National NEMO Network

Northland NEMO Impacts

Guidance for Communities on Natural Resource Based Planning

Northland NEMO spans two states, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and is focused on two general areas, the Twin Cities area and the Arrowhead region shared by Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Due perhaps to their multi-regional nature, the NEMO Team has developed a variety of effective ways to serve as a resource for local decision-makers.

One of the program’s most successful initiatives has proven to be a step by step guide to natural resource based planning, which, in true Northland NEMO fashion, comes in two formats: a brochure, A Quick Guide to Using Natural Resource Information, and a companion CD, Guide to Using Natural Resource Information in Local Decision Making. The Guide was developed as a result of the 2002 National NEMO Network’s Open Space Planning Boot Camp, and was put together by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in partnership with the Northland NEMO Program and the Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District. It is designed to provide planning guidance for people from a wide variety of backgrounds, interests and expertise.

Released in 2004, the Guide is already having an impact on Minnesota communities. For example, the Met Council, which is the regional planning agency for the seven-county Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, will be using the Five Functional Categories of Open Space highlighted in the guide as a framework for their planning guidance to communities during the next round of required comprehensive plan updates. Met Council also will be providing communities with a CD of GIS inventory information (via ArcReader™). The CD will include five data layers that correspond to the five Functional Categories of Open Space. Each of the region’s 183 communities will also be given a copy of the Guide.

The Guide has received an Award of Merit in Planning from the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Impacts

Osceola, Wisconsin: The Northland NEMO Program worked with the City of Osceola to complete a stormwater study focused on protecting a designated trout stream in the area. As a result of the NEMO study, the city installed a rain garden demonstration project in a new development that had been designed with traditional “curb and gutter” drainage.
Duluth, Minnesota: Northland NEMO used the Impervious Surface Analysis Tool (ISAT) to develop an impervious surface assessment for the City of Duluth. The city has used that analysis to identify critical habitat and open space areas and prioritize tax forfeiture lands for protection.

Lake Superior Watershed, Wisconsin & Minnesota: Northland NEMO leads boat trips on Lake Superior for land use officials as part of their A View from the Lake program. The trips provide a unique opportunity to discuss how land use decisions impact natural resources and, more specifically, Western Lake Superior. Participants not only view the lake and shoreline, but also take part in build-out scenarios of a model community and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of different development patterns. More than 500 local officials and interested citizens participated in each of the project’s first two years.

Duluth Township, Minnesota: Northland NEMO worked with Duluth Township to establish a sensitive areas overlay ordinance. The ordinance includes greater setback restrictions, limits on impervious surfaces and runoff reduction requirements within particular sensitive areas. Northland NEMO is also helping both Wright and Winona Counties rewrite their stormwater and erosion and sediment control ordinances.

Kandiyohi County, Minnesota: Following several Northland NEMO workshops, the County adopted a stormwater and erosion and sediment control ordinance into their subdivision ordinances. They previously had no provisions for stormwater and erosion and sediment control. The County also made significant revisions to their shoreland ordinance, establishing resource management districts in tiers around recreational lakes and within 1000 feet of natural environment lakes. Two cities in the county are following suit, looking to make changes to zoning ordinances in shoreland areas.

Little Falls, Minnesota: When a new business park was proposed in Little Falls, MN, the Northland NEMO Program worked with the city to ensure impacts on natural resource protection were mitigated. As a result, the project went from curb and gutter, pipes and ponds to vegetated swales, rain gardens and bioretention. Thanks to these on-the-ground changes, the site was able to capture a 100 year storm and saved the City over $200,000.

Kandiyohi County, Minnesota: Following several Northland NEMO workshops, the county worked with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to significantly modify the construction of a major highway project, establishing more stormwater treatment ponds as well as substantial increases in spending on erosion and sediment control.

Kandiyohi County, Minnesota: In response to citizen interest and information provided by Northland NEMO, the county and the Cities of Spicer and New London have provided funding to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and citizen groups to conduct water quality monitoring on a number of area lakes and streams.

Twin Cities, Minnesota: Northland NEMO is partnering with the Minnesota Lakes Association and Twin Cities Public Television to produce a 1/2 hour TV show version of their Linking Land Use to Lake Quality video. The production will be titled Development Decisions: the Future of Minnesota’s Lakes is Crystal Clear. The production will be distributed on CD to local governments and lake associations across the state.

Minnesota: The Northland NEMO Program is endorsed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and highlighted in the agency’s Framework for Action to Address the Environmental Impacts of Growth and Development for basin management and stormwater control issues and in the Lake Superior Basin Plan.