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
Informed Decisions
| Arizona |
| Watershed groups and communities throughout Arizona are accessing the geospatial data Arizona NEMO provides on their website to facilitate land use planning. For example, the Upper Gila Watershed Partnership (Safford, Arizona) utilized the data on the NEMO website to support their ultimately successful grant application to the Arizona Water Protection Fund to remove a river levee and restore the Gila River to natural flow conditions. |
| Colorado |
| AWARE Colorado (CO NEMO) workshop surveys demonstrate the program is having an impact in the state. Ninety-three percent of participants indicate that the presentations increased their knowledge about strategies communities can employ to prevent negative water quality impacts due to land use. In addition, the majority of respondents indicated they were very likely to consider the information presented about water quality impacts when making land use and/or community planning decisions (and average score of 3.59 on a scale of 1 to 4 – with 4 being “very likely”). |
| Connecticut |
| The CT NEMO Community Resource Inventory Online (CRI) has made GIS information and maps available to every town in the state. NEMO staff have conducted several workshops across the state introducing the website and have put together a newsletter mailed to every town commission. An average of 660 individual users have accessed CRI maps each month for the past 18 months. |
| CT NEMO has three interwoven stormwater tools online. The Planning for Stormwater site directs people to general low impact development (LID) information and links them to specific sections the state stormwater quality manual. The LID Inventory site interactively takes users to LID emplacements around the state, and the LID Regulations site allows them to read the complete text of local LID regulations in CT towns. Together, these sites are visited about 650 times per month by local land use decision makers and others. |
| Indiana |
| Planning With POWER (IN NEMO) has developed a web-based Local Decision Maker GIS Tool that is helping communities understand the resources they have and to integrate those resources into land use plans and decision. |
| Kansas |
| The KS NEMO program provided support for other groups to make presentations to city and county officials on identifying native forests and prairies in Douglas County, KS for, as well as identifying already impacted areas that are better suited for industrial or similar types of development. |
| Maine |
| Maine NEMO worked with the Sagadahoc Region Rural Resource Initiative (SRRRI) to conduct a regional build-out analysis for the seven towns in the region. The SRRRI, financed by the participating communities with help from Maine's State Planning Office, has been meeting since spring 2004 to explore how the participating communities can work together to preserve the rural character and resources of the region. The SRRRI group is also gathering natural resource information for the region to coordinate land use decisions regarding zoning and natural areas. The SRRRI runs a model to rank habitat in the region, and then combines the habitat priorities with undeveloped blocks to show critical large blocks. ME NEMO is working to make this digital data available to towns, and several of them are integrating it into land use plans. Topsham is using it in a Natural Resource Plan; Harpswell is using it in an Open Space Plan. |
ME NEMO has developed a popular “Standards of Practice” (SOP) workshop for town facilities and maintenance staff. Through this effort the program has trained 350 public works employees from 25 towns on standard operating procedures to improve water quality. The trainings have been well received and are having an impact. For example, the Town of Cape Elizabeth reports "The training has raised the awareness level of the employees that have attended the training sessions. On two occasions, employees have brought to my attention two possible IDD's (illicit discharge detections) in catch basins. They are definitely more aware of what is proper and not proper in a typical catch basin." Maine NEMO has shared its training materials with educators in 28 states, Puerto Rico and Australia and it is currently being modified for use in Florida to train municipal staff. |
| Minnesota |
| In collaboration with Northland NEMO, the City of Duluth is conducting a paired neighborhood assessment of residential stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in two neighborhoods. NEMO will disseminate information on the effectiveness of the BMPs to local governments. The City of Duluth planning department is also distributing NEMO’s "Building Superior Coastal Communities" guidebook to developers interested in building in the community. |
| Nevada |
| NV NEMO workshop evaluations indicate that they are having a wide range of impacts beyond just local land use officials. A nursery worker used the information in designing and planning medium-size residential landscape projects, and a landscaper became more conscious of the problem of excessive irrigation water use. One respondent noted “When we’re approached by other organizations needing our help on water issues, NEMO training helps me to understand the issue involved and how we can help.” Students in 2006 rated the course materials and presentations highly (4.7 out of 5), with no score lower than 4. They rated their improved understanding at 4.6 out of 5, and feel more likely to ask for more information during plan review (4.7 out of 5). |
| New Hampshire |
| The Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NH NEMO) has worked with several communities to integrate community surveys into local land use decisions and plans. Community groups conducted surveys in New Durham (re: their master plan) and Wakefield (re: conservation funding). NROC communities have also sought to develop better water quality data. Rollinsford initiated a water quality monitoring program on local streams. Wakefield commissioned a synthesis of existing water quality data in order to better understand the status of their lakes. |
| Rhode Island |
| The RI NEMO program worked with the state’s Water Resources Board (WRB) and Department of Health to develop a consistent way for municipalities and other water suppliers to identify threats and rank susceptibility of drinking water sources to pollution and track trends over time. All municipalities and private water suppliers with major community water supplies will be using the method to update Water Supply Management Plans, as required by RI WRB regulations, and can integrate this information into land use decisions. |
| The Salt Ponds Coalition (south shore coastal ponds in South Kingston, Charlestown and Westerly) and Committee for the Great Salt Pond (on Block Island) raised funds to continue monitoring started under the community wastewater demonstration project. In addition, the Salt Ponds Coalition has used monitoring results and nutrient loading estimates generated by NEMO's MANAGE assessment method in testimony to local boards and the RI Coastal Resources Management Council on proposed development projects in the coastal ponds watershed. |
| In partnership with the RI Department of Environmental Management and a private firm, RI NEMO developed the Rhode Island Wastewater Information System (RIWIS): a statewide, web-accessed database that organizes local information about onsite systems and cesspools, including their location and condition, inspection results, and maintenance. Towns are using the database to develop and implement community wastewater management programs, a basic element in protecting groundwater supplies, private wells, and public drinking water sources. Through a series of workshops and technical support, RI NEMO has increased the number of communities actively using the site in their programs from 3 to 12. |
| South Carolina |
| Following significant turnover in their land use boards, the Town of Bluffton and Beaufort County invited the SC NEMO team to come to their community and conduct a workshop for elected officials and a second one for planning commission members, staff, and interested citizens. As a result of these two workshops, the Bluffton town administrator and mayor now require all of the town's officials and staff to attend at a minimum a "refresher" course of NEMO 101 on an annual basis. |
| The S.C. Coastal Community Initiative (SCCCI), a small grants program coordinated by SC NEMO, funded the Beaufort County Storm Drain Marker Project. Beaufort County Public Works partnered with a local environmental organization (Friends of the Rivers) to identify and mark more than 1,000 storm drain inlets, primarily in highly-trafficked pedestrian and publicly-owned areas, as well as in commercial and residential parking lots throughout the County’s unincorporated areas and municipalities. In addition to the public education component of the project and during marker installation, the marked inlets, local outfalls, and associated structural stormwater management practices are being documented with a GPS to field verify and/or update County infrastructure mapping. As a result, infrastructure will be inspected for potential illicit discharge investigation, repair, and maintenance and will be recorded and reported to the County Public Works Department. |
| Texas |
| TX NEMO created a new initiative, WaterSmart Landscaping: Habitat Highways, to address habitat loss and fragmentation by generating public awareness of these issues, training and empowering volunteers with information and the skills to preserve, restore and create urban wildlife habitats, and forming social networks to best address urban wildlife and habitat problems. Another first for the Houston area, the Habitat Highways Program (HH) held its inaugural training series and receiving enthusiastic response from participants and local media. Direct training was limited to forty participants, but the reach of these trainees is multiplied as they continue their role as advocates for wildlife. Several students from this first HH class have gone on to initiate habitat projects in the community. |