2008 Network Impacts: Changes in Land Use Plans > Changes in Land Use Regulations > On the Ground Changes > Decision Making Process Changes > Informed Decisions > Beyond Local Impacts
Decision Making Process Changes
| Arizona |
| In Cochise and Navajo Counties, NEMO-supported watershed partnerships have become the "New Democracy" with leadership suddenly finding a voice in front of County Commissioners. NEMO maps and science education has empowered community leaders to bring their concerns to their legislators and other government representatives. |
| Colorado |
| AWARE Colorado (CO NEMO) produced a “Water Protection Toolkit for Local Officials” that was downloaded over 10,000 times last year from the AWARE Colorado Web site. Through a grant from Coors Brewing Company, it has been distributed to every municipality in Colorado. The Keep it Clean Partnership, a coalition of six communities in the Boulder and St. Vrain watersheds that implements a regional stormwater management program, used the toolkit to develop a “Checklist for Potential Implementation of Low Impact Development.” Developers and planning staff will use the checklist to evaluate potential LID practices that can be implemented at development sites. The partnership is also funding an LID barrier analysis to better understand how LID can be promoted in its communities. |
Respondents to a survey by the CO NEMO program stated that decision makers, staff and the public discuss water quality more often at planning-related meetings and in board and/or commission meeting materials and documents following participation in NEM training. |
| Connecticut |
| Three towns have created an open space planning committee. The City of Torrington created a new position, GIS technician, to help with resource inventories and data analysis for future planning issues. |
| Delaware |
| DE NEMO led storm drain mapping projects in the communities of Rehoboth, Lewes, and Milton. None of communities had a GIS based map of storm drains, so NEMO provided a mobile mapper and made a storm drain data layer for each. NEMO also helped coordinate storm drain stenciling programs for Lewes and Milton. |
DE NEMO developed a Natural Resource Based Planning Guide for Delaware communities that was adapted from similar guides in Minnesota and Connecticut. The guide has been distributed to every Delaware county and municipality and is also available on the DE NEMO website. |
NEMO outreach efforts have contributed to greater community deliberation - in local media (print, radio and TV), in town halls, and across backyard fences—on the importance of natural resource based planning and management. Terms like “impervious surface", "source water protection", "riparian buffers", "open space", and "natural resource based planning" have been rallying cries of informed citizenry that are trying to protect natural resources. In Lewes, in particular, residents have been able to influence where and how new development is located. |
| Minnesota |
| Inspired by a Northland NEMO presentation on Natural Resource Based Planning, the City of Greenfield formed an Open Space Committee. The Committee drafted and submitted recommendations to the City Council to be considered as they develop their next City Comprehensive Plan that is due in December 2008. |
| Nevada |
| As of the end of 2007, 190 board members or commissioners have attended the 3.5-hour training, representing 69% of targeted groups. Students who completed pre- and post- workshop tests showed an average increase of 20% in the number of correct answers on the post-test. One participant wrote “…it changed the way I think about using water and how the water we use gets infiltrated back into the watershed and the river…” |
| New Hampshire |
| After working with the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NH NEMO), the towns of Wakefield and Rollinsford included local watershed organizations in their community-based planning efforts for the first time. |
| New York |
| NY NEMO has helped Long Island municipalities pay more attention to evaluating the effectiveness of their stormwater management efforts. For example, the Town of Huntington has made improvements to its pollution prevention record-keeping program - the objective being to modify procedures, equipment, and schedules as necessary. Several operating departments are developing record sheets to target and quantify the recovery of gray water, oils, grease, and sand from streets and storm drains. For example, the Highway and General Services Department reported recovery of nearly 8,000 gallons of waste oil. |
| New York NEMO has provided direct support to nearly 100 Long Island municipalities through review and written feedback on their annual Phase II stormwater program progress reports. As a result, Long Island municipal stormwater programs have been strengthened in a multitude of ways. Examples include the development of sustainable funding mechanisms (Village of Kings Point and the Town of Babylon), additional staff (Village of Manorhaven), a reforestation program (Village of Plandome Manor), a septic system inspection program (Village of Plandome Manor), equipment procurement (Village of Port Jefferson), and planned water quality improvement studies (Village of Plandome Manor). Further, interdepartmental work groups have been formed within the Towns of Hempstead, Huntington, Islip, and Brookhaven to ensure stormwater program coordination and effectiveness. |
NY NEMO has served as catalyst, facilitator, support, and liaison to promote inter-municipal natural resource protection and restoration. In addition to the Nassau County Stormwater Coalition, which is comprised of over fifty County, City, Town, and Village partners, inter-municipal efforts are advancing in Suffolk County. The Towns of Babylon, Huntington, and Southampton have established partnerships with neighboring Villages and are progressing in obtaining funding and in co-implementing various stormwater program components including public education, illicit discharge detection, staff training, revision of local laws, and procurement of equipment. In addition, NY NEMO has helped establish an inter-municipal stormwater workgroup on the east end of Long Island in the Peconic Estuary drainage area. |
| South Carolina |
| Horry County worked with SC NEMO to conduct a county-wide open space inventory of all protected open space and undeveloped, un-protected parcels. This inventory, in conjunction with modeling efforts, was used to establish a decision-making framework that analyzes land use alternatives and impacts associated with the county’s open space. The open space inventory is being used to develop a list of significant properties that should be acquired, leased, preserved or otherwise protected. Horry County Open Space Board and staff planners use this list to make recommendations to the County Council relating to the use of the County Open Space Fund for property acquisition. |
| Tennessee |
| TN Growth Readiness (TN NEMO) developed localized growth predictions and impervious cover predictions to anticipate future conditions and promote changes to land use codes and ordinances in 25 communities. The program uses the Center for Watershed Protection’s Codes and Ordinances Worksheet (COW) to help communities assess their land use rules against model principles for site design. The worksheet has 66 questions related to streets and parking, lot design and natural areas and has a total of 100 points possible. COW scores that ranged from 32 to 64 before the workshop series would improve to to 70 to 88 with recommendations resulting from the workshop series. |
The Tennessee Growth Readiness (TN NEMO) workshop series has increased intra-local and inter-local communication between counties and towns. The workshop series brought together a cross-section of local decision makers, elected officials, local government staff, engineers, developers, conservationists, realtors, etc. to build greater understanding of local water and development issues, and build consensus for change. For example, in the Duck River Watershed Growth Readiness Workshop, the Core Team is collaborating to implement a communication and outreach plan to work towards adoption of the recommendations, including developing presentations and an 18-page publication to describe the workshop process and characterize the land use and zoning changes that were recommended. These products were shared with elected officials and decision makers in many of the communities within the watershed, and the State of Tennessee’s Local Planning Office has used the materials in staff training. |
| Virginia |
| Following a Tennessee Growth Readiness (TN NEMO) workshop series, the Town of Cedar Bluff was awarded a $52,000 Water Quality Improvement Act grant to conduct an urban hotspot survey of the town to identify sites for six bio-retention retrofits. The hotspot survey involved a visual and land use survey to identify locations that were contributing excessive storm water runoff and related pollutant loads (Storm water Assessment and Bioretention Retrofit Project - SABR). An education plan for the retrofits includes signage and a walking trail—currently in the design phase and scheduled to be installed in the near future. The Town of Cedar Bluff is also using information from the workshops in negotiations with developers and businesses. |