal.  Current signals often incentivize disposal, or fail to differentiate between disposal and diversion even when there is a significant fiscal benefit from diversion.  Changing these price signals for those who do not otherwise experience them would yield significant additional diversion.

The zoning measures described above can protect water resources from the impacts of new development, but zoning grandfathers existing development.  Yet many communities have existing patterns of development already located within aquifer and watershed areas.  In order to regulate these existing land uses, communities may implement non-zoning or “general” bylaws and ordinances or other local controls such as Board of Health regulations.

Cities and towns, through their home rule powers, hold the key to protecting the long-term quality of their drinking water supplies.  The federal Safe Drinking Water Act establishes the maximum levels of contaminants allowed in public water supplies to meet public health needs, but achieving those quality standards is largely a local responsibility.

Stormwater bylaws and ordinances grant a municipality the authority to establish standards for discharge of stormwater runoff.  These controls can be structured to promote Low Impact Development, minimizing site alteration and stormwater pollution.  Numerous municipalities in the region have already adopted stormwater regulation; there are numerous models available and lessons learned regarding adoption and implementation.  It is necessary to catalog the bylaws that have been adopted and to develop a next generation of model bylaws.  

Old and poorly constructed pipelines, inadequate corrosion protection, poorly maintained valves and mechanical damage are some of the factors contributing to leakage. One effect of water leakage, besides the loss of water resources, is reduced pressure in the supply system. Raising pressures to make up for  leakage losses increases energy consumption,  makes leaking worse, and  adversely impacts the environment. Of the many options available for conserving water, leak detection is a logical first step.

The intensity of peak demands has grown in recent years due in part to the proliferation of automatic irrigation systems.  These systems generally involve a series of sprinkler heads connected by piping or hoses, controlled by a central automatic timing device so that they operate on a regular schedule without requiring any human intervention.  

Municipalities can help to reduce water demand for irrigation by integrating landscaping best practices into existing site plan guidelines, zoning bylaws, and subdivision rules and regulations.

Local governments and residents should be provided the tools to generate funds to improve transportation and transit opportunities.  See also Implementation Strategy #2, “Strengthen Municipal Finance.”

21.a    MAPC should work with stakeholders to develop legislation that would allow local and regional tax referenda

21.b    Municipalities should make use of District Improvement Financing to help fund infrastructure improvements

Productive relationships between municipalities and the development community attract economic investment and the opportunity for meaningful growth to Metro Boston.  These relationships should be encouraged. Long-term prosperity depends on it.  Where the permitting process brings satisfactory results, the applicants, the public, and the economy stand to benefit.  MetroFuture recommends that municipalities adopt a set of best practices that can make permitting more predictable, equitable, cost effective, and efficient.  

Recent research into Open Space Residential Design (Hamin, 2007) found that OSRD developments generally result in designs that provide more ecological and open space benefits than do conventional subdivision plans.  However, other goals are not achieved as well, including creative design, housing diversity, and other public goods.