2008 National NEMO Network Progress ReportReport

8/14/2019 2008 National NEMO Network Progress ReportReport

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National NEMO Network

2008 Progress Report

A Catalyst for Community

Land Use Change


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Contact the Network Hub

The University of Connecticut

Cooperative Extension System

P.O. Box 70, 1066 Saybrook Road

Haddam, CT 06438

David Dickson, NEMO Network Coordinator

[email protected]

Kara Bonsack, NEMO Network Communicator

[email protected]

860-345-5227

Website: nemonet.uconn.edu

Written and edited by David Dickson and Chet

Arnold, with contributions from our Network col-

leagues. Design and production management by

Kara Bonsack. Photography by the NEMO Hub and

Network members. Photography credits given in

the Local Impacts section for all non-Hub related

photographs.

Printing funded by USDA CSREES Water Quality

Program. This report was printed with vegetable

oil-based inks on 30% post-consumer recycled

paper using biogas energy and certified by

SmartWood for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

standards.

CLEAR print 030930.1

Contents

3 About This Report

4 About the NEMO Network

6 Local Land Use Impacts

8 Changes to Land Use Plans

11 Spotlight on South Carolina

12 Changes to Land Use Regulations

15 Spotlight on Tennessee

16 On the Ground Changes

19 Spotlight on Maine

20 Changes to the Decision Making

Process

23 Spotlight on Connecticut

24 Changes to Research &

Information Gathering

27 Spotlight on Minnesota

28 Beyond Local Impacts

30 The NEMO Hub: Coordinating

the Network

32 Strengthening Network

Programs: NEMO Network

Initiatives

36 Moving Forward

37 Network Members Directory

Who We Are Local Impacts Network Coordination

Cover: Photo of attendees of NEMO University 6 (U6) held in Monterey, CA in October 2008. Member states are

listed on the left column of the cover, including the year they joined the Network. (Full color photo of attendees

on inside back cover.)

National NEMO Network member programs are supported by many different federal, state and local sources.

Coordination for the NEMO Network by the University of Connecticut Department of Extension is currently supported

by the USDA CSREES Water Quality and Forestry Programs, and the EPA Office of Water Nonpoint Source Control

Branch. The National NEMO Network is a USDA CSREES National Facilitation Project and a focus area of the

Northeast States and Caribbean Islands Regional Water Program.


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About This Report

This report highlights the work and

progress of the National NEMO

Network, a unique confederation of

educational programs that are helping

communities across the country make

better land use decisions. The Network

is not the result of an agency directiveor initiative: it was created in 2000 by

its member programs, who share a

desire to promote natural resource-based

community planning, and a belief that

education is the way to make it happen.

This is the third progress report on the

National NEMO Network. It highlights

impacts from NEMO programs, in the

form of local actions that have been

taken by communities to better protecttheir natural and community resources

through improved land use planning

and design.

Our 2002 Progress Report focused on

the story of the Network and the struc-

ture and goals of its programs. Three

years later, the evolution of these pro-

grams enabled our 2005 Progress Report

to be focused not on descriptions of

programs, but on the many impacts ofthese programs at the community level.

This report continues that trend, and is

comprised primarily of brief vignettes of

what communities around the country

are doing, catalyzed and assisted by

NEMO education and technical tools.

The Network has now truly reached

maturation. The rapid growth in the

number of programs in the Network

has leveled off, but the impacts of

NEMO programs have continued to

grow. While compiling this report, it

became evident that not only are morecommunities involved with NEMO, but

that the resulting local actions are both

greater in number and more varied.

Examples of these local efforts are spot-

lighted in this report.

Finally, this report also describes

Network-wide initiatives to strengthen

and enhance the educational, topical

and technical expertise that NEMO

programs bring to these communities.As the Network has matured, the

Network Hub at the University of

Connecticut has shifted its primary

focus from helping to start programs, to

helping programs expand and enhance

their efforts.

On the pages that follow, we invite you

to see for yourself the power of profes-

sional, research-based education and

outreach to change the way communitiesplan and build their future.

We hope this report serves as inspiration

both to those innovative local officials

looking to provide an effective balance

between conservation and development

in their community, and the educators

who seek to help them.

... we invite you to see for yourself the power of professional, research-

based education and outreach to change the way communities plan

and build their future.


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About theNEMO Network

The National NEMO Network is a

confederation of programs that educate

local land use decision makers about

the links between land use and natural

resource protection. Network programs

are patterned after the original Nonpoint

Education for Municipal Officials

(NEMO) Program developed at the

University of Connecticut, but each

program is a unique entity,

typically operated as a multi-

organizational consortium.

The University based USDA

Land Grant and NOAA Sea

Grant systems are the most

common institutional homes

of NEMO programs,

although lead organizations

also include state agencies

and nonprofit groups. These

programs, now numbering

32 in 30 states (map, back

cover), have joined together of their

own accord to create a unique national

network that is sharing information,

educational methods and technical

tools across state and agency lines.

Institutional makeup, geographic cover-

age, topical focus, methodology, funding

and staffing vary from state to state.

However, all NEMO programs share

these few key elements:

The method is research-based edu-

cation. NEMO programs use good

old-fashioned outreach education to

put communities in the driver seat

as they seek to balance growth and

protect natural resources and com-

munity character. We believe that,

as this report demonstrates, outreach

education is the most flexible, effective

and cost-effective method

for catalyzing change to

local land use policies and

practices.

The topic is natural

resource-based land use

planning and site design.

As countless studies have

found, many indicators of a

communitys health trace

back to land use. Chief

among those is the health

of the communitys natural

resources. However, all too often

natural resources are seen as an

afterthought. NEMO programs

encourage communities to consider

conservation and development as twosides of the same coin to be consid-

ered in tandem at every phase of the

land use planning process.

The target audience is local land

use decision makers. While land use

has wide ranging impacts on com-

NEMO programs use good old-fashioned outreach education to put commu-

nities in the driver seat as they seek to balance growth and protect natural

resources and community character.

VT NEMO Coordinator,

Emma Melvin, officially

joins the Network by sign-

ing the National NEMO

Network Charter.


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munity health, land use decisions are

primarily made by volunteers serving

on local boards and commissions of

various shapes, scopes and sizes.

These folks need tools, resources and

support to help them make informed

decisions for their communitys pres-

ent and future.

The educational messages are

enhanced by the use of geospatial

technology. One of the greatest chal-

lenges local land use officials face is

putting individual land use decisions

into a broader community or water-

shed context. Geospatial images and

technology help provide this context,

as well as analyze land use trends

and impacts.

The formation of a network allows for

the transfer of innovation and informa-

tion between programs so that it ulti-

mately can benefit the people who will

actually make the differenceland use

decision makers. Communication and

coordination for the Network comes

from the University of Connecticut

Hub, a part of the Center for Land

Use Education and Research (CLEAR).

Member programs demonstrate their

commitment to the Network by signing

a Charter of Operation. Additional

information on the Hub and Network-

wide initiatives appears in the Network

Coordination section of this report.

NetworkFactsThere are 32 NEMO programs in 30 states.

NEMO programs on average work with 13 communities and

reach approximately 450 local officials per year.

The typical NEMO program gives a workshop or presentation

once every three weeks, or 17 times per year. The most active

programs conduct over 100 workshops per year.

In addition to face-to-face presentations and workshops,

NEMO programs employ the whole gamut of outreach/

educational tools to reach their target audience. See the

graph below for more on the tools and publications NEMO

programs use to supplement workshops.

About two thirds of NEMO programs review community plans,

regulations, and/or ordinances, make suggestions for incor-

porating natural resource protection into them, and provideexamples of model regulations.

On average, NEMO programs operate on an annual budget

of about $80,000.

Universities, either

through Cooperative

Extension or Sea Grant

systems, lead the majority

of NEMO programs (28).

25

20

15

10

5

0Fa

ctSheets

GuidancePublications

OtherPublications

Websites

W

eb-basedMaps/Tools

CDs/DVDs

Videos

GISMaps

CampfireSongs

(Graph) NEMO programs use a

variety of tools to reach their

target audience.


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Local Land UseImpacts

There are many ways to evaluate the

effectiveness of an educational pro-

gram. While the ultimate measure is a

healthier community with fewer pollu-

tants and cleaner air and water, it is

nearly impossible to demonstrate withany degree of scientific certainty the

connection between those objectives

and a series of workshops conducted

years earlier for a communitys land use

planning officials. For that reason,

NEMO programs track their effective-

ness in terms of the actions communi-

ties take to improve their land use

practices, procedures, and decisions as

they work toward that ultimate meas-

ure of a healthier community.

While NEMO programs raise the

capacity and knowledge base of

local officials, this report does not

focus on those aspects. Rather, this

report documents how that increased

knowledge is translated into actions

real changes to land use policies and

practices.

On the following pages, this report

highlights examples of such local

actions that NEMO programs have

helped put into motion. It should be

noted that while NEMO programs

served as a catalyst, volunteers servingon local planning boards and commis-

sions created these changes and deserve

to be recognized for their efforts.

This is not intended to be an exhaus-

tive list of all NEMO program impacts,

but rather a representative sample of

the types of changes NEMO programs

are helping to bring about from coast

to coast.

For more details on what individual

NEMO programs are doing, and rout-

ing to members websites, visit the

Network website at

nemonet.uconn.edu. Or use the

Network Members Directory on pages

37 and 38 of this report to speak to a

real live NEMOid in your state!

NEMO programs track their effectiveness in terms of the actions communities

take to improve their land use practices, procedures, and decisions as they

work toward that ultimate measure of a healthier community.


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The impacts in this report are divided into six categories to

represent the various stages of local land use planning.

Changes to Land Use Plans ....................................... page 8

Plans constitute the backbone of local land use decision-making by setting

out long term goals and a vision for how a community will grow.

Changes to Land Use Regulations ............................. page 12

Regulations and ordinances give teeth to plans and dictate the specifics

of how, where and when development may occur. Changes here provide

direct protection for priority community resources.

On the Ground Changes ............................................ page 16

Where and how development occurs. From low impact subdivisions to

permanently protected open space, changes to the actual landscape are anultimate indicator of impact.

Changes to the Decision Making Process................... page 20

The players and specific steps involved in local land use decision-making

can make a huge difference. These changes create a decision making struc-

ture that is more conducive to proactive planning.

Changes to Research & Information Gathering........... page 24

These initiatives help provide the local data upon which rational land use

plans, regulations and decisions can be based.

Beyond Local Impacts............................................... page 28

NEMO programs focus on local impacts. However, as an innovator,

NEMO programs often create or inspire changes to state or regional

plans, policies and programs.


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Colorado: AWARE Colorado (theCO NEMO effort) participated in theFountain Creek Vision Task Force.This multi-stakeholder effort resultedin a comprehensive watershed planfor the 930-square-mile watershed thataddresses water resource impacts ofland use and development.

Connecticut: The towns ofKillingworth and Killingly and the cityof Torrington all made changes totheir comprehensive plans to includestrategies to protect water quality. The

towns of Morris, Killingworth and North Stoningtoncreated newopen space plans. The towns of EastHaddam, Salem and Lyme jointly adopted theEightmile River Watershed Management Plan tohelp protect the quality of the watershed.

Georgia: Towns County is including several of themodel principles from the Tennessee GrowthReadiness (the TN NEMO effort) workshop seriesin their comprehensive plan. Towns County isimplementing an innovative new AppalachianConservation Development Incentive Program

for conservation-based subdivision development.The Hiawassee River Watershed Coalition workedwith the Towns County conservation board todesign the programs required practices, based on

the Tennessee Growth Readiness workshop recom-mendations. The County also produced a DVDthat highlights a local developers experience withclustering building lots and green space to savemountainous areas/provide visual protection.

Indiana: Through Planning with POWER (the INNEMO effort) Porter County adopted traditionalneighborhood design guidelines developed at a

two-day design charrette facilitated by U.S. EPAand Planning with POWER. The guidelinesencourage compact, walkable, mixed use designthat protects open space and natural resourceswithin the development tract.

Indiana: Planning with POWER facilitated theestablishment of a special Land Use PlanningCommittee in Jasper County that looked at updating

the comprehensiveland use plan andzoning ordinances toaddress rural residen-tial housing, largeagricultural operationsand water/septicissues in the county.Based on recommen-dations from thatprocess, Jasper Countyis updating their

Changes to

Land Use Plans

Plans constitute the backbone of local land use decision-making by setting out long term goals and a vision

for how a community will grow. They can be comprehensive in scope or focus on particular community issues

or resources such as economic development or open space protection. Regardless of the type, community

land use plans act as a guide to a communitys priorities and objectives. NEMO programs are working with

communities to help ensure that their plans reflect their interest in protecting natural resources.

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IN NEMO is helping communities form

local committees to address natural

resource issues in land use planning.

(Photo courtesy of Planning with POWER.)

Falls at the headwaters of the

Eightmile River in Devils Hopyard

State Park, Connecticut.


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comprehensive land use plan including ordinancerevisions that address agricultural land, naturalresources, water quality, septic issues, economicdevelopment, and other priorities.

Kansas: KS NEMO was instrumental in thedevelopment of a watershed management plan

for the city of Olathe to protect Lake Olathe. Theplan was adopted by the city council for inclusion

in the citys master plan. The plan includes recom-mendations for protection of important naturalresources, requiring either limits on the amountof impervious surface or best management prac-tices that reduce alteration of hydrologic impacts,riparian buffer preservation/creation to protectstreams from impacts from urban runoff.

Maine: A ME NEMO presentation on open spaceplanning in Raymond catalyzed the community todevelop an open space plan that was based on thepresentations recommendations. According to thecity, Our approach drew significantly on yourpresentation and helped spring us into action!

Minnesota: After working with Northland NEMOeducators, the city of Duluth completed a naturalresource inventoryas part of their comprehensiveplan revision, and designated protection areas intheir future land use map based on mitigating for-est fragmentation, trout stream impacts, steep

slopes, and other criteria. Duluth is now workingon developing form-based codes based on theircomprehensive plan.

Minnesota: Northland NEMO hosted a planningcharrette that produced a plan of development

for a 100 acre site alongside a trout stream withinthe city of Duluth. The plan included several areas

that had been targeted

for preservation in thecitys new comprehensiveplan. Existing zoningpermits 36 units, withan estimated 10.4 acresof impervious surface,but the final charretteplan allows for 42 unitsclustered on 30 acres,with only 4.7 acres ofimpervious surface. All

units are adjacent to an existing neighborhoodwith transit lines and neighborhood commercialservices. The proposed preservation areas wereprotected by this design as well.

Minnesota: After a Northland NEMO presentationabout natural resource-based planning, the city ofMedina formed an open space task force to developthe open space plan component of their compre-hensive land use plan, and enacted a 6-month

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Northland NEMO hosted a planning

charrette to create a plan of develop-

ment for a 100 acre site. (Photo

courtesy of Jesse Schomberg.)


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moratorium on new development. The task forcerecommended adoption of the plan by the compre-hensive plan committee and portions were includedin the current draft version of the comprehensiveplan. The open space plan called for the develop-ment or updates of the following ordinances: naturalresource design standards; conservation develop-

ment ordinance; establishment of a local purchaseof development rights program; and minoradjustments of the Park and Trail DedicationOrdinance. Currently, they are working on theseordinance provisions.

Nevada: After participating in NV NEMO work-shops, Washoe Countys comprehensive plan wasrevised to incorporate low impact development andstormwater protection into the conservation element.

Nevada:

The North Valley ofRenos specific area plan, whichis used to guide development indifferent areas of the city, requiresconsideration of infiltration bestmanagement practices and lowimpact development practices forall new development.

New Hampshire: One of thecommunities NROC (the NHNEMO effort) worked with,

Wakefield, commissioned andparticipated in the developmentof a water resources chapter for

their master plan. They are currently working onan implementation plan for that chapter.

Oregon: OR NEMO provided assistance to thecities of Wheeler and Sutherlin to help them createstormwater master plans.

South Carolina: The town of Surfside Beach isincorporating pond management strategies learnedin SC NEMO stormwater education workshops,

including vegetated buffers and maintenanceactivities, into its stormwater management plan.

Texas: Inspiredby TX NEMO,stakeholders withinthe DickinsonBayou WatershedPartnership haveput together awatershed protec-

tion plan. The planwill serve as a roadmap in the present

and future protection of the watershed. This planidentifies the present state of the watershed, pollu-tants found in the watershed and possible sources,as well as suggestions for actions to mitigate thesewater quality issues.

Texas: The Arroyo Colorado Watershed Partnershipcompleted their watershed protection plan withassistance from TX NEMO. Incorporation of wet-

lands into the treatment train of local wastewatertreatment plants was one new critical practiceintroduced through the plan. The plan is finaland implementation is well underway with severalnew funded grant projects.

A stakeholder survey at Dickinson Bayou

Watershed Partnership Meeting. (Photo

courtesy of Susan Benner.)

The city of Reno, Nevada is encour-

aging LID practices, such as thisgrass swale, to be used in all new

development.


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Jasper County is a predominantly rural

county of 24,000 people just outside of

Savannah, Georgia with abundant natural

and cultural resources. In the face of

tremendous projected growth, local officials

and residents were concerned that the

countys planning policies

and zoning ordinances were

ill-equipped to adequately

balance the expected growthwith protection of the areas

natural resources.

SC NEMO, in collaboration

with numerous partners,

helped convene a county-

wide conservation planning

effort. The effort included

more than 100 stakeholders

representing local and

regional government officials

and staff, state and federal

resource agencies, nonprofit

conservation organizations,

local businesses, private

landowners and concerned citizens. The

effort was timely in that it was undertaken

just as the county began revising the coun-

tywide comprehensive plan.

The first step in this conservation effort was

to conduct a natural resource inventory to

assess the natural resource and conserva-

tion assets and needs of the county. The

inventory was then used to set community

conservation goals in the Jasper County

Natural Resources

Conservation Plan. The plan

identifies fragile ecosystems

and other priority areas forprotection; provides innova-

tive solutions for protecting

them; assists with directing

future growth to appropriate

areas; and in general,

serves as a guidebook for

residents, developers and

local officials on how to pre-

serve the rich heritage and

quality of life in the county.

The stakeholder involvement

helped provide strong sup-

port for the conservation

plan. In fact, the entire nat-

ural resources conservation plan was

included as an appendix to the countys

revised comprehensive plan and many of

the goals, objectives and strategies were

integrated into the natural resources ele-

ment of the comprehensive plan.

South Carolina

Under the NEMO mantra of natural resource-based planning, communities are

encouraged to (1) conduct an inventory of natural and community resources, (2)

use the inventory in developing both open space and economic development plans,

and then (3) integrate all of that into a communitys comprehensive plan. SC NEMOswork with Jasper County epitomizes this approach.

Jasper Countys Natural Resources Conservation Plan

Jasper County, South Carolina created

a natural resources inventory which

serves as a guidebook for community

resource protection, development

planning and the preservation of

quality of life.


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Changes to LandUse Regulations

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Arizona: Partially in response to AZ NEMOs edu-cation efforts in the Middle San Pedro Watershed,Cochise County developed an ordinance addressingdevelopment and water availability. The ordinancerequires new subdivisions located outside a desig-nated active management area have an adequatewater supply in order for the subdivision to beapproved. Cochise is the only county in the stateto have adopted such a provision.

Colorado: Follow-up surveys of local officials whoparticipated in CO NEMO workshops indicate thatchanges are being made to comprehensive plans

and/or subdivision and zoning. Some examples ofchanges being made or considered: using stormwa-ter filter and storage systems in parking lots; utilizinglow impact development techniques in subdivisiondesign; green alleys; reductions in impervious sur-faces; limitations on post-construction stormwaterquantities; more attention to water quality featuresin landscaping; tree preservation ordinances; and

expanding setbacks of development from waterbodies.

Connecticut: The town of North Stoningtonadopted a comprehensive stormwater manage-ment regulation that requires the use of innova-tive stormwater management techniques in anydevelopment that disturbs more than 1 acre ofland. The city of Torrington regulations requirethe use of low impact development techniques fornew development or redevelopment.

Connecticut: Based on cooperative researchbetween CT NEMO and the Department ofEnvironmental Protection, the first imperviouscover-based total maximum daily load (TMDL)

regulation in the nation was approved for EaglevilleBrook in Mansfield, Connecticut. CT NEMO isnow working with multiple state and local partnersto help the regulated communities create a waterquality management plan to address the TMDL.

Delaware: In response toa DE NEMO presentation onriparian buffers, the town ofOcean View passed a townwidewetlands buffer regulation

that prevents construction ofany kind within 25 feet ofany wetland. The buffer zonemust also be maintained innatural vegetation.

Georgia: Rabun Countyis implementing a unifieddevelopment code that limits

impervious surfaces in steep

slope areas, requires land-scaped islands in commercial parking and improvestree protection. Specifically, the code limits imper-vious cover to 10 percent on lots with 40 percentor greater slope; reduces the number of parkingspaces; limits the number of trees that can beremoved (particularly on steep slopes); and requires

While plans set the vision, that vision is implemented through land use regulations and ordinances. Regulations

define what is allowed and what is required of new or expanded developments. As our understanding of the

impacts of land use on water quality has increased, so has our knowledge of development practices that can

minimize those impacts. NEMO programs are working to help communities ensure that their zoning and sub-

division regulations reflect that knowledge.

The town of OceanView, Delawarepassed a townwide wetlands

buffer regulation to prevent con-

struction within 25 feet of any

wetland.


13/4013

tree protection on construction sites, with physicalbarriers on saved trees. In addition, commercialand industrial sites have a 30-foot setback fromstreets with landscaping.

Indiana: Porter County adopted a watershedoverlay district ordinance that provides three

riparian buffer zones for allstreams and rivers in the county.The overlay district extends 500feet on either side of the river-bank for major drainageways andhigh priority bodies of water.For major collectors, continuallyflowing drainways to major water

bodies and small lakes, the dis-trict extends 300 feet on eachside. For minor drainways andintermittent streams, the districtextends 100 feet.

Indiana: Following two Hillside Developmentworkshops by Planning with POWER (the INNEMO effort) Dearborn County adopted a hillsidedevelopment ordinance that requires additionalgeotechnical inspection and mitigation whenbuilding on steep slopes greater than 20 percent

and under certain soil and geologic conditions.Additional retaining wall structures are now inplace on recent developments along the OhioRiver flood plain and other sensitive areas. Thecity of Aurora has passed a similar ordinance.

Kansas: KS NEMO presentations to city ofLawrence staff and city commissioners about theimpacts of impervious surfaces resulted in theredrawing of floodplain boundaries along streamsand newfloodplain development restrictions.

Maine: After a ME NEMO presentation on openspace subdivisions, the town council in Scarboroughadopted conservation subdivision design regula-tions for subdivisions that contain wetlands. Thisordinance allows cluster subdivisions and requiresany subdivision with 1-plus acres of wetland onsite, or impacting 4300 square feet of wetland, tobe designed with clustered housing with a minimumof 50 percent of the area preserved in open space.

Maine: Following a ME NEMO presentation onlow impact development (LID), the town of Yorkpassed an LID ordinance referendum by a hugemajority (2047 to 244). The ordinance statesInitially LID standards should be integrated into

the towns land use codes. As local experience isgained with LID practices, policies should beexpanded to encourage or require LID designwhere appropriate. The ballot referenced a MENEMO publication.

Nevada: Following a NV NEMO presentation inDouglas County, the county developed draft designstandards and conducted a review of their codes,ordinances and standards to ensure compatibilitywith low impact development approaches. Similarly,Washoe County is conducting a review of their

codes, ordinances and design standards and haverequired infiltration best management practicesbe incorporated into the design of parking lots.

New Hampshire: The picturesque rural communityof Deerfield made several changes to its land useregulations to protect water quality and communitycharacter. It increased stream setbacks, or buffers,to 100 feet along surface waters and wetlands, andrequired open space set-asides for new subdivisions.

Porter County, Indiana adopted a watershed

overlay district ordinance for all st reams

and rivers in the county. (Photo courtesy of

Planning with POWER.)


14/4014

New York: Based on NY NEMO recommendations,communities have made changes to their erosionand sediment control and post-construction

design specifications, as well as site plan reviewprocedures and inspections. The changes haveincluded an ordinance for retention of rainwater

from new driveways in Great Neck; erosion andsediment controls for construction projects

smaller than 1 acre in Sea Cliff; tree protectionrequirements during construction activities in

Roslyn Harbor; and erosion and sediment controlsin Manorhaven.

New York: Nassau Countystrengthened its drainage

requirements for development,re-development and the subdi-vision of land. Developers areresponsible for providing storagefor 8 inches of runoff from thesubdivisions tributary area,

whether from onsite or offsite

sources. The county also encour-ages low impact developmenttechniques in its subdivisionrequirements.

Rhode Island: The town of Cumberland developeda water resources overlay district to protect drink-ing water supply watersheds, wellhead protectionareas and groundwater aquifers. In addition torestricting use of hazardous materials and under-ground storage tanks in source areas, the proposedordinance establishes buffers to wetlands and sur-

face waters, limits impervious cover, and requiresuse of low impact stormwater management controlsfor new construction and redevelopment.

Rhode Island: RI NEMO documented the needfor enhanced wetland buffer protection in SouthKingstown based on current research findings and

watershed assessments that RI NEMO conductedfor the coastal ponds. As a result, the townstrengthened its wetland buffer ordinance withadditional standards for approval of special usepermits where buffer alteration is unavoidable,including use of advanced wastewater treatmentsystems and control of stormwater runoff volume.

Rhode Island: After town staff and planningboard members attended RI NEMO workshops

on groundwater protection, the town of Coventry,Rhode Island adopted a private well protectionordinance that ensures new wells are properlyconstructed and provide safe yield before a buildingpermit is issued.

Texas: After sev-eral training sessionson natural areapreservation andcompact growth inthe coastal commu-

nity of Rockport andAransas County,and an extensivecommunity surveyconducted at twocounty fairs; local

decision makers are using compact growth toaccommodate the projected growth on Live OakPeninsula. An overlay district was formed as aresult of this project for the older, heritage sectionof town that enables much denser developmentthan previously allowable.

Vermont: After VT NEMO conducted a buildoutassessment on their proposed zoning plan and itseffects on a town brook, the town of Colchesteradded language within their parking regulations

encouraging infiltration of stormwater in landscapedareas within parking lots.

Rockport County residents playing the

chips game at a county fair. (Photo

courtesy of TX NEMO.)

New York NEMO recommendations are

changing how runoff is addressed in new

developments. (Photo courtesy of NY SeaGrant NEMO.)


15/4015

TennesseeIn Tennessee, like much of the Southeast, the pace of development is challenging the staff, expertise

and capacity of local governments to manage growth in economically and environmentally beneficial

ways. Growing concern for water quality combined with new statewide stormwater regulations

have motivated community leaders to re-examine land use policies and the relationship between

land use and the protection of water quality and water supply. Tennessee Growth Readiness (the

TN NEMO effort) is designed to help these decision makers manage growth while protecting water

resources and the quality of life in their communities.

A primary focus of Tennessee Growth Readiness is

to help communities evaluate their land use codes

and ordinances for their capacity to meet water

quality goals. Using the Center for Watershed

Protections Codes and Ordinances Worksheet,

Tennessee Growth Readiness helps communities

identify areas in their regulations that can be

improved to better protect water quality and other

natural resources.

To date, Tennessee Growth Readiness has helpedover 200 communities evaluate their land use codes

and ordinances and pursue changes. Approximately

45 percent of these communities have either made

or are in the process of making changes to their

codes and ordinances.

For example, Columbia, Tennessee adopted a zoning

ordinance that has provisions for buffers, tree

preservation, enhanced visual quality, open space

requirements and smart growth techniques. In

addition, a tree preservation plan is required which

includes: (1) inventory of existing vegetation, (2)footprints of buildings, roads and retaining walls,

(3) location of existing and proposed utility services,

(4) boundaries of all required buffer planting areas

and (5) a detailed drawing of tree protection zones.

They also have provisions for clustering and open

space requirements, and limits for impervious

cover for planned unit developments.

Similarly, Marshall County, Tennessee passed a

change in their zoning requirements to include

decentralized sewer systems. The County Board of

Utilities will receive the deed to the system from

the developer. In return, the developer will be

allowed reduced lot sizes of 15,000 square feet,

with the condition that 10 percent of the total land

area must be retained in green space. Meanwhile,

the planning commission approved a preliminary

plat for a subdivision of 335 acres, 99 of which will

be retained in green space.

Tennessee Growth Readinesss efforts have also

had an impact on communities in neighboring

states. Tazewell County, Virginia is working on

revising its land use practices and ordinances

using recommendations from Tennessee Growth

Readiness. The town made several changes to its

zoning ordinances, includingreducing parking space

requirements. Tennessee Growth Readinesss rec-

ommendations were also incorporated into a total

maximum daily load implementation plan for sedi-

ment being developed by the Virginia Departmentof Environmental Quality in conjunction with local

citizens and agency partners. This plan represents

a significant step forward in the implementation of

changes to local codes and ordinances.


16/40

On the GroundChanges

16

The goal of changes to local plans and regulations is to open the door for tangible, on the ground changes to

the way development happens or doesnt happen. This category of impacts includes everything from the con-

servation of critical natural areas to the application of low impact development and other techniques to a new

or retrofit development.

Alabama: AL NEMO haspartnered with AlabamaDepartment of EnvironmentalManagement, the AlabamaClean Water Partnership,Alabama Cooperative ExtensionSystem, local governments,watershed groups, and otherpartners around the state toinstall demonstration lowimpact development practices.

Educational workshops on thebenefits of low impact development practices haveled to projects in the cities of Gadsden (filter strip),Auburn (rain garden), Alexander City (rain garden)and Fairhope (pervious concrete sidewalks).

Alabama: AL NEMO, Alabama CooperativeExtension System, ADEM, U.S. EPA Region 4,North Carolina State University and USDA CSREESSouthern Regional Water Program worked with

the city of Auburn and otherpartners to conduct a series of

workshops on stream restora-tion that corresponded to theplanning, design and construc-tion of a restored stream. Fiveworkshops were completed in2007 2008 that trained over200 professionals from acrossthe Southeast. Additionally,1000 feet of stream wererestored in a city of Auburn

park that is being used as a demonstration andeducation site.

Arizona: AZ NEMO-supported grant applicationsto both the Arizona DEQ 319 Fund and theArizona Water Protection Fund have resulted inthe construction oferosion control structures onthe San Francisco River in Greenlee County; erosioncontrol structures in Cochise County along theSan Pedro River; and buffer strip installations andlake dredging in Navajo County.

Connecticut:After a series of CT NEMO workshopsin the town of Madison, a developer proposed andbuilt a subdivision that uses low impact develop-ment practices.

Delaware: The University of Delaware College ofMarine and Earth Studies, with support from DENEMO, Broadkill Tributary Action Team and theDepartment of Natural Resources and EnvironmentalConservation is installing bioretention swales onexisting parking lots to serve as demonstration sites

for retrofitting old parking lots with low impactdevelopment practices.

Georgia: As a demonstration of better site designprinciples, Towns County Public Works Departmentinstalled a porous paving system and vertical infil-tration drain at the countys swim beach and play-ground on Lake Chatuge, through a cooperativepartnership with Tennessee Growth Readiness (theTN NEMO effort) and the Tennessee Valley

AL NEMO is helping restore streams in

the city of Auburn. (Photo courtesy of

Eve Brantley.)

Students help plant the Yarborough

Elementary School Rain Garden in the city

of Auburn. (Photo courtesy of Eve Brantley.)


17/4017

Authority, which provided the materials and tech-nical support for the project.

Kansas: KS NEMO presentations to Topeka,Kansas city planning staff and stormwater manage-ment staff helped shape the way redevelopment wasdone along a major city street. Redevelopmentconsisted of directing stormwater runoff intonative vegetation-dominated bioretention areas inseveral locations along the street.

Nevada: The city of Reno installedfour tree filter boxes as part of theirdowntown renovation project. The boxesintercept runoff that previously ran

directly (and visibly) into the TruckeeRiver. The city also received grantfunding for a watershed protectionprogram incorporating low impactdevelopment to address high total dis-solved solids concerns in Chalk Creek andis designing infiltration best managementpractices to capture, divert and infiltratestormwater runoff that currently entersthe drinking water supply ditch.

Nevada: A new Cabelas retail

development in Verdi was required touse low impact developmenttechniques by the city of Reno.The development incorporatedbioretention islands with curb

cuts into their parking lots.

New York: The villages of Northport, Freeportand Babylon, Nassau and Suffolk Counties andthe town of Huntington have all initiated stormdrain retrofit pilot projects. The town ofHuntington installed filtration devices in stormdrains at ten locations within the Bay Complexwatershed to filter out bacteria prior to dischargeto marine receiving waters. Nassau County installedsedimentation basins, in-line treatment devices,

wetland plantings, catch basin inserts, and float-

able removal structures. The village of Northportinstalled catch basin inlets/leaching pools at tenlocations within the village.

Oregon: OR NEMO has helped several communi-

ties design and implement low impact developmentprojects. These projects include the incorporationof bioswales and rain gardens in the city ofBrookings new Port office and retail building;constructed wetlands at Baby Bear Creek inMedford; underground stormwater detentionchambers at the Southern Oregon Universitydormitory; bioswales in the city of Tillamook andPacific City; and several water quality-friendly fea-tures in Redwood Park at the city of Grants Pass.

Rhode Island: The towns of Charlestown, South

Kingstown and New Shoreham (located on BlockIsland) participated in an EPA-funded communitywastewater demonstration project that helpedeach town to establish a municipal wastewatermanagement program to protect groundwaterresources and coastal waters. With the project

The city of Reno, Nevada

installed four tree filter boxes

as part of their downtown reno-

vation project. (Photo courtesy

of NV NEMO.)

Cabelas retail store in Verdi, Nevada

installed bioretention islands in their park-

ing lots. (Photo courtesy of NV NEMO.)


18/40

coming to a close, each municipality has allocatedfunds to maintain the program, with funding fora full time wastewater manager in each community.RI NEMO has provided education and technicalsupport to the towns in setting up these programs.

Tennessee: TennesseeGrowth Readiness (the TNNEMO effort) added a greenroofdemonstration project to aresidential building in downtown

Nashville. The green roof projectsupports the ideals of the GrowthReadiness Program and helpsaddress the urban stormwatermanagement issues in Nashville.

Texas: TX NEMO coordinated the installation ofthe first demonstration rain garden in the Houstonarea. Located in front of the Bay Area Courthouseannex in Houston, the rain garden brings publicawareness of this natural process for treatingstormwater where it falls in a beautiful and func-

tional way, while it provides habitat for wildlife withthe inclusion of native plants.

Texas: TX NEMO led the Mason Park StormwaterWetland project along Brays Bayou in Houston,Texas. Constructed wetlands are known to be fairlyeffective at removing bacteria from stormwater,but the Brays Bayou stormwater wetland is the

first documented proof of theeffectiveness of this method inthe Houston region. This wetlandconsistently removes nearly 99

percent of the bacteria in thestormwater inflow. The projectwon several national and stateawards and serves as a demon-stration of how wetlands can beincorporated into drainageinfrastructure.

Texas: Under the direction of TX NEMO, aWaterSmart Demonstration School Habitat Labwas installed at the Environmental Institute ofHouston on the campus of the University ofHouston at Clear Lake as a means of creating ahabitat for wildlife that also functions as an instruc-tional lab for teachers, students and the community.The landscape provides a safe, accessible area to

experience hands-onenvironmental edu-cation for teachers

and students. Forthe community, ithighlights environ-mentally friendly

landscaping practices

that incorporate

landscaping for

wildlife and can beused in residentialand commerciallocations.

Vermont: VT NEMO worked with the towns ofWinooski, Montpelier, Barre, Berlin and St. Albansto install demonstration rain gardens that havehad a ripple effect through these communities.The Winooski project has lead to a series of pre-sentations for the Vermont Association ofProfessional Horticulturists and an advanced MasterGardeners training. Master gardeners in thisregion have since installed numerous rain gardensand have taken responsibility for their maintenanceThe St. Albans project included a porous concretesidewalk, painted rain barrels project (60 barrels

distributed throughout the city) and cistern systemsat the public works building and the fire departmentbuilding.

18

WaterSmart Demonstration School Habitat

Lab, Environmental Institute of Houston on

the campusof University of Houston at Clear

Lake. (Photo courtesy of Chris LaChance.)

A green roof demonstration project in

downtown Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo

courtesy of Ralph Velasquez.)

A constructed wetland along the Brays

Bayou in Houston, Texas. (Photo courtesy

of TX NEMO.)


19/4019

With the assistance of the Southern Maine

Regional Planning Commission, a newtown ordinance was created that requires

50 percent of developable land

in new subdivisions be set aside

as open space. The town also set

up the Ogunquit Conservation

Land Fund to purchase priority

parcels and obtain conservation

easements. The fund is sup-

ported by an annual citizens

approval grant of $25,000,

which is used to locate sources

of matching funds.

In addition, the Ogunquit

Conservation Commission

collaborated with the Mt.

Agamenticus to the Sea

Coalition, South Maine

Regional Planning

Commission and the Wells

National Estuary Reserve

to acquire and preserve

as open space portions of

a large rural/farm areawest of the Maine turnpike.

From geographic information systems

topographic maps that were overlaid with

tax parcels, they selected a number of

larger contiguous tracts of open land. The

landowners for those parcels were then

sent a series of letters defining the Ogunquit

Conservation Land Funds interest, andinviting them to a public workshop on con-

servation easements. Several

of those landowners have

expressed interest in pursuing

easements.

While this was going on, the

conservation commission

located three large contiguous

tracts, totaling about 100 acres,

about 1.5 miles from downtown

Ogunquit. Private parties owntwo and the other is town

land. The private land

owners have committed

to the conservation com-

mission to place conser-

vation easements on the

parcels.

Finally, the town acquired,

by donation, 1.5 acres of

forest and wetland prop-

erty abutting the Josias

River, near downtown.

This parcel has been

developed into the Josias River Public Park.

In total, the town has set aside more than

570 acres of land as open space and other

preserved lands in recent years.

The Town of Ogunquit

After a series of NEMO open space planning workshops, the town of Ogunquit, Maine

took action on several fronts in the interest of preserving open space in the community.

The town of Ogunquit acquired 1.5 acres of

forest and wetland property abutting the

Josias River. This piece of land has been

developed into the Josias River Public

Park. (Photo courtesy of ME NEMO.)

Maine


20/40

Changes to the DecisionMaking Process

20

Arizona: In Cochise and Navajo counties, AZNEMO-supported watershed partnerships havebecome the New Democracy with leadership

suddenly finding a voice in front ofcounty commissioners. AZ NEMOmaps and science education haveempowered community leaders tobring their concerns to their legislatorsand other government representatives.

Colorado: AWARE Colorado(the CO NEMO effort) produced aWater Protection Toolkit for localofficials that was downloaded over10,000 times last year from theAWARE Colorado website. Througha grant from Coors BrewingCompany, it has been distributedto every municipality in Colorado.The Keep it Clean Partnership, acoalition of six communities in the

Boulder and St. Vrain watersheds that implementsa regional stormwater management program, usedthe toolkit to develop a Checklist for PotentialImplementation of Low Impact Development

(LID). Developers and planning staff will use thechecklist to evaluate potential LID practices thatcan be implemented at development sites. Thepartnership is also funding an LID barrier analysisto better understand how LID can be promoted inits communities.

Colorado: Respondents to a survey by AWAREColorado indicated that decision makers, staff andthe public discuss water quality more often atplanning-related meetings and in board and/orcommission meeting materials and documents fol-lowing participation in AWARE Colorado training.

Connecticut: Three towns have created open spaceplanning committees. The city of Torrington createda new position, geographic information systemstechnician, to help with resource inventories anddata analysis for future planning issues.

Delaware: DE NEMO developed a natural resource-based planning guide for Delaware communities

that was adapted from similar guidesin Minnesota and Connecticut.

The guide has been distrib-uted to every Delawarecounty and municipality

and is available on the

DE NEMO website.

Delaware: DE NEMO ledstorm drain mapping projects

in the communities of Rehoboth,Lewes and Milton. None ofthe communities had a mapof storm drains, so DENEMO provided a mobilemapper and made a storm

How a community makes decisions about land use can have a major impact on what decisions are made. Who

is allowed to comment? Who is tasked with protecting natural resources? Do different departments or com-

munities work collaboratively? Through encouraging partnerships, collaboration, and connecting individual

development decisions with a broader community context, NEMO programs are helping communities improve

the way they do business.

AZ NEMO maps and science educa-

tion have empowered community

leaders to bring their concerns to

government representatives.

DE NEMO developed a natural

resource-based planning guide

for communities and distributed

it to every Delaware county and

municipality.


21/4021

drain data layer for each. DE NEMO also helpedcoordinate storm drain stenciling programs forLewes and Milton.

Delaware: DE NEMO outreach efforts have con-tributed to greater community deliberationinlocal media (print, radio and TV), in town hallsand across backyard fenceson the importance ofnatural resource-based planning and management.Terms like impervious surface source waterprotection riparian buffers open space andnatural resource-based planning have been ral-lying cries of informed citizens that are trying toprotect natural resources. In Lewes, in particular,residents have been able to influence where and

how new development is located.

Minnesota: Inspired by a Northland NEMOpresentation on natural resource-based planning,the city of Greenfield formed an open spacecommittee. The committee drafted and submittedrecommendations to the city council to be consid-ered as they develop their next city comprehensiveplan.

Nevada: As of the end of2007, 190 board members or

commissioners have attendedthe 3.5-hour NV NEMO train-

ing, representing 69 percent oftargeted groups. Students whocompleted pre- and post- work-shop tests showed an averageincrease of 20 percent in thenumber of correct answers onthe post-test. One participantwrote it changed the way I

think about using water and how the water we usegets infiltrated back into the watershed and the river.

New Hampshire: After working with NROC (theNH NEMO effort) the towns of Wakefield andRollinsford included local watershed organizationsin their community-based planning efforts for thefirst time.

New York: NY NEMOSea Grant has provideddirect support to nearly 100Long Island municipalitiesthrough review and writtenfeedback on their annual

Phase II stormwater programprogress reports. Examples ofchanges include the develop-ment of sustainable fundingmechanisms (village of KingsPoint and the town ofBabylon); additional staff(village of Manorhaven); areforestation program (villageof Plandome Manor); a septic

system inspection program (village of PlandomeManor); equipment procurement (village of Port

Jefferson); and planned water quality improvementstudies (village of Plandome Manor). Further,interdepartmental work groups have been formedwithin the towns of Hempstead, Huntington, Islipand Brookhaven to ensure stormwater programcoordination and effectiveness.

New York: NY NEMO Sea Grant has helped LongIsland municipalities evaluate the effectiveness oftheir stormwater management efforts. For example,

Local officials in Nevada show an average

20 percent increase in their knowledge of

land use impacts to water quality after

attending NV NEMO training. (Photo cour-

tesy of T. Svetich.)

NY NEMO Sea Grant is helping

Long Island Communities

address Phase II stormwater

issues. (Photo courtesy of NY

NEMO Sea Grant.)


22/4022

the town of Huntington has made improvementsto its pollution prevention record-keeping pro-gramthe objective being to modify procedures,equipment and schedules as necessary. Severaloperating departments are developing record sheetsto target and quantify the recovery of gray water,oils, grease and sand from streets and storm drains.For example, the highway and general servicesdepartment reported recovery of nearly 8000 gallonsof waste oil.

New York: NY NEMO Sea Grant has served ascatalyst, facilitator, support and liaison to promoteinter-municipal natural resource protection and

restoration. The towns of Babylon, Huntingtonand Southampton have established partnershipswith neighboring villages to co-implement variousstormwater programs including public education,illicit discharge detection, staff training, revisionof local laws and procurement of equipment. Inaddition, NY NEMO Sea Grant has helped estab-lish an inter-municipal stormwater workgroup onthe east end of Long Island in the Peconic Estuary

drainage area.

South Carolina: HorryCounty worked with SCNEMO to conduct a county-wide open space inventoryofall protected open space andundeveloped, un-protectedparcels. This inventory, inconjunction with modelingefforts, was used to establish adecision-making framework

that analyzes impacts on thecountys open space and todevelop a list of significant

properties that should be acquired, leased, pre-served or otherwise protected. Horry countys

open space board and staff planners use this listto make recommendations to the county councilfor property acquisition.

Tennessee: The Tennessee Growth Readiness (theTN NEMO effort) workshop series has increasedintra-local and inter-local communication betweencounties and towns. For example, in the DuckRiver Watershed Growth Readiness Workshop, the

core team is collabo-rating to implement

a communicationand outreach plan

to work towardsadoption of the rec-ommendations,including developingpresentations andpublications todescribe the work-shop process andcharacterize theland use and zoning

changes that were recommended. These productswere shared with elected officials and decisionmakers in many of the communities within thewatershed; and the state of Tennessees local plan-ning office has used the materials in staff training.

Virginia: Following a Tennessee Growth Readinessworkshop series, the town of Cedar Bluff wasawarded a $52,000 Water Quality ImprovementAct grant to conduct an urban hotspot survey ofthe town to identify sites for installation of six

bio-retention retrofits. An education plan for the

retrofits includes signage and a walking trailcur-rently in the design phase and scheduled to beinstalled in the near future. The town is also usinginformation from the workshops in negotiationswith developers and businesses.

An open space inventory and decision

matrix is helping focus land construction

efforts in Horry County, South Carolina.

(Photo courtesy of SC NEMO.)

The Tennessee Growth Readiness program

workshops have increased intra-local and

inter-local communication betweencounties

and towns. (Photo courtesy of Tennessee

Growth Readiness.)


23/4023

Waterford, Connecticut, home of the Jordan Cove demonstration project, is an urban coastal town

bisected by two interstate highways. The town, which serves as a regional commercial center, has

experienced growing development pressures. The amount of developed land has increased by

over 20 percent during the past two decades.

Connecticut The Town of Waterford

In 1992, CT NEMO held its very first workshop in

Waterford, Connecticut. CT NEMO staff met with

town officials and others to explore the connection

between land use and water quality and the impact

land use planning and regulations could have.

NEMO challenged the way we

thought about development,

explains town planner Tom Wagner.

We tended to think of development

on the site-by-site basis. NEMO

helped us to think more compre-

hensively on the watershed level.

Soon after the CT NEMO workshop,

the Environmental Protection

Agency and the Connecticut

Department of Environmental

Protection began looking for a

location to host an applied

research study of low impact

development practiceswhat

eventually came to be the Jordan

Cove project. The survey team found a site within

Waterford and approached the town and the

developer to assess interest. With assistance fromNEMO, Wagner and the Waterford Planning

Commission saw the potential value of the project

and helped make it happen.

Still, Connecticut is called the land of steady habits

for good reason, and there was some hesitation in

town at being first to try out a range of low impact

development (LID) stormwater practices. The existing

subdivision and zoning regulations did not allow

several of the LID features that were planned for

the site. Instead of changing its regulations to allow

what was then unproven technology, the planning

and zoning commission used its

authority under Connecticut law

to grant waivers to allow the Jordan

Cove subdivision to proceed.

Waivers included allowing for

reduced road width; the use of

porous pavers; elimination ofcurbs and gutters; the installation

of a cul-de-sac with a central

bioretention cell; and several

other features.

Now completed, the Jordan Cove

project demonstrates that when

used in combination, LID practices

can indeed be used to replicate

the natural hydrology of a site.

Waterfords flexibility with waiving traditional sub-

division requirements allowed the project to move

forward. Given the success of Jordan Cove andother water quality projects in town, Waterford is

working with CT NEMO to revise its land use regu-

lations to require the use of LID practices for all

new development.

For more information, visit the Jordan Cove website

at www.jordancove.uconn.edu.

Individual homes at Jordan Cove have

pervious driveway materials, rain gardens

handling roof runoff, and no mow zones

in the back yards featuring native vegeta-

tion.A sunken, vegetatedcul-de-sac center

accepts and treats runoff and there are

swales located on each side of the street.


24/40

Changes in Research &Information Gathering

24

Land use decisions are only as good as the information upon which they are based. Accurate, comprehensive

and easily accessible information is critical to effective community planning. NEMO programs are helping

communities gather and analyze land use information, whether its conducting a simple community resource

inventory or visualizing future build-out scenarios using sophisticated GIS tools.

Arizona: Watershed groups and communitiesthroughout Arizona are accessing the geospatial data

AZ NEMO provides on their website to facilitateland use planning. For example, the Upper GilaWatershed Partnership (Safford, Arizona) utilizedthe data on the AZ NEMO website to support theirultimately successful grant application to the ArizonaWater Protection Fund to remove a river levee andrestore the Gila River to natural flow conditions.

Colorado: AWARE Colorado (the CO NEMO

effort) workshop surveys demonstrate the programis having an impact in the state. Ninety-three percentof participants indicate that the presentationsincreased their knowledge about strategies com-munities can employ to prevent negative waterquality impacts due to land use. In addition, themajority of respondents indicated they were verylikely to consider the information presented aboutwater quality impacts when making land use and/orcommunity planning decisions.

Connecticut: The CT NEMO Community ResourceInventory Online (CRI) has made geographicinformation systems information and maps availableto every town in the state. CT NEMO staff haveconducted several workshops across the state intro-ducing the website and have put together a newsletterand mailed it to every town commission. On average,660 individuals access CRI maps on the site eachmonth.

Connecticut: CT NEMO has three interwovenstormwater tools online. The Planning forStormwater site directs people to general low impactdevelopment (LID) information and links them tospecific sections of the state stormwater qualitymanual. The LID Inventory site interactively takesusers to LID emplacements around the state, andthe LID Regulations site allows them to read thecomplete text of local LID regulations in Connecticuttowns. Together, these sites are visited about 650times per month.

Indiana:Planning withPOWER (the INNEMO effort) hasdeveloped a web-based Local Decision

Maker GIS Tool

that is helping com-munities understandthe resources theyhave and to integratethose resources intoland use plans anddecisions.

Kansas: The KS NEMO Program provided supportfor other groups to make presentations to city andcounty officials on identifying native forests andprairies in Douglas County, as well as identifyingalready impacted areas that are better suited forindustrial or similar types of development.

A sample screen capture of Planning with

POWERs new online tool, Local Community

Decision Maker. The image depicts landcover change between 1992 - 2003.


25/4025

Maine: ME NEMO worked with the SagadahocRegion Rural Resource Initiative (SRRRI) to con-duct a regional build-out analysis for the seventowns in the region and hope to preserve the ruralcharacter and resources of the region. The SRRRIgroup is also gathering natural resource informationfor the region to coordinate land use decisionsregarding zoning and natural areas. The SRRRIruns a model to rank habitat in the region, andthen combines the habitat priorities with undevel-oped blocks to show critical large blocks. ME NEMOis working to make this digital data available to thetowns, and several of them are integrating it intoland use plans. Topsham is using it in a naturalresource plan; Harpswell is using it in an open

space plan.

Maine: ME NEMO has developed a popularStandards of Practice workshop for town facilities

and maintenance staff. Through this effort theprogram has trained 350 public works employeesfrom 25 towns on standard operating proceduresto improve water quality. A participant from thetown of Cape Elizabeth reports The training hasraised the awareness level of the employees thathave attended the training sessions. On two occa-sions, employees have brought to my attention

two possible IDDs (illicit discharge detections) incatch basins. They are definitely more aware ofwhat is proper and not proper in a typical catchbasin. ME NEMO has shared its training materialswith educators in 28 states, Puerto Rico andAustralia and it is currently being modified foruse in Florida to train municipal staff.

Minnesota: In collaboration with NorthlandNEMO, the city of Duluth is conducting a paired

neighborhood assessment of residential stormwater

best management practices (BMPs) in two neigh-borhoods. The city of Duluth planning departmentis also distributing Northland NEMOs BuildingSuperior Coastal Communities guidebook todevelopers interested in building in the community.

Nevada: NV NEMO workshop evaluations indicatethat they are having a wide range ofimpacts beyondjust local land use officials. A nursery worker used

the information indesigning and plan-ning medium-sizeresidential landscapeprojects, and a land-

scaper became moreconscious of theproblem of excessiveirrigation water use.One respondentnoted When wereapproached byother organizationsneeding our help

on water issues, NV NEMO training helps me tounderstand the issue involved and how we canhelp. Students in 2006 rated the course materials

and presentations highly (4.7 out of 5), with noscore lower than 4. They rated their improvedunderstanding at 4.6 out of 5, and feel more likelyto ask for more information during plan review(4.7 out of 5).

New Hampshire: NROC (the NH NEMO effort)has worked with several communities to integratecommunity surveys into local land use decisionsand plans. Community groups conducted surveys

A landscaper in Nevada modified his prac-

tices to address excessive irrigation water

use after attending a NEMO training.

(Photo courtesy of NV NEMO.)


26/4026

in New Durham (re: their master plan) andWakefield (re: conservation funding). NROCcommunities have also sought to develop betterwater quality data. Rollinsford initiated a water

quality monitoring program on local streams.Wakefield commissioned a synthesis of existingwater quality data in order to better understandthe status of their lakes.

Rhode Island: The RI NEMO Program workedwith the states Water Resources Board andDepartment of Health to develop a consistent wayfor municipalities and other water suppliers toidentify threats and rank susceptibility of drinking

water sources to pollution and track trends overtime. All municipalities and private water suppliers

with major community water supplies will be usingthe method to update water supply managementplans, as required by Rhode Island Water ResourcesBoard regulations, and can integrate this informa-tion into land use decisions.

Rhode Island: In partnership with the Departmentof Environmental Management and a private firm,RI NEMO developed the Rhode Island WastewaterInformation System (RIWIS): a statewide, web-accessed database that organizes local informationabout onsite systems and cesspools, including theirlocation and condition, inspection results andmaintenance. Towns are using the database todevelop wastewater management programs, abasic element in protecting groundwater supplies,private wells and public drinking water sources.Through a series of workshops and technical sup-port, RI NEMO has increased the number of townsactively using the site in their programs from 3 to 12.

South Carolina: Following significant turnover intheir land use boards, the town of Bluffton and

Beaufort County invited the SC NEMO team toconduct a workshop for elected officials and a secondone for planning commission members, staff andcitizens. Since then, the Bluffton town administratorand mayor now require all of the towns officialsand staff to attend at a minimum a refreshercourse of NEMO 101 on an annual basis.

South Carolina: A small grants program coordi-nated by SC NEMO funded the Beaufort CountyStorm Drain Marker Project. Beaufort CountyPublic Works partnered with a local environmental

organization (Friendsof the Rivers) to iden-tify and mark morethan 1000 stormdrain inlets through-out the countysmunicipalities andunincorporated areas.In addition to thepublic educationcomponent of theproject, the marked

inlets, local outfallsand associated structural stormwater managementpractices are being documented with a GPS

(global positioning system) to field verify and/orupdate county infrastructure mapping. This willallow for inspection for potential illicit dischargeinvestigation, repair and maintenance and will berecorded and reported to the county public worksdepartment.

Texas: TX NEMO created a new initiative,WaterSmart Landscaping: Habitat Highways, to addresshabitat loss and fragmentation by generating publicawareness; training and empowering volunteers

with informationand the skills to pre-serve, restore andcreate urban wildlifehabitats; and formingsocial networks tobest address urbanwildlife and habitatproblems. The pro-

gram held its inau-gural training seriesand receiving enthu-siastic response fromparticipants and local

media. Direct training was limited to 40 participants,but the reach of these trainees is multiplied asthey continue their role as advocates for wildlife.Several students from this first HH class have goneon to initiate habitat projects in the community.

Anne Kitchell, volunteer project coordina-

tor, demonstrates the installation of a

storm drain marker in Beaufort, South

Carolina. (Photo courtesy of SC NEMO.)

Habitat Highways trainees participate in

hands-on design and installation of a

school habitat at Travis Elementary

School, Houston. (Photo courtesy of TX

NEMO.)


27/4027

The Vermillion River Watershed

Surface and Groundwater Study

Northland NEMO provided opportunities for the

Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization

Board and the Watershed Planning Commission to

further their goals by initiating a surface and

groundwater study that included a parking utiliza-

tion study and a waterway/watershed assessment.

These efforts led to creating the Optimal Regulatory

and Market Framework to Preserve Stream Flow

and Temperature Stability in an

Urbanizing Trout Stream in the

Midwest, a plan for a market-

based set of regulations that seekto protect the river from warm

water flows that are damaging the

stream as a prime trout habitat.

Specifically, the regulations would

establish temperature control

requirements to preserve the cold

water inflows (e.g., via infiltration

and shading). The regulation would

allow for trading between devel-

opment in areas that have the

greatest opportunity and benefit to

achieve these functions with areas that are limitedby soil characteristics, groundwater table constraints

or land use factors.

Watershed Initiative Project

Friends of the Mississippi River, a local Northland

NEMO partner, initiated a watershed initiative project

that contributed to the adopted watershed standards,

a receipt of an EPA Grant, and development of a

pollution-trading program that will offer credits

for offsetting thermal loading (heat pollution) to the

Vermillion River and its tributaries. The credits are

to be given for practices listed on a menu of low

impact development and restoration activities that

reduce thermal, nutrient and sediment pollution

while improving overall water management within

the watershed.

The Lakeville Low Impact Development StudyThe Lakeville Low Impact Development Study was

a finalist for a 2006 Minnesota Environment

Initiative Award in the land use

category. The project was a part-

nership between the Minnesota

Department of Natural Resources,the Minnesota Pollution Control

Agency, Emmons Oliver Resources,

the Friends of the Mississippi

River and several local watershed

units. The side-by-side comparison

of two development scenarios

addressed stormwater quality,

stormwater volume and rates,

development costs, development

yield, 30-year maintenance costs,

property values, quality of life,

environmental benefits and meeting national andlocal models.

Vermillion Stewards Program

Finally, the Vermillion Stewards Program was

established to provide watershed citizens education

on their responsibilities to protect the river at the

individual property owner scale. These impacts

grew from planting a seed rooted in NEMO-based

education while comprehensively working with many

local partners.

The education efforts of Northland NEMO and its partners, over a number of years, have catalyzed

significant impacts in the Vermillion River Watershed, a world class trout stream and the largest

Minneapolis/St. Paul area watershed.

Minnesota

New regulations protect the Vermillion

River and its tributaries from warm water

flows that are damaging prime trout

habitat. (Photo courtesy of Northland

NEMO.)


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Beyond Local Impacts

28

NEMO programs are primarily focused on helping communities make better land use decisions that balance

growth and natural resource protection. However, we have found this often leads to secondary impacts in the

form of changes to statewide policies or procedures and state and national recognition.

Arizona: The Arizona Department of EnvironmentalQuality uses AZ NEMOs watershed-based planningdocuments to rank and prioritize locations acrossthe state for Clean Water Act Nonpoint Source

Pollution Program (Section 319) funding. Thedocuments use geographic information systemshydrologic modeling (i.e., Automated GeospatialWatershed Assessment Method - AGWA) tomodel watershed response to rainfall eventstheranking and prioritization of funding is based onthat modeling.

Arizona: The AZ NEMOvideo, Stormwater Manage-ment from a WatershedPerspective: Extreme WesternClimates, produced in partner-ship with the University ofWashington, has won numerousawards, includingAEGIS Filmand Video Production Award:

2007 Finalist; HERMES Creative

Awards- 2007 Gold Winner;The Videographer Awards - 2007Honorable Mention; The TellyAwards - 2007 Bronze Winner.

Connecticut: CT NEMO conducted a project toevaluate options for statewide buildout analyses forthe Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

(OPM), in partnership with the Central NaugatuckValley Council of Governments. The study compared

the results of buildout techniques of differing degreesof sophistication and data needs. OPM then usedthe results to report to the Connecticut Legislatureon the options for a statewide buildout program.

Connecticut: CTNEMOwon the 2006Outstanding Achievement

Award from the RenewableNatural ResourcesFoundation in D.C. forits publication Putting

Communities in Charge,which details the on-the-ground actions thatConnecticut municipalitieshave taken after workingwith CT NEMO.

Delaware: The DE NEMO-sponsored StormwaterPond Maintenance Advisory Committee makesrecommendations to the Department of NaturalResources and Environmental Control secretary tobe included in a statewide regulatory update.

Indiana: Planning with POWER (the IN NEMOeffort) provides input and technical assistance tothe Indiana Land Resources Council, appointedby the Governor to address land use issues acrossthe state of Indiana. Also, Planning with POWERprovides assistance and technical support to the

Indiana Land Use Consortium, a group of organi-

AZ NEMOs award winning video

Stormwater Management from a

Watershed Perspective: Extreme Western

Climates.

CT NEMOs award winning publica-

tionPutting Communities in Charge

details actions municipalities have

taken based on working with the CT

NEMO Program.


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zations, agencies, non-government organizationsand nonprofits concerned about land use issuesin Indiana and coordinates a state land use confer-ence each year.

Minnesota: The Minnesota Departmentof Natural Resources and Northland NEMOdeveloped a multimedia Guide to UsingNatural Resource Information in Local Decision

Making, honored with the Merit in Planning

Award from the Minnesota Chapter of theAmerican Society of Landscape Architects.

National: The National NEMO Networkwon the 2008 Outstanding Integrated WaterResources Program Award from USDA.

Nevada: NV NEMOwon theAssociationof Natural Resource Extension Professionals

Silver Award for a Long Publication, for theirset of five NV NEMO fact sheetsin 2005. The fact sheets also wonthe 2005 Award of Excellence from

Communication Concepts 17th

Annual Award Competition.

New Hampshire: Several townsNROC (the NH NEMO effort) hasworked with havewon awards fortheir work. For example, Dover

won a Gulf of Maine Visionary Award for theirGrowing Greener workshop.

New Hampshire:The Institute for New

Hampshire Studies at

Plymouth State

University independently

reviewed NROC. Thisincluded a review ofNROC materials and pre-sentations, interviews with

the programs partnersand a community survey.The institute concluded

that the program has energized local officials toaddress conservation and growth; enabled themto more effectively address land use and waterquality issues; and is the most cost effective optionfor using available resources to effect land use.

New York: New York NEMO Sea Grant hasassisted in the development of statewide municipalguidance materials

pertaining to local authorityand natural resource protection; illicit dischargedetection and elimination; pollution preventionand good housekeeping; and stormwater programimplementation.

NV NEMOs resource binder is an important

esource for planning commissioners.

Minnesotas Guide to Using

Natural Resource Information

n Local Decision Making

brochure and interactive CD.

As a recent impact report and

review illustrate, NROC (NH NEMO)

is energizing local officials to

address conservation and growth.


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Active Members

Inactive Members

Former Members

In Development

Network Hub

The NEMO Network is coordinated by

the University of Connecticuts

Department of Extension and is part of

the Center for Land Use Education

and Research (CLEAR). The Network

Hub consists of two full time staff, aNetwork Coordinator and a Network

Communicator, with regular contribu-

tions and support from the CT NEMO

team. The Network is a USDA CSREES

National Facilitation Project.

As the Network Hub, the University of

Connecticut:

helps interested universities and other

organizations start a NEMO program,

facilitates communication and

resource sharing between NEMO

programs,

provides training opportunities to

help increase the capacity of NEMO

programs,

serves as a national liaison between

the Network, federal agencies and

national organizations interested in

water quality, local land use and

resource protection.

Starting ProgramsIn the initial days of the Network, the

Hubs primary function was to help

universities and organizations in other

states develop a NEMO program. As

folks in other states heard about the

CT NEMO approach, they requested

Connecticut staff put on scoping

workshops to guide them in exploring

and establishing a NEMO program. To

date, the Hub has conducted over 100scoping and follow-up workshops around

the country, facilitating the creation of

NEMO programs in 38 states (see map

below). The Hub continues to conduct

scoping workshops today at an average

of two per year.

30

The NEMO HubCoordinating the Network

To date, the Hub has conducted over 100 scoping and follow-up workshops

around the country, facilitating the creation of NEMO programs in 38 states.

National NEMO Network Members Map


31/4031

FacilitationAs the Network has grown, the Hubs

primary role has shifted from helping

programs get started to facilitating com-

munication and resource sharing

between programs. The Hub manages a

Network listserv and has created amembers only website

for the sharing of pre-

sentations, publications

and other resources

amongst programs. The

Network also gathers

every eighteen months

to two years at NEMO

University (NEMO U),

the national conference

of the Network. NEMOU is a seminal event in

the growth and develop-

ment of the Network,

providing an opportunity for folks to

forge connections across the country

and learn from one another.

TrainingsIn addition to facilitating interaction

between programs, the Hub providesmember programs with training oppor-

tunities to help build their topical and

technical prowess. Past Network-wide

training workshops have focused on

helping programs establish new educa-

tional resources on topics like open

space protection and forest resources,

develop or expand their use of geospatial

technologies and adapt technical tools

like the Online Community Resource

Inventory (CRI) or the Impervious

Surface Analysis Tool (ISAT) to their

state. In addition, starting with NEMO

U4, the Hub has been integrating train-

ing opportunities into our national

conference. The Network Initiativessection (page 32) of this

report has more details

on some of the Hubs

training efforts.

PartnershipsThe Hub also serves as

the Networks liaison to

federal agencies and

regional and national

organizations. As such,

the Hub keeps partners

and potential partners

informed on the progress

and achievement of individual programs

and the growth of the Network as a

whole. In turn, these agencies and

organizations provide technical, topical

and, occasionally, financial assistance

to member programs. Key partners

include the USDA CSREES, U.S.EPA, NOAA, Center for Watershed

Protection and the Cooperative

Institute for Coastal and Estuarine

Environmental Technology (CICEET).

See graph 2 for more on how funding

for Network coordination has been

leveraged with more resources for

Network me

2008 National NEMO Network Progress ReportReport

Documents

Transcript of 2008 National NEMO Network Progress ReportReport