A city planning expert spoke to city officials Thursday night,telling them there’s nothing you can’t build if you have the righttools.

By “tools,” Hernando Planning Director Bob Barber wasn’t talkingabout trucks or backhoes or hammers. He talked to members ofBrookhaven’s board of aldermen, the planning commission, the boardof adjustments and the comprehensive planning commission aboutsmart city growth principles and best practices for planning.

Smart growth, he said, is about perspective, method and goalsfor managing the expansion of a city.

“When you see a community that has exercised smart growth, it isevident,” he said. “The core of every town of significant size isbuilt on timeless principles. Smart growth is not short term.”

Barber outlined several important points that city officialsneed to consider as they look toward the future of Brookhaven, butalso as they deal with zoning and planning now.

“There’s a thing called quality of livability,” he said. “Youknow it when you see it. This is an ancient and ongoing concern ofgood solid communities.”

He said people love certain cities and towns for the things thatmake them unique, not the things that make them the same as everyother town.

“They don’t go to the edge of the interstate and say, ‘I fell inlove with your Taco Bell,'” he said. “When you compete in yourcommunity, it’s not just for big industry, it’s for people thatmove to the community.”

Barber said it’s a smart thing for municipal leaders to critiquewhat has been done in the past in their communities – not only thethings that make them attractive, but also the things that repelprospective residents. He said things like unattractive signage andunsightly strip malls can give a bad first impression, but that acity focused on growth may not realize that there are betteraesthetic answers.

“They say ‘If all you have is a hammer, everything starts tolook like a nail,'” said Barber, adding that franchise exteriorscan be built to city specifications if the city will simply givethe company guidelines to follow.

Keeping the community attractive is another reason to focus onemphasizing and complementing historic buildings, Barber said. Thisnot only applies to commercial and public buildings, but alsohomes, he said, pointing out one city where it is illegal to teardown any building more than 50 years old.

“No new construction can replace the character of an olderbuilding like that,” he said. “Refurbishing it can make itdesirable property for tenants. Preservation is the first rule ofsmart growth.”

And new buildings can be built to recall historic architecture,Barber said, which is always a good way to keep a city’s aestheticintegrity.

Barber also discussed important topics like land usage andstreet layout. He said city planners have to be thinking yearsahead as they zone and plan, and that many times saving moneyshort-term is terrible for the long haul.

“We should not make public investments on price alone,” he said.”You can’t inspire civic virtue with cheap investing.”

Developing a clear vision for a community involves listening,educating and communicating, Barber told the group, adding thatBrookhaven was last coded in 1992 and the codes have not beenupdated.

“You’ve got to have your own town, your own unique city vision,”he said. “Assuming you’ve got the right codes to enforce, you cando anything, but it depends on your tools and what you’re trying todo with them.”